But she shook her head. "No, not now, not yet. I want you—to take care of Everard for me."
"Can't he take care of himself?" questioned Bernard. "I thought I had taught him to be fairly independent."
"Oh, it isn't that," she said. "It is—it is—India."
He leaned nearer to her, the smile gone from his eyes. "I thought so," he said. "You needn't be afraid to speak out to me. I am discretion itself, especially where he is concerned. What has India been doing to him?"
With a faint gesture she motioned him nearer still. Her face was very pale, but resolution was shining in her eyes. "Don't let us be disturbed!" she whispered. "And I—I will tell you—all I know."
CHAPTER IV
THE SERPENT IN THE DESERT
The battalion was ordered back to Kurrumpore for the winter months, ostensibly to go into a camp of exercise, though whispers of some deeper motive for the move were occasionally heard. Markestan, though outwardly calm and well-behaved, was not regarded with any great confidence by the Government, so it was said, though, officially, no one had the smallest suspicion of danger.