Kripá Dé’s countenance, with various expressions flitting rapidly across it, was a study to those who watched it. Surprise, perplexity, now pleasure, now pain, succeeded each other on it, leaving at the end one look of anxious hope as he asked, “If Premi were English, would she be _free_?” “Certainly,” replied every voice; and Harold added, “No English girl could be kept in confinement; the Government would claim her, and heavy punishment would fall on any one who dared to attempt to detain her.” “But the difficulty would be to prove that she is English,” observed Mr. Hartley. Addressing himself to Kripá Dé, he inquired whether the zenana child had ever talked of other scenes or of other people. “Never,” was the Kashmiri s reply—“at least I never heard of her doing so.” “There was nothing to awake a suspicion in your mind that Premi was connected with Europeans? Did she talk just like those around her?” Kripá Dé, pressing his hand over his forehead, made strong efforts to revive any faint impression left on the sands of his memory, but could not at first discover any. “If Premi’s language had at first been strange,” he observed, “I would only have thought that she was speaking in Pushtoo” (the language of the Afghans). “My father, are you aware that the commissioner is now on circuit?” said Harold. “I accidentally heard to-day that Mr. Thole is encamped at Patwal, only six miles from this place; but he may possibly have moved on. Would it not be well to lay the whole matter before him, and procure from him a warrant for the production in court of a young widow suspected to be of English birth? If our suspicions be correct, other proofs would probably come out if the matter were thoroughly sifted by a Government official.” It was now Kripá Dé’s turn to need an interpreter, and his eyes were anxiously turned towards Robin. “I think that we should not lose a day in consulting Mr. Thole,” was Mr. Hartley’s reply. “I have a slight, a very slight, acquaintance with the commissioner; he knows who I am, and he will, I hope, give me audience at once.—Robin, give orders for the tattu to be saddled without delay.” “Not, I trust, before you have taken your meal,” said Alicia pleadingly. “O father, you need rest and refreshment so much!” “Why not let Robin and myself go, and you remain here?” suggested Harold. “You have already exerted yourself beyond your strength.”