"Let the commissioner sahib deny it then! Go!"

"But, missy--"

"Do as I say, Tom Tripe, and when I am maharanee of Sialpore you
shall have double pay--and a troupe of dancing girls--and a dozen horses--
and the title of bahadur--and all the brandy you can drink. The sepoys
shall furthermore have modern uniforms, and you shall drill them until
they fall down dead. I have promised. Go!"

With a wag of his head that admitted impotence in the face of woman's
wiles Tom strode out by the back way, followed at a properly respectful
distance by his "eater-of-all-that-is-unnamable."

Then the princess walked through the parlor to the deeply cushioned
window-seat, outside which the commissioner sat quite alone with Mrs. Blaine,
trying to pull strings whose existence is not hinted at in blue books.
Yasmini from earliest infancy possessed an uncanny gift of silence,
sometimes even when she laughed.





Chapter Three



No Tresspass!