"Has Tom Tripe been told to search your house?"

"Yes, so he says."

"Do you know the cellar of your house?"

"Yes."

"It is dark. Are you afraid to go there?"

"No. Why?"

"Is there a flat stone in a corner of the cellar floor that once had a ring
in it but the ring is broken out?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then Sita Ram did not lie to me. Take this." She gave her a
little silver tube, capped at either end and sealed heavily with wax.
"There is a writing inside it--done in Persian. Hide that under the stone,
and let Tom Tripe search the cellar and find it there; but forbid him
to remove it."

"If I only knew what you are driving at!" said Tess with a wry smile.

A clumsier conspirator might have lost the game at that point by
over-emphasis, for Tess was wavering between point-blank refusal
and delay that would give her time to consult her husband. But Yasmini,
even at that age, was adept at feeling her way nicely. Again she lay