"The better the day! No; Christmas must take care of itself--if it can! I mean to take her away and care for her--if I can. But thanks, all the same. I shall never forget your kindness."
In the semi-darkness the listener could see the man stoop and kiss the hand laid on his arm.
The next instant Colonel Gould was turning savagely on the figure which had thrust itself on to the path.
"What the devil are you doing here, sir? You are under arrest, and should be in quarters."
"It was only open arrest, sir, and the time--" Hirabul's tone matched the mutiny in his heart, and the Colonel broke in on it roughly--
"Consider it close arrest now. Go back and report yourself at once--and, by Heaven! if you say another word, I'll have you court-martialled. Go!"
A wild surge of impotent rage kept Hirabul Khan speechless, and ere he recovered himself the Colonel was driving off--the Colonel and a woman!
"Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation."
He turned and shook his fist at the church; then plunging recklessly through the garden, sought silence and solitude. He needed calm before he could even begin his revenge.
There was no doubt about the coming of the rains now. More than one heavy, curiously round drop fell on the dust through which he strode; but all was still--very still as yet.