the garden in the afternoon. I can easily see her alone."

"First rate! Then I will give you a message," answered Hawke. "I
must see her to-morrow early, for old Hugh will surely ask me to
tiffin. And, Ram, you must at once set your best man on to watch
all that goes on there. I have a good fat plum for you now--to set
up a neat little house here for a friend of mine who is coming, and
you shall do the whole thing!" The merchant's dark eyes glistened.
"A new officer of rank?" he queried.

"It's a lady--a friend of mine--rich, too, and she wants to live
on the quiet! She will stay here for some time!" The oily listener
had learned a vast prudence in the days when he trod the halls of
the last King of Delhi, so he held his peace and wondered at the
suddenly enhanced fortunes of that star of graceful wanderers,
Allan Hawke!

"I'll go over to the club now and get a room! Send all my things
over!" said the Major. "I wish to let Hugh know that I am here.
I will give you the directions about the house to-morrow. Make no
mistake with this message now!" Whereat Alan Hawke repeated a few
words which would awake the slumbering curiosity in the woman-heart
of the lonely Justine Delande!

"Now, I will return and await your success," concluded Hawke as
he read over a dozen times Madame Berthe Louison's long dispatch,
ordering him to prepare her pied de terre in Delhi. "Gad! Milady
means to do the thing in style," he murmured. "She is a deep one,
and she must have a pot of money!" He lit a cheroot and sauntered
away to show up officially at the club. Major Hawke soon became aware