1 THE WUZEERUT OF HEERA SING. 99
2 of Rajah Heera Sing. Suchet Sing was, from his early youth,
3 remarkable for his debaucheries. Like his brother, Dehan, he
4 had risen to favour and station in the court of Runjeet by
5 the most infamous means. They had both attracted the eye
6 of the old monarch by their beauty of person, and secured
7 his patronage by the most criminal compliance with his desires.
8 This intimacy with the sovereign procured them free admis-
9 sion to the Zenankhanah, or female apartments, a privilege,
10 which they both turned to good account.
11 It was in some bed-chamber intrigue that Suchet Sing came
12 into collision with the Pundit Jellah, who like himself had the
13 run of the Zenana, and turned it to a similar purpose. Hence
14 arose the hatred which these two eventually bore towards each
15 other, and which now began to display itself openly. The
16 immediate cause of the outbreak was this. Suchet Sing
17 had been for years the favourite of several of the court ladies,
18 including some of the widows of Runjeet Sing. But at
19 this present time his regards seemed fixed only on the Ranee
20 Chunda, the mother of the young Maharajh Dulleep Sing.
21 She on her part returned his affections with equal fervour,
22 and in proof of her good- will bade him aspire to the Wuzeerut,
23 which she promised to bestow upon him. This liaison, and
24 its probable consequences, added bitterness to the jealousy of
25 the Pundit, who saw himself likely to be supplanted in power
26 as he had been in love. This feeling was shared by the Rajah,
27 Heera Sing, the present Wuzeer, whose tenure of office was
28 endangered by the ambition of his uncle. However, Suchet
29 Sing was favoured by the Ranee, and countenanced by her
30 eldest brother, Jewahir Sing-, as well as some of the other
31 sirdars. Before, however, their arrangements were fully com-
32 pleted, Suchet Sing, impatient for his promised honours,
33 prevailed on Jewahir Sing to take the young Maharajh on an
34 elephant and to go among the troops complaining of the harsh
35 treatment which the royal boy experienced at the hands of his