came down the verandah to his wife. He put his arm around her, and
drew her within.

"Why are you trembling?" he said.

She leaned her head against him. "Everard, what did you say to Peter?"

"Never mind!" said Monck.

She braced herself. "You are not to be angry with him. He--is my
servant. I will reprimand him--if necessary."

"It isn't," said Monck, with a brief smile. "You can tell him to finish
laying the cloth."

He kissed her and let her go, leaving her with a strong impression that
she had behaved foolishly. If it had not been for that which she had
seen in his eyes for those few awful seconds, she would have despised
herself for her utter imbecility. But the memory was one which she could
not shake from her. She did not wonder that even Peter, proud Sikh as he
was, had quailed before that look. Would Monck have accepted even
Tessa's appeal if he had not found her watching? She wondered. She
wondered.

She did not look forward to the meal on the verandah, but Monck realized
this and had it laid in the dining-room instead. At his command Peter
carried a plate out to Tessa, but it came back untouched, Peter
explaining in a very low voice that 'Missy _baba_ was not hungry.' The
man's attitude was abject. He watched Monck furtively from behind
Stella's chair, obeying his every behest with a promptitude that
expressed the most complete submission.

Monck bestowed no attention upon him. He smiled a little when Stella
expressed concern over Tessa's failure to eat anything. It was evident
that he felt no anxiety on that score himself. "Leave the imp alone!" he
said. "You are not to worry yourself about her any more. You have done
more than enough in that line already."

There was insistence in his tone--an insistence which he maintained
later when he made her lie down for her afternoon rest, steadily
refusing to let her go near the delinquent until she had had it.

Greatly against her will she yielded the point, protesting that she
could not sleep nevertheless. But when he had gone she realized that the
happenings of the morning had wearied her more than she knew. She was
very tired, and she fell into a deep sleep which lasted for nearly two
hours.

Awakening from this, she got up with some compunction at having left the
child so long, and went to her window to look for her. She found the
corner of Tessa's punishment empty. A little further along the verandah
Monck lounged in a deep cane chair, and, curle