mind of a man? His innate masculinity resented the idea. It succumbed,
nevertheless. He was too deeply hurt in his pride and his passionate
heart to think or feel sanely while the wound was still so fresh. He was
scarcely stirred even by the allusion to Rajputana in Mr Ramji Lal's
peroration.

"I ask you to consider, in conclusion--my dear and honoured English
friends--the words of a veteran lover of India, who is also a son of
England. It was his conviction--it is also mine--that 'the still living
art of India, the still living chivalry of Rajputana, the still living
religion of the Hindus, are the only three points on which there is any
possibility of regenerating the national life of India--the India of the
Hindus....'"

Very fine; doubtless very true; but what use--after all--their eternal
talk? By blowing volumes of air from their lungs, did they shift the
mountains of difficulty one single inch?

More talk followed; tea and attentions that would have flattered him
yesterday. To-day it all passed clean over his head. They were ready
enough to pamper him, like a lap-dog, these good ladies; forgetting he
was a man, with a man's heart and brain, making demand for something
more than carefully chosen sugar-plums.

He had never been so thankful to get away from that hospitable house,
where he had imagined himself so happy....

They were out in the street again, striding back to New College:
Roy--not yet alive to the change in him--full of it all; talking
nineteen to the dozen. But Dyán's urgent heart spoke louder than his