'Dinner!' she echoed, a trifle hurt, 'surely dinner----'
'Is a minor matter? Never! Besides, I hope to God we are both going to have a good dinner to-night; for that means--success. There is no earthly reason why there should be a row, you know. If we see this through, and the troops come up to time----' he paused, lost in his own previsions. 'Well,' he said finally, 'we had better not talk. A native's bare feet are more inaudible than our whispers, and it won't do to be found out. So--steady it is for an hour or so.'
An hour! Lesley's heart sank after the first ten minutes. They seemed interminable to her, seated on the ledgers behind the table. She could just see Jack Raymond at the other end of it, his head down on his crossed arms. Was he dozing? As likely as not; he was just that sort; while her nerves were quivering. The action had been well enough; the excitement of that had carried her with it; but now----? What if Mr. Raymond's estimate of the danger had been excessive? He had once, long ago, fired on a mob in too great haste. At least Government had thought so. What had possessed her, in a moment, to trust his judgment absolutely--to cast in her lot with his, as it were, unreservedly? She blushed even in the darkness, that was fast obscuring all things, at the thought----
'You had better light the lamp, baboo. There is one, isn't there? by your desk,' came his voice calmly.
Then he was not asleep!
'And he was very kind. But if they were found out? If they asked her why she had done this thing, what would she answer? What could she say to Grace Arbuthnot, who had been wiser; even though she had loved----
The lamp flared up under the baboo's trembling fingers and showed her face.
'You poor child!' came his voice again, 'I'm bitterly sorry; but it can't be long now; and--and let's hope for that good dinner!'
She was glad of the jesting finish, glad that the lamp went out this time under those trembling fingers. When it flared up again she was ready to be more cheerful. And it was an easier task after that, for the deadly quiet passed and the thrill came into life again, making her forget the question--What if they should be found out?--in the possibility of being found out all too soon.
For some one tried the handle of the door hurriedly, called loudly on Mohun Ditta to come out and report; then after a time departed with curses.