which he gave orders should be transmitted by special messenger.
The jewels thus withdrawn from the ordinary stock of presents Roe knew would supply powerful leverage for the execution of his designs. But he probably little suspected at the outset how valuable they would prove. At the period, Asaf Khan and Noor Mahal had fallen out with Khurrum, chiefly owing to the latter's refusal to wed the Empress's daughter by her first husband. This was a match upon which the ambitious Noor Mahal had set her heart, mainly because she hoped by its means to continue in a new reign, if one were entered upon, the extraordinary influence she had wielded in Jehangir's time. Prince Khurrum's uncompromising attitude on the subject, dictated by his love for Mumtaz Mahal, a devotion which inspired the construction of the glorious Taj, had convinced the exalted intriguers that it would be folly to base their hopes on the Prince. They realized that they must make other plans, and they had abeady fixed on Prince Shariyar, a younger son of Jehangir, as a suitable subject for the promotion of their designs, when Prince Khurrum's return from the war with an enormously increased prestige added a fresh incentive to their scheme of aggrandisement at the latter's expense.
Roe was too well posted in the affairs of the Court not to be aware of the direction in which the palace intrigues were being promoted. Possessing such knowledge he sagaciously concluded that the situation might be turned to account by his association with Asaf Khan and Noor Mahal.
Without loss of time he sought an interview with the former, and under a pledge of secrecy revealed to him the
