ousin?"

"No, sir, I do not say so for, some four months ago, he spoke in
terms of admiration for Bajee Rao; but he did not pursue the
subject, and never afterwards alluded to it."

The minister looked at him fixedly.

"I believe you," he said. "You do not look like a double-faced man,
but as one who would tell the truth, whatever were the consequences.
Moreover, I felt that if you had known of Mahdoo Rao's intentions,
and had not reported them to me, you would, on receiving my message,
have endeavoured to make your escape. I have of course enquired, and
found that you spent your afternoon, as usual, with your scribe; and
that you afterwards rode out to Sufder's camp, and there talked for
half an hour, sitting outside the tent and conversing on ordinary
matters; and then you returned here to the palace. These proceedings
go far to assure me that you were ignorant of the discovery that had
been made, that a correspondence had been going on between Mahdoo and
Bajee. Still, I thought you might have known of the correspondence,
though not of the discovery; but now I am quite convinced that you
were altogether ignorant of what was going on."

The scene with Nana, and the knowledge that he had brought upon his
cousins even stricter confinement than before, acted most painfully
upon the mind of the young Peishwa, already embittered by the
restraint in which he was being held. He now shut himself up in his
room, and absolutely refused to leave it. His absence from the
durbars was put down to illness. Nana paid no great attention to
him, believing that the young prince would speedily recover
himself.

This, however, was not the case, for settled melancholy took
possession of him. On the 22nd of October he appeared at the
Duddera, a high ceremonial, went among his troops and, in the
evening, received his chiefs and the representatives from the great
rajahs but, three days later, he threw himself from a terrace in
front of his palace, broke two of his limbs, and so seriously
injured himself that he died, two days afterwards; having, almost
in his last breath, expressed to Nana his strong desire that Bajee
Rao should succeed him on the musnud.

The consternation of the minister was unbounded. It seemed that, by
this sudden and unexpected blow, the whole of his plans were
overthrown; and that not only his position, but his very life, was
in danger.

He sent for Harry, two hours after the Peishwa's death.

"Answer me fran