But I can't do without you--a message might come through any moment and I should be in _his_ hands, the brute!--he thought himself quite safe, and would have been, but for you! You locked the door, didn't you?' He walked over to it, however, to make sure of the fastening, and then pushed the heavy office table across it. 'They may have duplicate keys, and I don't want them inside,' he explained. Then he stood for a moment looking at the girl--'I m awfully sorry; but you won't mind, I know. I wonder if there is a cushion anywhere to make you more comfortable. No! but a ledger will be better than the bare floor.' He took one or two and placed them behind the table. 'Now, if you don't mind sitting down there, where I can see you and nobody else can--even if we have to open the shutter--that will do nicely.' Then he turned to the heap in the corner. 'Now get up, _baboo-jee_,' he said politely, 'and resume your duties; you can sit on that stool. If anybody comes along, keep quiet, and don't open the shutter till I give the signal. Then you can transact business as usual. But mind, if you try it on again, the Miss-_sahiba_ will warn me, and I will--warn you.' He laid the revolver ostentatiously on the table, then--borrowing the _baboo's_ comforter, which was hanging on a peg--he sat down at the table in a beautifully _baboo_-esque attitude with his legs twined round his chair. 'Will I do?' he asked gravely of Lesley when he had finished making himself a smoking-cap out of black transfer-paper, and she could not help laughing softly. 'I assure you it is very serious, he said, smiling also; 'and I'm awfully sorry to keep you; but you ought to get back in time for dinner.' 'Dinner!' she echoed, a trifle hurt, 'surely dinner----' 'Is a minor matter? Never! Besides, I hope to God we are both going to have a _good_ dinner to-night; for that means--success. There is no earthly reason why there _should_ be a row, you know. If we see this through, and the troops come up to time----' he paused, lost in his own previsions. 'Well,' he said finally, 'we had better not talk. A native's bare feet are more inaudible than our whispers, and it won't do to be found out. So--steady it is for an hour or so.'