this far-away land!" Then he calmly dropped into an easy discourse,
in which Geneva and Sister Euphrosyne punctuated the graceful flow
of his friendly chat. There was nothing very sinful in the debut
of this little intrigue.

"Let us always speak French!" said Alan Hawke, with a quiet, warning
glance at the closed door. "These same soft-eyed Hindostanees are the
very subtlest serpents of the earth. The only way to do, is never
to trust any of them!" The Major was busied in carefully taking
a mental measurement of Mademoiselle Justine, who, still well on
the sunny side of forty, was really a very comely replica of her
severer intellectual sister. Justine Delande still lingered in that
temperate zone of life where a fair fighting chance of matrimony
was still hers. "If a ray of sunshine ever steals into the flinty
bosom of a Swiss woman, there maybe a gleam or two still left here,"
mused the Major, most adroitly avoiding all reference to Justine's
rosebud charge, and only essaying to place her entirely at her
ease.

But, in proportion as he gracefully labored, the frightened governess
began to realize the danger of her situation.

"I hope that no one will observe us," she said, speaking rapidly
and under her breath. "Mr. Johnstone is so eccentric, so haughty,
and so very peculiar!" Her distress was evident, and the gallant
Major at once hastened to allay her fears.

"I have already thought of that. My old friend, Ram Lal, has a
lovely garden in rear of his house and there we will be entirely
unobserved. For I have so much that I would say to you." It was with