British to render men chary of dealings with the little court at
Feragpore, where she held mimic state.

But of all these tales of craft and crime Atmâ knew nothing. To him all
men were valiant and all women fair and good, and the wife and child of
Runjeet Singh, the Lion of the Punjaub, were invested in his fond
imaginings with ideal excellence. "To the pure all things are pure," or,
as a later genius has voiced it, "He who has been once good is forever
great," and Atmâ lived in the corrupt atmosphere of his uncle's house,
and took no hurt; nay, his spiritual life by its own dynamic force grew
and thrived, for, governed by other laws than those that control our
physical natures, the food of the soul is what it desires it to be, and
moral poison has often served for nutriment. It is death to souls that
desire death. In another sense than Bonaparte's, every man born unto the
world may say, "I make circumstances."

And the spacious abode of Lehna Singh had loveliness enough to veil the
sordid character of the life that was lived within its walls. Atmâ had
not been ignorant of his kinsman's wealth and importance; but it is one
thing to hear of wealth and to ponder in critical mood the fleeting
nature of this world's weal, and quite another to gaze with the eye on
the marvellous results of human thrift. He wandered through lofty and
spacious apartments, whose marble arches seemed ever to reveal a fairer
scene than had yet met his view. A mimic rivulet ran from room to room
in an alabaster channel, and the spray of perfumed fountains cooled the
air. Flowers bloomed, leafy vines trailed over priceless screens, and
countless mirrors repeated the joyous beauty of the place. He beheld
with admiration the gilded and fretted walls and stately domes, the new
delights of a palace charmed every sense, and, appealing to poetic
fancy, awoke a rapture whose fervency was due less to the entrancement