silver when the world is so charitable?'

The Amritzar girl stepped out with her bundles, and it was on her
that Kim kept his watchful eye. Ladies of that persuasion, he
knew, were generous.

'A ticket - a little tikkut to Umballa - O Breaker of Hearts!'
She laughed. 'Hast thou no charity?'

'Does the holy man come from the North?'

'From far and far in the North he comes,' cried Kim. 'From among
the hills.'

'There is snow among the pine-trees in the North - in the hills
there is snow. My mother was from Kulu. Get thee a ticket. Ask
him for a blessing.'

'Ten thousand blessings,' shrilled Kim. 'O Holy One, a woman has
given us in charity so that I can come with thee - a woman with a
golden heart. I run for the tikkut.'

The girl looked up at the lama, who had mechanically followed Kim
to the platform. He bowed his head that he might not see her, and
muttered in Tibetan as she passed on with the crowd.

'Light come - light go,' said the cultivator's wife viciously.

'She has acquired merit,' returned the lama. 'Beyond doubt it was
a nun.'