That was how the present Mrs. Hichens began to know Skag.

He carried her back along the path, fresh-marked by her own footsteps,
to the tent.

Next afternoon he called to learn how she was. He had a sheaf of wild
mountain lilac-blooms in his hand.

"Oh, lovely! I haven't seen lilacs since England."

"They make me think of my mother," he said, giving the flowers into her
hands.

"I would so much like to hear about your mother."

Skag had not the habit of much speaking, but he found it easy to tell
this English girl about the mother who had died when he was a child.
She leaned against banked pillows and watched the changes flow across
his face. They were almost startling and yet so clean, so wholesome,
that she felt inwardly refreshed, as by a breath from mountain heights.

Naturally he went on to tell her about Carlin; but when at last he
spoke her name, the English girl interrupted him:

"Is it possible you are meaning Doctor Carlin Deal?"

"Yes; do you know her?" Skag asked.

"I have met her several times--quite frightened at first, because I had
heard about her--you know she is very learned, even for one much older."

"I know she is a physician."

"Yes; London Medical. But it's not just her profession; it's herself.
She's really wonderful; her sweetness is so strong and--all her
strengths are so lovely."

"She is wonderful to me," Skag said.

"I'm congratulating you, you understand?" The present Mrs. Hichens
smiled as she added: "I've heard that she has a fine discernment of
men."

He went before sunset. After he had gone she asked her ayah to find
out about who he was and whatever concerning him.

When Police Commissioner Hichens came up that week-end, he was so
seriously dissatisfied with the tediousness of her recovery, that she
had no inclination to tell him about having gone out from the tent on
her own unsteady feet, at all. Certainly it would be calamitous for
him to hear of her having been carried in by a perfect stranger. For
which reason she called her ayah, while the Sahib was in his bath
before dinner and said to her hurriedly:

"Ayah, will you do a thing for my sake?"

"To the shedding of my blood, Thou Shining."

"Then guard from the master that he shall not learn of my going out, or
of the stranger who appeared."

"He shall never learn. Never while he lives shall he learn, unless
from your own lips."

"Will all the other servants help you, Ayah dear?"

"It is alre