"It was coming. I bowed gravely as if the comparison was not pleasing to me. A wild yell of hysterical laughter came to my lips, but I managed to suppress that. There were no knives on the table, and I had not dared to use my revolver. Had there been a knife on the table I should have stabbed that woman to the heart and taken the consequences.
"But your revolver, Tchigorsky," Geoffrey suggested.
"My dear boy, holy fathers and shining lights of the Buddhist faith do not carry Regulation Army revolvers," Tchigorsky said grimly. "All I could do was to wait."
"'Did you know those English at Lahore?' the princess asked.
"I disclaimed the knowledge, saying that at that time I was in Cawnpore. Then being closely questioned, I proceeded to give a detailed history of the movements of myself and my companion for the last year or so. I was lying glibly and easily, but I had no comfort from the knowledge. It was easy to see that not one word was believed, and that I was walking into the trap.
"'At Dargi you were,' said the princess. 'What are the five points of the temple there?'
"For the life of me I could not tell her. As a matter of fact, I had never been near Dargi in my life. And the question was one that any Buddhist who had been there would have answered offhand.
"'I have forgotten,' I answered as calmly as possible. 'I have a bad memory. I forget all kinds of things.'
"Those dark eyes seemed to look me all through.