and was in a desperate state
when he got his leave. He applied for it because he had conceived the
idea that his going home as a married man might be a good thing for him.
Hester, it seemed not at all improbable, might accomplish something with
Walderhurst. If she talked to him in her interesting semi-Oriental way,
and was fervid and picturesque in her storytelling, he might be
attracted by her. She had her charm, and when she lifted the heavy lids
of her long black eyes and fixed her gaze upon her hearer as she talked
about the inner side of native life, of which she knew such curious,
intimate things, people always listened, even in India, where the thing
was not so much of a novelty, and in England she might be a sort of
sensation.

Osborn managed to convey to her gradually, by a process of his own, a
great deal of what he wanted her to do. During the months before the
matter of the leave was quite decided, he dropped a word here and there
which carried a good deal of suggestion to a mind used to seizing on
passing intimations. The woman who had been Hester's Ayah when she was a
child had become her maid. She was a woman with a wide, silent
acquaintance with her own people. She was seldom seen talking to anyone
and seldom seemed to leave the house, but she always knew everything.
Her mistress was aware that if at any time she chose to ask her a
question about the secret side of things concerning black or white
peoples, she would receive information to be relied upon. She felt that
she could have heard from her many things concerning her husband's past,
present, and future, and that the matter of the probable succession was
fully comprehended by her.

When she called her into the room after recovering outwardly from her
hour of desperation, she saw that the woman was already aware of the
blow that had fallen upon the household. What they said to each other
need not be recorded here, but there was more in the conversation than
the mere words uttered, and it was one of several talks held before Mrs.
Osborn sailed for England with her husband.

"He may be led into taking into consideration the fact that he has cut
the ground from under a fellow's feet and left him dangling in the air,"
said Osborn to his wife. "Best thing will be to make friends with the
woman, hang her!"

"Yes, Alec, yes," Hester Osborn answered, just a little feverishly. "We
must make friends with her. They say she is a good sort and was
frightful