ss agile. As it was, he stumbled, cursed and kept his
feet.

"'Ware man-trap!" he called back to Dyan, under his breath.

Next instant, from the alcove, a shot rang out: and it was Dyan who
cursed; for the bullet had grazed his arm.

They both ran now; and made no bones about it. Roy's sensations reminded
him vividly of the night he and Lance fled from the Turks.

"We seem to have butted in and spoilt somebody's little game!" he
remarked, as they turned into a wider street and slackened speed. "How's
your arm?"

"Nothing. A mere scratch." Dyan's tone was graver. "But that's most
unusual. I can't make it out----"

"You're well quit of it all, anyhow," said Roy, and slipped a hand
through his arm.

* * * * *

Not till they were settling down for a few hours' sleep in the night
mail, did it dawn on Roy that the little game might possibly have been
connected with himself. Chandranath had seen him in that dress before.
He had just come very near quarrelling with Dyan. If he suspected Roy's
identity, he would suspect his influence....

He frankly spoke his thought to Dyan; and found it had occurred to him
already. "Not himself, of course," he added. "The gentleman is not
partial to firearms! But suspecting--he might have arranged; hoping to
catch you coming back--the swine! Naturally after this, he will go
further than suspecting!"

"He can go to the devil--and welcome; now I've collared _you_!" said
Roy;--and slept soundly upon that satisfying achievement, through all
the rattle and clatter of the express.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 17: At once.]

CHAPTER XII.

"God uses us to help each other so."
--BROWNING.

It was distinctly one of Roy's great moments when, at last, they four
stood together in Sir Lakshman's room: the old man, outwardly
impassive--as became a Rajput--profoundly moved in the deep places of
his heart; Aruna, in Oxford gown and sari, radiant one moment; the
next--in spite of stoic resolves--crying softly in Dyan's arms. And Roy
understood only too well. The moment he held her hand and met her
eyes--he knew. It was not only joy at Dyan's return that evoked the
veiled blush, the laugh that trembled into tears. Conceit or no conceit,
his intuition was not to be deceived.

And the conviction did not pass. It was confirmed by every day, every
hour he spent in her company. On the rare occasions, when they were
alone togethe