She had told herself a
dozen times, and vehemently, that she was glad of it, but the
humiliating fact remained that she missed him--missed him at every turn;
when she rode, when she danced, when she went out in her rickshaw, and
most of all in her drawing-room.
She had grown so accustomed to the sight of the thick-set, unromantic
figure swinging lazily to and fro on her sorely tried music-stool,
watching her with serene grey eyes that generally held a smile. She
wished she had not been quite so severe. She had not meant to send him
quite away. As a friend, his attitude of kindly admiration was all that
could be desired. And he was so safe, too, so satisfactorily solid. She
had always felt that she could say what she liked to him without being
misunderstood. Well, he had gone, and as they finally alighted, and went
forward on foot through the fair, she resolutely dismissed him from her
mind.
She made one or two purchases under Fletcher's guidance, which meant
that she told him what she wanted and stood by while he bargained for
her in Hindustani, an amusing business from her point of view.
Undoubtedly she was beginning to enjoy herself, when he surprised her by
turning from one of these unintelligible colloquies, and offering for
her acceptance a beautifully wrought gold filigree bracelet.
She looked at him blankly, not without a vague feeling of dismay.
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