for small things.
This grief of hers was too immense, too infinite for tears.

Only at last something, some inner prompting, stirred her, and as if at
the touch of a hand that compelled, she raised her head.

She saw neither the colonel nor Phil, and a sharp prick of wonder
pierced her lethargy of despair. She turned in her chair, obedient still
to that inner force that compelled. Yes, they had gone. Only the native
remained--an old, bent man, who humbly awaited her pleasure. His face
was almost hidden in his _chuddah_.

Audrey looked at him.

"There is nothing to wait for," she said at length. "You need not
stay."

He did not move. It was as if he had not heard. Her wonder grew into a
sort of detached curiosity. What did the man want? She remembered that
the colonel had told her that he understood English.

"Is there--something--you wish to say to me?" she asked, and the bare
utterance of the words kindled a feeble spark of hope within her, almost
in spite of herself.

He turned very slowly.

"Yes, one thing," he said, paused an instant as she sprang to her feet
with a great cry, then straightened himself, pushed the _chuddah_ back
from his face, and flung out his arms to her passionately.

"Audrey!" he said--"Audrey!"

CHAPTER XIII

HAPPINESS AGAIN

By slow degrees Audrey learnt the story of her husband's escape.

It was Phil's doing in the main, he told her simply, and she understood
that but for Phil he would not have taken the trouble. Something Phil
had said to him that night had stuck in his mind, and it had finally
decided him to make the attempt.

Circumstances had favoured him. Moreover it was by no means the first
time that he had been among the Hill tribes in native guise. One
sentinel alone had returned to guard the hut after Phil's departure, and
this man he had succeeded in overpowering without raising an alarm.

Then, disguising himself once more, he had managed to escape just before
the dawn, and had lain hidden for hours among the boulders of the
river-bed, fearing to emerge by daylight. But in the evening he had left
his hiding-place, and found the fort to be occupied by British troops.
The Waris had gone to earth before their advance, and they had found the
place deserted.

He had forthwith presented himself in his disguise and been taken
before Phil, the officer-in-command.

"But surely he knew you?"

"Yes, he knew me. But I swore him to secrecy."

She drew a little