little girl in such inadequate, feeble hands.

To break the tension Lady Hetth clanked a silver Indian bracelet bought
at Liberty's against an Egyptian chain sold by Swan & Edgar's, and the
man frowned as he drew a series of cats on his blotting-paper.




CHAPTER III

"Against stupidity the very gods
Themselves contend in vain!"--_Schiller_.


"Let me see," he said slowly. "You have been in India I believe. I
wonder if you know anything about it!"

"I lived _ten_ years in the Punjab." This information was given with
the intense self-satisfaction peculiar to the feminine Anglo-Indian.
"With my husband," was added after a rather damping silence, "who was
knighted for certain--er--work he did in the Indian Civil Service."

"That doesn't mean that you know anything about the country, Mam.
Leonie has been with you almost seven years, please correct me if I
make any mistake. She is seven this month you say. She was four
months old when she came over from India. Did her ayah come with her,
by the way? No! Had she been good to the baby--yes! yes! I know, they
always are, but these dreams indicate that the child has been badly
frightened some time or another!"