She started and flushed at the sound of her name; then turned her clear eyes full upon him, the shadow of a smile lifting the rebellious corners of her mouth. "No reason at all, ... in good time, Captain Desmond." He returned her look with an equal deliberation. "Is that a hint to me to keep my distance?" "No. Only to ... 'go slow,' if you'll forgive the expressive slang. It's so much wiser in the long-run." "Is it? Bad luck for me. I've never managed it yet, and I doubt if I ever shall. The men of my squadron call me _Bijli-wallah Sahib_,[7] and I didn't earn the name by going slow, ... Miss Meredith. If I have been overbold, your music was to blame. But Ladybird seemed to wish it; and, believe me, I did _not_ mean it to seem like impertinence. Why, there she is herself, bless her; and we're neither of us ready for breakfast!" [7] _Bijli_--lightning. CHAPTER IV. ESPECIALLY WOMEN. "We are fearfully and wonderfully made--especially women." --THACKERAY. The afternoon sunlight flung lengthening shadows across the cavalry Lines, where men and native officers alike were housed in mud-plastered huts, innocent of windows; and where life was beginning to stir anew after the noontide tranquillity of the East. The eighty horses of each troop stood, picketed with ample lengths of head and heel rope, between the lines of huts occupied by their sowars; while at the permanently open doorways squatted the men themselves,--Sikhs, Punjabi-Mahomedans, Pathans, each troop composed entirely of one or the other,--smoking, gambling, or putting final touches to their toilet in the broad light of day. The native officers alone aspired to a certain degree of privacy. Their huts were detached a little space from those that guarded the horses; and flimsy walls of grass matting, set around them, imparted a suggestion of dignity and aloofness from the common herd. The hut of Jemadar Alla Dad Khan, of the Pathan troop of Desmond's squadron, boasted just such a matting wall, with a gateless gateway, even as in the bungalows of Sahibs; and withinsides all was very particularly set in order. There was an air of festivity in the open courtyard, on either side of which lay two smoke-grimed rooms, that made up the entire house.