er saying nor doing the things he had meant to say or do.
But the mere beauty of her enthralled him; the alluring grace of her
pose, leaning forward a little, bare arms resting on her knees. No vivid
colour anywhere except her lips. Those lips, thought Roy, were
responsible for a good deal. Their flexible softness discounted more
than a little the deliberation of her eyes; and to-night, her charming
attitude to Elton appreciably quickened his interest in her and her
tale.

"It happened out in the district. I heard it from a friend." She leaned
nearer and spoke in a confidential undertone. "He got news that some
neighbouring town was in a ferment. Only a handful of Europeans there;
an American mission; and no troops. So the 'mish' people begged him to
come in and politely wave his official wand. You must be very polite to
_badmashes_[22] these days, if you're a mere Sahib; or you hear of it
from some little Tin God sitting safe in his office, hundreds of miles
away. Well, off he went--a twenty-mile drive; found the mission in a
flutter--I don't blame them--armed with rifles and revolvers;
expecting-every-moment-to-be-their-next sort of thing; and the town in
an uproar. Some religious tamasha. He talked like a father to the
headmen; and assured the 'mish' people it would be all right.

"They begged him to stay and see them through. So he said he would sleep
at the dak bungalow. 'All alone?' they asked. 'No one to guard you?'
'Quite unnecessary,' he said:--and they were simply amazed!

"It was rather hot; so he had his bed put in the garden. Then he sent
for the leading men and said: 'I hear there's a disturbance going on. I
don't intimate you have anything to do with it. But you are responsible;
and I expect you to keep the people in hand. I'm sleeping here to-night.
If there is trouble, you can report to me. But it is for _you_ to keep
order in your own town.'

"They salaamed and departed. No one came near him. And he drove off next
morning, leaving those Americans, with their rifles and revolvers, more
amazed than ever! I was told it made a great impression on the natives,
his sleeping alone in the garden, without so much as a sentry. And the
cream of it is," she added--her eyes on Elton's unheroic figure--"the
man who could do that is terrified of walking across a ballroom or
saying polite things to a woman!"

Distinctly, to-night, she was in a new vein, more attractive to Roy than
all her feminine crafts and lure