'The night passes slowly. Ganesh is long away. I wonder if he really means well by us, or if this is merely a trap laid out for our destruction. It may be. Chunder Singh was sure of it. And he knows the native character much better than I do; but as I cannot draw back now, and would not if I could, I must not dream of failure. There are other things to think of. In these quiet moments, solitary except for Hoosanee, who crouches at my feet--the litter in which I have been travelling at rest, and my little reading-lamp making a tent of light in the dark forest--I have time and opportunity for thought. In Gumilcund I could not think. That sense, half oppressive, half exultant--ah! has it not been a great illusion? I feel so free, so natural now: my life has become so simple--one thought in my mind--one will animating me--one object at my heart--that I cannot but believe I have been tormenting myself in vain. And, indeed, can it not be easily explained? This idea of a double personality was the clever stroke of policy of a clever and subtle brain that sought to project itself into the future. And no doubt, having allowed myself to fall into it, I have been able to do more for the people of Gumilcund and for my own people also than would otherwise have been possible. So far it has been well. But it cannot surely last for ever. It began--stay--did it begin here? Did it even begin on board the "Patagonia"? Before ever I met Chunder Singh--the very night after I received news of my inheritance, I had my first vision. The next was when I opened the papers that were so mysteriously lost. If then the others resulted from my intercourse with Chunder Singh, what was the origin of them? Some solution of the mystery may come to me by-and-by; it seems to me now as if there was only one way in which that question could be answered. 'But I hear footsteps in the wood; I must put my pen down.' * * * * * The following entries are undated; but I know that they belong to this period. * * * * * 'What a terrible--what a bewildering day this has been! I have been thinking--I have been talking--I have been pleading--I have been protesting--till I scarcely know where I am or what I am doing, and--I tremble as I write the words--I am no nearer the accomplishment of my object than I was when I arrived. 'One thing, however, seems certain. Dost Ali Khan, though he would give worlds to detach me and my State from the English alliance, has no wish or intention of injuring me personally. I confess, after all I have heard of the perfidy of Asiatics, I am a little astonished at the gratitude I have met with for very small favours. 'But I must try to put it all down in detail. It may be useful for future reference.