"I should like," said Ted, with feeling, "to make these beggars outside feel small. We've drifted into a curious talk, considering our situation." "Not a bit of it," said Alec. "I quite agree with you, Miss Ethel. I must go and relieve Leigh now, and you relieve me in a couple of hours, Ted. Miss Woodburn, I'm glad we've had this talk, and I sha'n't forget it." "And I must go back to father now," said Ethel, whereupon Ted turned to accompany her. The colonel was fast asleep, breathing easily. "Good-bye for a few hours, Ethel!" said the ensign; and added in a low, hesitating tone, "You're a saint." "I! Oh, Ted, you little know me--you and Jim. It's easy to forgive one who can no longer injure you, but it's hard to live your ordinary life with a person who wishes to injure you, or who has done so, and who hates and despises you. What a terrible prig you must think me, Ted! I know I can't feel like that myself. I only wish I could." Ted glanced guiltily round. There was no one in the room save Colonel Woodburn, and he was sleeping, undisturbed by their whispering. Seizing the girl's hand he kissed it, awkwardly and nervously, then hastily dropping it blushed furiously. "There!" exclaimed the ensign jerkily. "I knew I should do it some day. I'm sure Jim never did that." "Oh--?" Ethel's face was also flushed, and she looked radiantly charming as she gave utterance to the long-drawn, quizzing exclamation, and a new light broke in upon Ted. "What! Old Jim?" he asked. "Well, who'd have thought it? Lucky beggar! It's a dainty little hand." "Silence, sir! I must ask you to leave the room." "Good-bye, then, little sister!" CHAPTER X Hope and Despair Two more weary days passed inside the fortified house. Numerous attacks had been made, and though they had invariably failed, some damage had been inflicted on the besieged. As the assailants were retiring in disorder after one of these futile attempts, a big, light-featured man in scanty costume sidled up to the house, waving a sealed letter. "Quick! let me in!" he shouted. "I'm a sepoy of the Guide Corps!" The door was hurriedly thrown open, but not before the besiegers had divined the man's intentions, and bullets whizzed perilously near his head before he was safe inside. Espying our hero, the Guide handed him the letter, and Ted recognized the fellow as Faiz Talab, his brother's orderly. He opened the note, and his face glowed. He whistled, then shouted in great excitement, "Hurrah! the Guides are coming!" "The Guides!" echoed Sir Arthur, and a joyful light came into Ethel's eyes. Faiz Talab, the Pathan, grinned gleefully. The letter, dated from Manghur, thirty-two miles away, ran as follows:-- "We were starting for Delhi when the Aurungpore news arrived, and as we pass so close I obtained permission to detach 120 men to your aid. A greater number cannot be spared, as Delhi is all-important. So, old man, tell Ethel I'll soon be with her."