“Regular hospital treatment!” she said, adopting the words she had once heard Dr Headlam use to Georgia with reference to a case of his own, and then turned her attention to making as comfortable a bed as possible out of the coverlets and cushions scattered about, that the patient might not return to consciousness on the wretched bedstead she had occupied hitherto. When everything was finished the door was opened and Khadija again admitted. She came in suspiciously, and looked askance at all she saw; but, on finding that Zeynab was sleeping quietly, sat down beside her without uttering a word. The operation once successfully completed, Georgia and Rahah settled down to an extremely monotonous mode of life for several days. Their sole interest and excitement was caused by the improvement or relapses of the patient, and by the necessity of keeping an eye on Khadija. Not only was it extremely likely that the old woman would try to poison them, but she also cherished a lively distrust of Georgia’s dressings, and there was a constant risk that in a frenzy of rage she might tear them off, and even interfere with the wound itself, in which case poor Zeynab would have been worse off than before. But as the days passed on and Zeynab continued to make progress, the old woman began to believe once more in the possibility of her charge’s regaining perfect health. The little face which had been so pinched and pain-lined began to recover its bloom, and Georgia found it possible to believe in the loveliness the report of which had spread even to Kubbet-ul-Haj, and which had earned for Zeynab her pet-name of Rose of the World. Warm water and the gift of a piece of the doctor lady’s soap were powerful inducements to the child to keep her face clean, and the consequent improvement in her appearance surprised no one more than Khadija. Her wild outbreaks of wrath ceased gradually as Zeynab’s eyes grew brighter and her cheeks less thin, and her manner to Georgia became markedly gracious. But this did not lead to any slackening of the precautions observed by the visitors, for they knew that their danger was considerably increased by the fact that they had performed their part of the bargain, whereas Khadija had not as yet discharged hers. Every day Rahah cooked their food over a spirit-lamp and drew from the well the water they needed, while Ibrahim also was provided for out of the stores they had brought with them. For the hours of darkness, moreover, Rahah patented a scheme of defence of which the idea was entirely her own. Before leaving Bir-ul-Malik, she had begged from Ismail Bakhsh a box of tin-tacks, and every night she strewed these upon the floor, with the points upwards. Georgia remarked that if the house should catch fire, and Rahah and she found it necessary to escape hurriedly, they themselves would be the first to suffer; but Rahah was not deterred from adopting her plan by this consideration.