rmth that showed that his affection for her was unimpaired by the
years that had passed since he last saw her.

Then he stood with his hands on her shoulders, looking earnestly at
her.

"I know you again," he said. "You are changed, but I can recall your
face well. You are welcome, Margaret, most welcome.

"And this is my nephew?" he went on, turning to Dick, and holding out
both his hands to him. "You are taller than I expected--well nigh as
tall as I am. You are like your mother and my mother; and you are bold
and active and strong, she writes me. My boys are longing to see you,
and you will be most welcome at Tripataly.

"I have almost forgotten my English, Margaret "--and, indeed, he spoke
with some difficulty, evidently choosing his words--"I should quite
have forgotten it, had not I often had occasion to speak it with
English officers. I see, by your letters, that you have not forgotten
our tongue."

"Not in the least, Mortiz. I have, for years, spoken nothing else with
Dick, and he speaks it as well as I do."

"That is good," the Rajah replied, in his own tongue, and in a tone of
relief. "I was wondering how he would get on with us.

"Now, let us sit down. We have so much to tell each other, and,
moreover, I am ravenous for breakfast, as I have ridden forty miles
since sunrise."

Breakfast was speedily served, the Rajah eating in English fashion.

"I cling to some of our mother's ways, you see, Margaret. As I have
grown older, I have become more English than I was. Naturally, as a
boy of thirteen, as I was when you last saw me, I listened to the talk
of those around me, and was guided by their opinions a good deal.
Among them, there was a feeling of regret that our father had married
an English woman; and I, of course, was ever trying my hardest to show
that in riding, or the chase, or in exercises of any kind, I was as
worthy to be the son of an Indian rajah as if I had no white blood in
my veins.

"As I grew up, I became wiser. I saw how great the English were, how
steadily they extended their dominions, and how vastly better off were
our people, under their sway, than they were in the days when every
rajah made war against his neighbour, and the land never had rest.
Then I grew proud of my English blood, and although I am, to my
people, Rajah of Tripataly, a native prince and lord of their
destinies, keeping up the same state as my father, and ruling them in
native fashion, in my inner house I hav