ries. We
Anglo-Indians, jogged from pillar to post, know precious little about
homes like yours. A man--can't judge----"

"You're a generous soul, Lance!" Roy broke out with sudden warmth.
"Anyway--coward or no--I simply _can't_ face--the ordeal, yet awhile. I
believe my father will understand. After all--here I am in India, as
planned, before the Great Interruption. So--given the chance, I might as
well take it. The dear old place is mostly empty, these days--with Tiny
married and Dad's Air Force job pinning him to Town. _So_--as I remarked
before----!"

"You'll hang on out here for the present? Thank God for that much."

Desmond's pious gratitude was so fervent that they both burst out
laughing; and their laughter cleared the air of ghosts.

"Jaipur it is, I suppose, as planned. Thea will be overjoyed. Whether
Jaipur's precisely a health resort----?"

"I'm not after health resorts. I'm after knowledge--and a few other
things. Not Jaipur first, anyway. The moment I get the official order of
the boot--I'm for Chitor."

"Chitor?" Faint incredulity lurked in Desmond's tone.

"Yes--the casket that enshrines the soul of a race; buried in the wilds
of Rajasthan. Ever heard tell of it, you arrant Punjabi? Or does nothing
exist for _you_ south of Delhi?"

"Just a thing or two--not to mention Thea!"

"Of course--I beg her pardon! _She_ would appreciate Chitor."

"Rather. They went there--and Udaipur, last year. She's death on getting
Vincent transferred. And the Burra Sahibs are as wax in her hands. If
they happen to be musical, and she applies the fiddle, they haven't an
earthly----!"

Roy's eyes took on their far-away look.

"It'll be truly uplifting to see her--and hear her fiddle once more, if
she's game for an indefinite dose of my society. Anyway, there's my
grandfather----"

"Quite superfluous," Desmond interposed a shade too promptly. "If I know
Thea, she'll hang on to you for the cold weather; and ensure you a _pied
a terre_ if you want to prowl round Rajputana and give the bee in your
bonnet an airing! You'll be in clover. The Residency's a sort of palace.
Not precisely Thea's ideal of bliss. She's a Piffer at heart; and her
social talents don't get much scope down there. Only half a dozen
whites; and old Vinx buried fathoms deep in ethnology, writing a book.
But, being Thea, she has pitched herself head foremost, into it all. Got
very keen on Indian women. She's mixed up in some sort of a romance now.