Three days later I met Lady Meryon, and was swept in to tea. Her
manner was distinctly more cordial as she mentioned casually
that Vanna had left - she understood to take up missionary work -
"which is odd," she added with a woman's acrimony, "for she had
no more in common with missionaries than I have, and that is
saying a good deal. Of course she speaks Hindustani perfectly,
and could be useful, but I haven't grasped the point of it yet" I
saw she counted on my knowing nothing of the real reason of
Vanna's going and left it, of course, at that. The talk drifted
away under my guidance. Vanna evidently puzzled her. She half
feared, and wholly misunderstood her.

No message came to me, as time went by, and for the time she had
vanished completely, but I held fast to her promise and lived on
that only.

I take up my life where it ceased to be a mere suspense and
became life once more.

On the 15th of June, I found myself riding into Srinagar in
Kashmir, through the pure tremulous green of the mighty poplars
that hedge the road into the city. The beauty of the country had
half stunned me when I entered the mountain barrier of Baramula
and saw the snowy peaks that guard the Happy Valley, with the
Jhelum flowing through its tranquil loveliness. The flush of the
almond blossom was over, but the iris, like a blue sea of peace
had overflowed the world - the azure meadows smiled back at the
radiant sky. Such blossom! the blue shading into clear violet,