This was ripping, simply ripping. He had not had to use the adjective for months, and with it came back a world of recollection--of idle harmless larks, of boyish mischief. It almost seemed as if the figure understood, for a gleam of pure mischief came to the black eyes, as Sobrai stood up also. In truth she found it ripping also, the only bit of fun she had had in a fortnight's freedom! And behind No. 34 B Company's red coat some fresh spectators had gathered, curious, surprised. A sudden dare-devil delight seized on the girl, her voice rose to its fullest pitch, she began to dance. Not with the posturings and suggestions of the bazaar, but with dignified gestures and scarcely perceptible swayings suited to her heavy robes, and to the words she sang. And all but her eyes were still covered by the green and the stars. And now a rushlight or two, caught hastily from the neighbouring shops, came to show more distinctly that graceful figure, and a voice or two in English called out to friends behind to come and see. The bazaar was re-filling; but it was forgetting other things in her--Sobrai! The thought, the unmistakable admiration, drove caution to the right-about. Let Miss Leezie come and see, if she chose! See that the apprentice had been right, that it was amusement people wanted! For the present, indeed, it seemed so. How long the novelty might have kept familiarity in check, it is impossible to say; for there was Miss Leezie horrified, indignant, forcing her way shrilly through a gathering of red-coats sufficient to ruin the good name of her house, should it be seen by any of the authorities. And Heaven only knew whether some might not fancy that bazaar as a short-cut home! 'You let 'er be--she's worth ten o' your lot,' remonstrated more than one voice; but No. 34 B Company had got further in admiration than that. Sobrai, for the time, had captured his imagination. It was vice against virtue, or at any rate dull sensuality against romance. Perhaps Sobrai saw something of this in his eyes. Anyhow, with a fierce exultation, she threw back her veil, and the hour-glass drum, twirled above her head, sent its message out over the clustering crowd. So it came to pass that Lady Arbuthnot, driving home, saw in the flesh what she had seen in her mind's eye--the woman's figure centring a circle of eager men's faces. 'Stand back! clear the way! _Hut! Hut!_' came the orders of policemen, recalled to a sense of duty. Then came a louder one, as an inspector on his way back rode up to see what caused the block. In an instant there was an uproar, a boy's voice, 'Don't you touch her, you----' a scuffle, a blow, a fall, a girl's shriek. Finally there was a lull, with two red-coats, under the orders of a passing officer, holding back a third, Miss Leezie protesting innocence, and a girl, still defiant, shrinking back into the darkest corner of the narrow entrance.