la; "but it is the Heaven of the
Orient, and I am not sure that I have any part or lot in it. I believe I
shall feel myself an interloper for all time. I dread to turn each
corner lest I should meet the Angel with the Flaming Sword and be driven
forth into the desert. If only you were here, Tommy, it would be more
real to me. But Ralph is just a part of the dream. He is almost like an
Eastern potentate himself with his endless cigarettes and his wonderful
capacity for doing nothing all day long without being bored. Of course,
I am not bored, but then no one ever feels bored in a dream. The lazy
well-being of it all has the effect of a narcotic so far as I am
concerned. I cannot imagine ever feeling active in this lulling
atmosphere. Perhaps there is too much champagne in the air and I am
never wholly sober. Perhaps it is only in the desert that any one ever
lives to the utmost. The endless singing of the stream is hushing me
into a sweet drowsiness even as I write. By the way, I wonder if I have
written sense. If not, forgive me! But I am much too lazy to read it
through. I think I must have eaten of the lotus. Good-bye, Tommy dear!
Write when you can and tell me that all is well with you, as I think it
must be--though I cannot tell--with your always loving, though for the
moment strangely bewitched, sister, Stella."

Tommy put down the letter and lay still, peering forth under frowning
brows. He could hear Monck's footsteps coming through the gate of the
compound, but he was not paying any attention to Monck for once. His
troubled mind scarcely even registered the coming of his friend.

Only when the latter mounted the steps on to the verandah and began to
move along it, did he turn his head and realize his presence. Monck came
to a stand beside him.

"Well, Tommy," he said, "isn't it time to turn in?"

Tommy sat up. "Oh, I suppose so. Infernally hot, isn't it? I've been
reading Stella's letter."

Monck lodged his shoulder against the window-frame. "I hope she is all
right," he said formally.

His voice sounded pre-occupied. It did not convey to Tommy the idea that
he was greatly interested in his reply.

He answered with something of an effort. "I believe she is. She doesn't
really say. I wish they had been content to stay at Bhulwana. I could
have got leave to go over and see her there."

"Where exactly are they now?" asked Monck.

Tommy explained to the best of his ability. "Srinagar seems their
nearest p