the sort in a former
life; and--arrived on the ground--he recognised the very same man who
had been howled down at Delhi.

He greeted him warmly; spoke of the meeting; listened with unmoved
countenance to lurid speculations about the disappearance of
Chandranath; spoke, himself, to the men, who gave him an ovation; and,
by the time it was over, had almost forgotten the astounding fact that
he was virtually engaged to be married....

* * * * *

Driving out five miles to Lahore, he had leisure to remember, to realise
how innately he shrank from speaking to Rose of his mother. Though in
effect his promised wife, she was still almost a stranger; and the
sacredness of the subject--the uncertainty of her attitude--intensified
his shrinking to a painful degree.

She had asked him to come early, that they might have a few minutes to
themselves; and for once he was not unpunctual. He found her alone; and,
at first sight, painful shyness overwhelmed him.

She was wearing the cream-and-gold frock of the evening that had turned
the scale; and she came forward a trifle eagerly, holding out her hands.

"Wonderful! It's not a dream?"

He took her hands and kissed her, almost awkwardly. "It still feels
rather like a dream," was all he could find to say--and fancied he
caught a flicker of amusement in her eyes. Was she thinking him an odd
kind of lover? Even last night, he had not achieved a single term of
endearment, or spoken her name.

With a graceful gesture, she indicated the sofa--and they sat down.

"Well, what have you been doing with yourself--Roy?" she asked, palpably
to put him at ease. "It's a delightful name--Royal?"

"No--Le Roy. Some Norman ancestor."

"The King!" She saluted, sitting upright, laughter and tenderness in
her eyes.

At that, he slipped an arm round her, and pressed her close. Then he
plunged into fluent talk about the afternoon's events, and his accepted
offer of service, till Mrs Elton, resplendent in flame-coloured brocade,
surged into the room.

It was a purely civil dinner; not Hayes, to Roy's relief. Directly it
was over the bridge players disappeared; Mr Elton was called away--an
Indian gentleman to see him on urgent business; and they two, left alone
again, wandered out into the verandah.

By now, her beauty and his possessive instinct had more or less righted
things; and her nearness, in the rose-scented dark, rekindled his
fervour of last night.