my fortune. And I swear that nothing shall stop me! I will be the
prompter of the little play now ready for a first rehearsal!" His
eyes lighted up viciously as he was swept along past the great
marble house, gleaming out in the shady compound, where the Rosebud
of Delhi was hidden.

"Cursed old curmudgeon! To lock the girl up!" muttered the handsome
young rascal. "Old Ram Lal must do a bit of spying for me!" Hawke
could see on the raised plateau of marble steps all the evidences
of the sumptuous luxury of the haughty Briton, "who toils not,
neither does he spin." But, the dozen pointed arches on each face
of the vast palace house of the budding baronet showed no sign
of life. The clustered marble columns stretched out in a splendid
lonely perspective, and the square inner castellated keep rose up
in the glaring sun, but with closed and shaded windows. Dusky shapes
flitted about, busied in the infinitesimal occupations of Indian
servitors, but no graceful woman form could be seen in the witching
gardens where a Rajah might have fitly held a durbar.

"I'll warrant the old hunks has Bramah locks and Chubb's burglar
proofs to fence this beauty off!" growled the Major, as he sank back
in the carriage. "I fancy, though, that a liberal dose of Madame
Louison's gold, judiciously administered by me, in her interest,
to Justine Delande, may open the way to the girl's presence! The
mother's story may serve to win the girl's heart. If I can only busy
old Hugh and the Madame in watching each other, then I can handle
Justine."

"Yes," the satisfied schemer concluded, "the old man's game is the
bauble title. Berthe Louison's must be some studied revenge. She is