she answered, but her smile
was not so ready and whole-hearted as it had been on board ship. "Aunt
Flora caught a chill and has been laid up. Poor dear, she is a martyr
to neuralgia."

"I know she is subject to it, but surely she does not require you to be
with her _all_ day?"

"No, but Herr Krauss is at home now; the old cook has departed after a
fearful explosion, and housekeeping is a struggle; servants are so
difficult to find and deal with, especially by a strange 'missy' like
myself. And Herr Krauss is particular about punctuality and the plates
being hot, and all that sort of thing; I have to make Russian salads,
confitures and sauces, so I have really had no spare time."

"Yes, I can imagine your hands have been pretty full. But do you mean
to tell me that _you_ run the house?"

"I don't exactly run it, but I do my best to drag it along--and it's
rather awkward from my being a new-comer; pice and rupees are
novelties, and everything is supposed to be in German fashion."

"German fashion!" echoed Shafto. "What's that?"

"Oh, particular hours, particular food, _Blutwurst_, sausages, Russian
salads, cakes, creams, and plenty of them."

"Well, I must say Krauss looks sleek and well fed; he does you credit!
But don't you ever get your Sunday off or your day out?"

"I suppose I do in a way. I have been to dine with one or two of our
neighbours, and we had some really first-rate music; and then, you see,
we live at a long distance from the Cantonment and the Gymkhana."

"But what about the car?"

"Herr Krauss uses it; he is away most of the day."

"But you have a horse to ride?"

"Yes, there was one; rather a nice-looking little bay, but soon after I
arrived, he was borrowed by a man who has taken it up to Prome."

Mrs. Gregory had been listening to this conversation, making mental
notes and setting down bad marks! Her cousin was returning from
Mandalay on the following day, and she determined that she and Milly
would wait upon Mrs. Krauss, and request her to liberate this prisoner.
Mrs. Krauss was a charming, indolent, clinging sort of individual, who
had latterly sunken into a somnolent existence and rarely appeared
above the social surface. Formerly she had been a brilliant figure in
Rangoon society, gave excellent dinners, danced, rode and played bridge
and tennis; but, by degrees, she seemed to have dropped out of things,
and Mrs. Gregory remembered how, once upon a time, when riding
togeth