owards a native, "will look after the heavy baggage.
Better stick your dressing-bag in front, as there is not much room. I
take up two shares--ha! ha!"

This remark was painfully true. His burly form occupied most of the
back seat, and Sophy with difficulty squeezed herself in beside him.
As they glided slowly away, through the dense throng, she looked about
her--her curiosity as raw and eager as that of Shafto.

"What a wonderful, busy place!" she exclaimed. "I see you have
telephones and trams in all directions."

"Oh, trams!" Krauss echoed contemptuously. "We have _everything_ in
Rangoon; great shops and offices, public buildings, a cathedral, a
mosque, theatres, clubs, sawmills, rice mills, banks--oh yes, it's a
fine place, and so rich," and he smacked his lips as he added, "Burma
is the land of opportunity."

"How is my aunt?" inquired Sophy.

"Only middling--she will be glad to see you, and I expect you will do
her good. We live a long way out--in Kokine, where Germans herd
together, and I take this chance of a talk. I am a busy
man--particularly of late; and time with me means _money_, so I'll tell
you what I have to say in as few words as possible."

Sophy nodded her head in agreeable assent.

"Some years ago my wife met with a bad accident--a fall, out
paper-chasing. It did not seem much at the time, though she lost her
nerve; but it came against her later. During the last two or three
years her health has broken down; she suffers from chronic neuralgia in
head and spine, and for days she lies like a dead woman."

"Oh, poor Aunt Flora, how very sad!"

"Yes, you may say so. Well, for the last ten years she has had an
invaluable maid--Fernanda, a Portuguese half-caste, a treasure, who
waited on and nursed her, and took entire charge of the housekeeping.
Fernanda understood my tastes to a T--the curries and stews and blood
sausages that I am fond of, and was a rare hand at coffee. Then came a
blow! Fernanda made up her silly mind to marry a Scotch engineer and
go to Australia. I was at my wits' end the day she gave notice; I said
to myself: 'Ach Gott! what can we do? No maids in Rangoon, and meine
liebe Flora so helpless!' Then a splendid thought came into my
mind--her nieces! Flora is fond of her family and has often talked of
your mother, and of you, so I wrote off at once, and--here you are!"

Sophy was about to speak, but he laid a heavy, restraining hand upon
her arm and continued: