re; Holkar's power is, for the time,
subservient to Scindia; and Nana Furnuwees is, therefore, deprived
of all those who aided to bring him back to power.

"You are well known to Nana, are you not?"

"Yes, Colonel, he was kind enough to place a good deal of
confidence in me."

"Then I think you cannot do better than see him, to begin with, and
gather his views on the matter. I myself have heard nothing from
him, for some time. He knows that the Company are well disposed
towards him; but he also knows that they can give him no
assistance, in a sudden crisis."

"But surely, Colonel, Bajee Rao, who owes everything to him, will
not desert him?"

"My opinion of the Peishwa is that he is a man without a spark of
good feeling; that he has neither conscience nor gratitude, and
would betray his own brother, if he thought that he would obtain
any advantage by so doing. He is a born schemer, and his sole idea
of politics is to play off one faction against another. I would
rather take the word of a man of the lowest class, than the oath of
Bajee Rao."

"I am sorry to hear it, sir. He seemed to me to be a fine fellow,
with many accomplishments. His handsome face and figure, and
winning manner--"

"His manner is part of his stock in trade," the colonel said,
angrily. "He is a born actor; and can deceive, for a time, even
those who are perfectly aware of his unscrupulous character.

"Remember one thing, Mr. Lindsay: that if you are in any
difficulty, or if a tumult breaks out in the city, you had best
make your way here, at once. A trooper of my escort was thrown from
his horse, and killed, the other day; and if you attire yourself in
his uniform, you will pass for one of them. Whatever happens, they
are not likely to be touched. Both parties wish to stand well with
me and, even were it found out that you are an Englishman, you
would be safely sheltered here; for I should claim you as my
assistant, and an officer in our army, and declare truthfully that
you had only assumed this guise in order to ascertain, for me, the
feelings of the populace."

"Thank you, sir. I will certainly come here, as soon as any serious
trouble begins."

That evening, after rubbing off the caste marks and assuming those
of a Brahmin, and putting on the dress suitable for it--padding it
largely, to give him the appearance of a stout and bulky man--he
went to Nana's house.

"Will you tell the minister," he said to the doorkeeper, "that
Kawers