not knowing whether
you were alive or dead; but feeling sure of a welcome, if I found
you."

"And you were not mistaken," he said heartily.

"Anundee, you will, I am sure, join me in the welcome; and
willingly give my sister and her child a place in our home?"

"Assuredly. It will be pleasant for me, when you are in the fields,
to have some one to talk to, and perhaps to help me about the
house."

Soyera saw that she was speaking sincerely.

"Thank you, Anundee; you may be sure that I shall not be idle. I
have been accustomed to work, and can take much off your hands; and
will look after your two children;" for two boys, three or four
years old, were standing before her, staring at the newcomer.

"That will be pleasant, Soyera; indeed, sometimes they hinder me
much in my work."

"I am accustomed to children, Anundee, as I was for years nurse to
English children, and know their ways."

"Well, now let us to dinner," Ramdass broke in. "I am hungry, and
want to be off again. There is much to do in the fields."

The woman took a pot off the embers of a wood fire, and poured its
contents into a dish. The meal consisted of a species of pulse
boiled with ghee, with peppers and other condiments added.

"And how did you like being among the English, Soyera?"

"I liked it very well," the woman said. "They are very kind and
considerate to nurses and, although they get angry when the
gorrawallah or other men neglect their duty, they do not punish
them as a Mahratta master would do. They are not double faced; when
they say a thing they mean it, and their word can always be
trusted. As a people, no doubt they are anxious to extend their
dominion; but they do not wish to do so for personal gain. They are
not like the princes here, who go to war to gain territory and
revenue. It was reasonable that they should wish to increase their
lands; for they are almost shut up in Bombay, with Salsette and the
other islands occupied by us, who may, any day, be their enemies."

Her brother laughed.

"It seems to me, Soyera, that you have come to prefer these English
people to your own countrymen."

"I say not that, Ramdass. You asked me how I liked them, and I have
told you. You yourself know how the tax collectors grind down the
people; how Scindia and Holkar and the Peishwa are always fighting
each other. Do you know that, in Bombay, the meanest man could not
be put to death, unless fairly tried; while among the Mahrattas men