The other woman looked down sullenly and made no reply.

“Then I shall,” continued the girl.  She faced the group of men before her, Payne and Travers by her side.

“I ask you to believe, gentlemen, that there never was nor could be any question of an engagement between Mr. Chunerbutty and me,” she said firmly.  “And I give you my word of honour that I never said such a thing to Mrs. Rice.”

She waited for a moment, then turned and walked away down the verandah, followed by Payne and Travers, leaving a pained silence behind her.  Mrs. Rice tried to regain her self-confidence.

“The idea of that chit talking to me like that!” she exclaimed.  “It was only meant for a joke, if I did say it.  Who’d have ever thought she’d have taken it that way?”

“Any decent man—­or woman, Mrs. Rice,” said Dermot severely.  Then, after looking at Rice to see if he wished to take up the cudgels on his wife’s behalf, and failing to catch that gentleman’s carefully-averted eye, the soldier turned and walked deliberately to where Noreen was sitting, now suffering from the reaction from her anger and frightened at the memory of her boldness.

The other men got up one by one and went to the bar, from which the hen pecked Rice was peremptorily called by his angry wife and ordered to drive her home.

After the Dalehams had returned to their bungalow the girl told her brother of what had happened at the club.  He was exceedingly angry and agreed that it would be wiser for her to keep Chunerbutty at a distance in future.  And later on he had no objection to her inviting Dermot to pay them a flying visit when he was again in their neighbourhood.  For the incident at the club had brought about a resumption of the old friendly relations between Noreen and Dermot, who occasionally invited her to accompany him on Badshah for a short excursion into the forest, much to her delight.  She confided to him the offer of the necklace and learned in return his belief that the Rajah was the instigator of the attempt to carry her off.  When her brother heard of this and of Chunerbutty’s action in the matter of the jewels he was so enraged that he quarrelled for the first time with his Hindu friend.

* * * * *

Dermot was kept informed of whatever happened in Lalpuri by the repentant Rama through the medium of Barclay.  For the Deputy Superintendent had been appointed to a special and important post in the Secret Police and told off to watch the conspiracy in Bengal.  This he owed to a strong recommendation from Dermot to the Head of the Department in Simla.  Rama proved invaluable.  Through him they learned of the despatch of an important Brahmin messenger and intermediary from the Palace to Bhutan, by way of Malpura, where he was to visit some of his caste-fellows on Parry’s garden.  The information reached Dermot too late to enable him to seize the man on the tea-estate.