"Come," he went
on. "It seems that we are to have the run of the place. Shall we explore?"
She nodded a quick agreement, and they started off, thus following the
example of others of the party who had already made use of the Rajah's
suggestion that they should visit the chief and most interesting portions
of the palace. Nehal Singh himself stood alone, and thankful for his
loneliness. For the last ten minutes Colonel Carmichael and he had stood
side by side, and found no word to say to each other. The past, which
might have been a link, proved itself a barrier which neither could scale,
and presently, on some excuse, the Colonel had hurried off to join his
wife. As though guided by a sure instinct, Nehal Singh turned in the
direction where Beatrice was standing with her mother and Travers. Without
hesitation he went up to her.
"I have waited to be your guide," he said. His words sounded amusingly
decided and matter-of-course, and a smile of not very sympathetic meaning
passed over the faces of those within earshot.
"You can be sure she went a lot further than she cared to say," Mrs. Berry
whispered to her daughter. "You can see how everything was made up
beforehand. I wonder what she expects to get out of him?"
Though the remark did not reach her, Beatrice's instinct and bitter
experience supplied her with a sure key to the look that was exchanged
between the two women. She smiled gaily.
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