"'Well,' exclaimed the woman, 'I will leave this dagger here; do as you will; I have done for you what I could,' and she turned to depart, unmindful, apparently, of Lal Lu's tremulous 'And I am grateful to you.' * * * * * "When the prince arrived at the apartment in which he accorded his audiences, if the attention he bestowed upon the meager assemblages which presented themselves occasionally can be dignified by that description, he found awaiting him a Hindoo, whom he recognized at once, and whose presence invariably preceded the recital of important information. "To the degree that Prince Otondo had reason to suspect that his grandfather had certain of his servants subsidized at the Kutub, he measured secretly by similar secret embassies at the Delhi palace. "The egotistical old moghul, with a vanity which even his anomalous situation with the British had not impaired, wished to assure himself that he would be worthily succeeded, and the prince was equally solicitous concerning the advancing senility of the moghul. "In such bloodless intrigues this picturesque pair kept their servants engaged, until this germ of mutual distrust infected every dependent in the two households with that singular propensity to conspire which the studious historian of this mysterious country cannot have failed to record. "On this basis certain shrewd spirits among the British intruders at this period were able to discover more of the character of the people under their unwelcome rule, in a single establishment of native servants, than in the general observations of a hundred English households. "Awaiting, therefore, the conclusion of the ceremonies of approach, upon which he always insisted and which were shortly to be rendered so absurd, the prince at last, calling the Hindoo by name, demanded the occasion of his presence. "'It is an ill service, O prince,' replied the Hindoo, 'which I am about to render you.' "'What, then?' exclaimed the prince. 'To the point, to the point!' "'Your grandfather----' "'Is dead?' inquired the prince with badly disguised eagerness. "'Nay; worse.' "'Proceed!' demanded the prince. 'What can be worse?' "'Your grandfather,' replied the messenger, in evident haste to conclude a disagreeable task, 'has taken to himself a young wife.' "'Ah!' cried the prince, startled into a degrading abandonment of his customary elevation of demeanor. 'The dotard, the imbecile! Married? To whom?' "'A daughter of the house of Nadis Shah, Rani Rue.' "'I know her!' cried the prince savagely. 'Implacable, ambitious, unscrupulous. What will she not attempt with that old driveller?' Then, evidently impressed by something shadowed in the expression of his ill-omened Mercury, he exclaimed: 'You have more to tell me?' "The Hindoo bowed his head in perturbed affirmation. "'Quickly, then!' demanded his august listener.