"Now we ought all to go to sleep," announced Yasmini, yawning, and
then bubbling with delighted laughter at the expression of Tess's face.
"The people outside might wait!"

"Great heavens, child. Do you suppose I can stay here indefinitely?"
Tess demanded. "I must be gone in an hour or my husband will
murder the guard and force an entrance!"

"I will have just such a husband soon," announced Yasmini. "When I
send him one little word, he will cut the throats of thirty men and come
to me through flames! Let us try your husband," she added as an
afterthought--then laughed again at Tess's expression of dissent,
and nodded.

"I, too, will be careful how I risk my husband! Men are but moths in a
woman's hands--fragile--but the good ones are precious. Besides,
we have no time tonight for sport. I must escape."

Evidently Tess was causing her exquisite amusement. The thought
of being an accomplice in any such adventure stirred all her Yankee
common sense to its depths, and she had none of the Eastern trick
of not displaying her emotions.

"Nonsense, child! Let me go to the commissioner and warn him that
you are being starved to death in this place. I will threaten him with
public scandal if he doesn't put an end to it at once."

"Pouf!" laughed Yasmini. "Samson sahib would make a nice clumsy
accomplice! He would send me to Calcutta, where I should be poisoned
sooner or later for a certainty, because Gungadhura would send agents