"I will give you an appointment here in the Palace with a salary of a
_lakh_ of rupees a year."

Chunerbutty's eyes glistened. A _lakh_ is a hundred thousand, and at par
fifteen rupees went to an English sovereign.

"Thank you, Your Highness," he said eagerly.

The Rajah held up a fat forefinger warningly.

"But not until you have married her," he said.

Chunerbutty smiled confidently. Much as he had seen of Noreen Daleham he
yet knew her so little as to believe that the prospect of such an income,
joined to the favour in which he believed she held him, would make it an
easy matter to win her consent.

He imagined himself to be in love with the girl, but it was in the
Oriental's way--that is, it was merely a matter of sensual desire. Although
as jealous as Eastern men are in sex questions, the prospect of the money
quite reconciled him to the idea of sharing his wife with another. His
fancy flew ahead to the time, which he knew to be inevitable, when
possession would have killed passion and the money would bring new, and so
more welcome, women to his arms. The Rajah would only too readily permit,
nay encourage him to go to Europe--alone. And he gloated over the thought
of being again in London, but this time with much money at his command.
What was any one woman compared with fifty, with a hundred, others ready to
replace her?

So he calmly discussed with the Rajah the manner of carrying out their