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The din aroused Ramesh too, and brought him to the door of his cabin in search of Kamala. She gave a start of surprise when she saw him, and discreetly veiled though she was already, she essayed to shroud her face still more completely.

"Have you had a wash yet, Kamala?" Ramesh asked.

It seemed an innocent enough question, affording no excuse for loss of temper; and yet she obviously did take offence for she turned away and merely shook her head

"People will be about soon," he went on; "you had better get ready now."

Kamala said nothing in reply; she snatched up her day-apparel from the chair on which it lay and marched off past him towards the bathroom.

That Ramesh should rise early in order to superintend her toilet seemed to Kamala not only unnecessary but an impertinence. She was quite aware that in his deahngs with her he drew a line, and that he never overstepped it in the direction of familiarity. She had never sat at a mother-in-law's feet and learned the usual lessons in deportment—when and where modesty prescribes the use of the veil. Yet she was unaccountably overcome with shyness in Ramesh's presence that morning.

When Kamala returned to her cabin after bathing, her day's work lay before her. She took out the bunch of keys from the loose end of her garment which was flung over her shoulder and proceeded to open the trunk containing her clothes, but as she did so the little cash-box which Ramesh had presented to her caught her eye. Yesterday it had seemed to her a new delight, its possession had given her a sense of power and independence, and she had locked it up as carefully as any costly treasure; but to-day the thrill of pleasure with which she had handled it was absent.