Again she paused, and again the faint creeping sense of mystery
invaded me.

She resumed;-

"The abbot saw her and he loved her. He was young still, you
remember. She was a woman of the Hindu faith and hated Buddhism.
It swept him down into the lower worlds of storm and desire. He
fled with Lilavanti and never returned here. So in his rebirth he
fell-"

She stopped dead; her face pale as death.

"How do you know? Where have you read it? If I could only find
what you find and know what you know! The East is like an open
book to you. Tell me the rest."

"How should I know any more?" she said hurriedly. "We must be
going back. You should study the plans of this place at
Peshawar. They were very learned monks who lived here. It is
famous for learning."

The life had gone out of her words-out of the ruins. There was no
more to be said.

We clambered down the hill in the hot sunshine, speaking only of
the view, the strange shrubs and flowers, and, once, the swift
gliding of a snake, and found Mrs. Delany blissfully asleep in
the most padded corner of the car. The spirit of the East