wants to, and William says she's on the same footing. You see, we've
been together all our lives, more or less, since my people died. It
isn't as if she were an ordinary sister.'

'All the sisters I've ever heard of would have stayed where they were
well off.'

'She's as clever as a man, confound her,' Martyn went on. 'She broke
up the bungalow over my head while I was talking at her. Settled the
whole _subchiz_ [outfit] in three hours--servants, horses, and all. I
didn't get my orders till nine.

'Jimmy Hawkins won't be pleased,' said Scott. 'A famine's no place
for a woman.'

'Mrs. Jim--I mean Lady Jim's in camp with him. At any rate, she says
she will look after my sister. William wired down to her on her own
responsibility, asking if she could come, and knocked the ground from
under me by showing me her answer.'

Scott laughed aloud. 'If she can do that she can take care of
herself, and Mrs. Jim won't let her run into any mischief. There
aren't many women, sisters or wives, who would walk into a famine
with their eyes open. It isn't as if she didn't know what these
things mean. She was through the Jaloo cholera last year.'

The train stopped at Amritsar, and Scott went back to the ladies'
compartment, immediately behind their carriage. William, a cloth
riding-cap on her curls, nodded affably.