and bring you both down to Lebong if
I may, Mrs. Smith."

"Will you lunch with us then?" asked Ida. "You know where I am staying--the
Woodbrook Hotel. Noreen is coming there too."

"Thank you, I'll be delighted," replied the Rifleman.

"Very well. One o'clock sharp. Now we'll say good-bye for the present."

Charlesworth shook hands with both ladies and strode off in triumph to
where Turner was awaiting him impatiently.

"Now, dear, we'll go," said Ida. "I have a couple of _dandies_ waiting for
us."

"_Dandies_?" echoed the girl in surprise. "What do you mean?"

The older woman laughed.

"Oh, not dandies like Captain Charlesworth. These are chairs in which
coolies carry you. In Darjeeling you can't drive. You must go in
_dandies_, or rickshas, unless you ride. Here, Miguel! Have you got the
missie _baba's_ luggage?" This to her Goanese servant.

"Yes, _mem sahib_. All got," replied the "boy," a native Christian with the
high sounding name of Miguel Gonsalves Da Costa from the Portugese Colony
of Goa on the West Coast of India below Bombay. In his tweed cap and suit
of white ducks he did not look as imposing as the Hindu or Mohammedan
butlers of other Europeans on the platform with their long-skirted white
coats, coloured _kamarbands_, and big _puggris_, or turbans, with their
employers' crests on silver brooches pinned in the front. But Goanese
servants are excellent and much in demand in Bombay.

"All right. You bring to hotel _jeldi_ (quickly). Come along, Noreen," said
Mrs. Smith, walking off and utterly ignoring the Hindu engineer who had
stood by unnoticed all this time with rage in his heart.

Noreen, however, turned to him and said:

"What are you going to do, Mr. Chunerbutty? Where are you staying?"

"I am going to my father at His Highness's house," he replied. "I should
not be very welcome at your hotel or to your friends, Miss Daleham."

"Oh, of course you would," replied the girl, feeling sorry for him but
uncertain what to say. "Will you come and see me tomorrow?"

"You forget. You are going to the gymkhana with that insolent English
officer."

"Now don't be unjust. I'm sure Captain Charlesworth wasn't at all insolent.
But I forgot the gymkhana. You could come in the morning. Yet, perhaps, I
may have to go out calling with Mrs. Smith," she said doubtfully. "And how
selfish of me! You have your own affairs to see to. I do hope that you'll
find your father much better."

"Thank you. I hope