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At the point of the sword they had proved the truth of Nicholson's proud boast, and hour by hour the man who had turned from them in a moment of bitter disillusion saw the temple he had once built to their honor rise from its ashes in new and greater splendor. Thus two weeks had passed, and to-night was to see the end. Nehal knew that, brave though they were, they could do no more.
He had regained his memory of her as a good woman, striving upward and onward; and already he had invested her with the glory of those whom death has already claimed from us. Nehal Singh started from his painful reverie, conscious that some one had entered the room and was watching him.
Nehal Singh let the curtain fall back into its place, and the yellow patch of sunshine upon the marble faded. He looked at his companion steadfastly, but with eyes that saw nothing. "My thoughts!" he repeated, in a low, musical voice. "My thoughts are valueless.
"Stafford kept silence " "He had promised. And, moreover, he believed it kinder to hide the truth from Lois. Only at the last he determined to speak at all costs. But it was too late. You know he was murdered on the steps of Travers' house." Nehal Singh nodded. An even deadlier pallor crept over his features. "I know," he said. "It was Behar Singh's last vengeance. God knows, my hands are clean."
For the first time during the whole proceedings the prince smiled, and in turn received a smile. The ladies had by this time arrived, and the presentations continued. There was no change in Nehal Singh's demeanor when he stood before Beatrice Cary no change, at least, visible to the curious eyes that watched.
She must have escaped her prison. More I know not." The man was trembling as though in the shadows there lurked a hidden threatening danger, and Nehal turned aside with a gesture of desperate impatience. "Why hast thou come before the time?" he asked. "Lord Sahib, outside there are two English prisoners. They demand to be brought before thee. What is thy will?" "Bring them hither."
With a sigh of relief Nehal Singh drew the table closer. "Show me your plans," he said. For three uninterrupted hours the two men sat over the papers which Travers had brought.
As though guided by a sure instinct, Nehal Singh turned in the direction where Beatrice was standing with her mother and Travers. Without hesitation he went up to her. "I have waited to be your guide," he said. His words sounded amusingly decided and matter-of-course, and a smile of not very sympathetic meaning passed over the faces of those within earshot.
Nehal Singh stood where the bowing servant left him, at the side of the poor dead woman, his hands crossed upon his sword-hilt, his eyes fixed on the parted curtains. There he waited, motionless, passive, as a man waits who knows that he has become the tool of Destiny. A moment later, Beatrice stood before him. She was not alone, but in that first moment he saw nothing but her face.
"Well, what about us 'ladies'?" in a tone as though the description had been an insult. "I have just told you Nehal Singh gives you till midnight to get away." Mrs. Carmichael snapped her lips together in a straight, uncompromising line. "Very much obliged to His Highness, I'm sure, but I stay with the regiment," she said.
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