"Will you give us shelter from them?"
"Gladly; my house and all that I have are at your disposal. Stay with me until their madness is over; they will soon be punished."
Several causes led the young lady to do that from which, under other circumstances, she would have recoiled. She was so broken by the terrifying experiences of the last hour, and so impressed by the unexpected loyalty of Ali Khan, that she believed the declaration of the nawab.
"We have friends as well as enemies," said she, turning to her escort. "We found one a few minutes ago, and here is another."
"What are your grounds for suspecting that he is honest?" asked the surgeon, who placed little faith in the native.
"He insists that he is a friend to us; he is angry with the people who have trampled his shrubbery. He wants to punish them, and he asks us to take shelter with him until the trouble is over."
"I would trust him just as far as I would trust the devil and no farther, but you are faint, and it is safe to avail ourselves of his offer for a few minutes."
CHAPTER XI.
THE CASHMERE GATE.
Marian turned to the nawab, and told him they accepted his hospitality with much gratitude. He seemed delighted, and led the way to the veranda, where he insisted that they should seat themselves on the cane settees and chairs of native manufacture The porter approached and made a respectful salaam, though he must have been filled with wonder to see the two Inglese before him. Like his master, he would have been eager to betray them into the power of their enemies, had he suspected their presence in the garden. He and his master must have wondered how it was the couple escaped discovery.