say, only half in joke. "With East and West in his soul--the best of
each--he will cast out the devils of conflict and suspicion and draw the
two into closer understanding of one another."

And, in secret, Lilámani dreamed and prayed that some day ... possibly
... who could tell----?

Yet, still there had persisted the sense of a widening gulf between her
and her own people, leaving her doubtful if she ever wanted to see India
again. The spiritual link would be there always; for the rest--was she
not wife of Nevil, mother of Roy? Ungrateful to grieve if a price must
be paid for such supreme good fortune.

For herself she paid it willingly. But--must Roy pay also? And in what
fashion? How could she fail to imbue him with the finest ideals of her
race? But how if the magnet of India proved too strong----? To hold the
scales even was a hard task for human frailty. And the time of her
absolute dominion was so swiftly slipping away from her. Always, in the
back of her mind, loomed the dread shadow of school; and her Eastern
soul could not accept it without a struggle. Only yesterday, Nevil had
spoken of it again--no doubt because Jane made trouble--saying too long
delay would be unfair for Roy. So it must be not later than September
next year. Just only fifteen months! Nevil had told her, laughing, it
would not banish him to another planet. But it would plunge him into a
world apart--utterly foreign to her. Of its dangers, its ideals, its
mysterious influences, she knew herself abysmally ignorant. She must
read. She must try and understand. She must believe Nevil knew
best--she, who had not enough knowledge and too much love. But she was
upheld by no sustaining faith in this English fashion of school, with
its decree of too early separation from the supreme influences of mother