r will, even though she was absolutely at
his mercy, and the inner room was misty with shadows.

They are gentlemen of the finest type, these pure bred sons of India;
not the ravening beasts of prey towards women described so minutely,
and with such nauseating detail, in various religious and altruistic
pamphlets; little literary atrocities written mostly by men and women
who have gathered their experiences of the East from an exhibition or
two at the White City or Earl's Court, and their data from their own
scurrilous minds.

Bad types there are in every country! But for pity's sake let these
social reformers stick to the West, and start on those who make it
unpleasant, if not unsafe, for an honest, well-groomed woman, with
pretty feet and veiled face, to walk slowly by day, or by night,
through the so-called decent streets of London town.

Let them leave the fine, cultured men of India to their own gods and
their own customs, remembering that their ways are not our ways; for
which those of them who have tarried in our country, return thanks as,
laying an offering of thanksgiving before their god, they lift the
purdah, behind which awaits the modest, gentle little maid; perfumed
with the scents of the East instead of the aroma of whisky or brandy
pegs allied to the tobacco of Turkey or Virginia; and unbesmirched by
the close embrace of the fox-trot which caused a certain Maharajah, on
a visit to England, to remark to an Englishwoman:

"Why! I thought----"

Well, perhaps 'twere better that the damning commentary should be left
unwritten.

It was late in the evening when Leonie questioned her servant.

"Does the serang know exactly where I want to go? And how quickly can
he get there?"

She was having dinner, and quite a good one, in the front part of the
living-room in Jessore's dak bungalow. This room can be divided into
two by means of a curtain drawn across, and you can listen, in fact you
are obliged to listen, if there is another party ensconced behind,
either to the furtive love-whispers of those who should not be there,
or the frank abuse of each other of the _bona fide_ couple suffering
from intense heat and long years of matrimony.

Leonie spoke over her shoulder in the direction of the bedroom, where
the bearer was arranging the mosquito net, her toilet things, and her
new-bought dainty night attire.

It you are the right type or caste everything always goes smoothly for
you in India; if you a