e been so dreadfully anxious, Dick," she said, after the first
embrace. "I was certain you had been in some terrible danger."

"I have been, but thank God I escaped; owing, I think, to the warning
Annie says you tried to give me. But we must not talk about that now.
I will tell you all the story tomorrow. You are not fit to talk. You
must take some broth, and some wine, and a sleeping draught; and I
hope you will go off, and not wake up till tomorrow morning.

"Now, you do as I tell you. While you are drinking your broth, I will
go in and take something to eat, for I have had nothing today, and am
as hungry as a hunter. Then I will come back, and sit by you till you
go off to sleep."

He was not long away, but he was met at the door by his aunt, who
said:

"She has gone off already, Dick. I have no doubt that she will sleep
many hours, but if she wakes, I will let you know at once."

"If that is the case, Gholla," the Rajah, who had come in at the same
moment, said, "I can let you into a secret, which no one but myself
knows yet, but which, now that Margaret is asleep, can be told."

Gholla was very pleased when she heard the news, and Dick went off at
once to his father. It was a great relief, to the latter, to know that
his wife had gone off to sleep, and would probably be well enough to
have the news broken to her in the morning.

"I hear that you are preparing for the meeting, Father, by getting
yourself shaved, and having a blue cloth suit made?"

"Yes, Dick. I should like to be as much like my old self as possible."

"I don't think Mother will care much what you look like, Father.
Still, it is very natural that you should want to get rid of all that
hair."

"What bothers me, lad," Captain Holland went on, putting his hand to
the back of his neck, "is this shaved spot here. Of course, with the
turban on and the native rig, it was all right, but it will look a rum
affair in English clothes."

Dick could not help laughing at his father's look of perplexity.

"Well, Father, it is just the same with myself. I have not changed
yet, but when I do, the hair above, which is now tucked up under the
turban, will be quite long enough to come down to the nape of the
neck, and hide that bare place till the hair grows again."

"Yes; I did not think of that. My hair is long enough to come down
over my shoulders. I was going to tell the barber to cut it short all
over, but I will see now that he allows for that."