She had escaped—oh, God! she had escaped! But was not life far bitterer than death?
They knew how it was with her. Everyone of them had gone through her hour of worse than martyrdom, so they waited silently till she looked up again and made a pathetic effort to smile and thank them; and then Aglaia, who, having been the first comer, continued to do the honours of the palace, took her by the hand, and Aglaia's ayah followed, and she was given clear water and fresh garments, and when she was ready she was brought out again to the rajah's summer-house, where an English tea, with tinned meats and wheaten bread, and luscious Eastern fruits, was spread out.
It was then, as she has told me, that her perplexity began. She was asked a number of questions which she could not answer. Aglaia stood up before her, and besought earnestly to be told where Daddy Tom was, and why he did not come back, and when, thinking naturally the poor child was asking for one of the dead, she said that she had not seen him, Lucy interposed quickly: 'Oh! she means the rajah; don't you know? He sent you here.'
'The rajah! Daddy Tom!' echoed Mrs. Lyster.
'Of course you know he is an Englishman,' said Lucy.
'It was no Englishman saved us,' said Mrs. Lyster, shaking her head. 'Ask the others!'
'Oh! but it was; it was Tom. I think his second English name is Gregory. It's a funny story. Grace told me part of it,' said Lucy, 'and I heard the rest here. Surely he told you about Grace——'
'And about Kit, my sweet Kit, my little hero!' said Mrs. Durant, weeping.
'Grace! Kit! I don't understand. I think indeed we must be playing at cross-purposes. God knows it would give me the truest happiness to relieve your anxieties: you who have received me so kindly. But what can I tell you but the truth? We were saved by an Indian prince, a young man. He came to see us in the headman's hut, late at night, after he had killed twenty of our captors with his own hand. He told us he was the rajah of this place, and he would send us here with soldiers of his own. But, Tom—Thomas Gregory! what do you mean?' cried Mrs. Lyster, in great agitation. 'I knew an Englishman of that name once.'
'But you don't, you can't, mean to say that you know nothing more!' said Lucy. 'Think, for heaven's sake! Try your hardest to remember.'