rning and afternoon.

Directly after dinner we went in an open carriage to the ball at the
Gymkhana. The bright lights and lamps of a long row of carriages
waiting outside made a pretty and animated scene as we drove up. The
guests were received at the entrance to the ball-room by the Duke and
Duchess of Connaught. H.R.H. danced the first quadrille with me, and
the next two with Mabelle and Maude Laurence. We were pressed to
prolong our stay until to-morrow; this was, unfortunately, impossible,
for we are already overdue in Bombay. At a quarter to eleven I left
the ball-room, and the young ladies followed shortly afterwards. We
went straight to the station, and, re-entering the train, were again
shunted on to the main line, starting at last on the final stage of
our journey to Bombay.

[Illustration: Bengal Lancer--Rawul Pindi]

CHAPTER III.

_BOMBAY._

I looked out of the carriage window for some time upon the distant
ghauts, and the nearer and fantastically shaped rocks with their
tropical vegetation, now bathed in moonlight, until at last I happily
dropped off to sleep, and remember nothing more until we reached
Bombay at 7 A.M.

There we found Mr. Kindred and the men from the yacht waiting to meet
us. Leaving them to look after the luggage, the Doctor and I got our
two invalids into gharries, and drove at once to Malabar Point to stay
with the Governor and Lady Reay. Tom shortly afterwards appeared and
surprised us by his description of the unprecedentedly quick run of
the 'Sunbeam' from Kurrachee. Then Lady Reay and Captain Hamilton came
to welcome us, having just returned from their morning ride. Breakfast
over, the rest of the morning was busily spent in writing and in
getting things into order.

In the afternoon we drove with Captain Hamilton along the Breach Candy
road to the famous Towers of Silence, or Parsee cemetery, where we
were met by Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy's secretary, who conducted us over
this most interesting place and explained fully the Parsee method of
disposing of their dead and the religious motives which led to its
adoption. Much as the explanation interested me, I will not repeat it
here; but I must notice the beauty of the view from the Prayer-rooms,
and the solemn stillness of the garden below, where the relatives of
the departed come to talk peacefully over their memories. However
admirable the arrangement may be from a sanitary point of view, I
never could get reconciled