"I have to go down to the Pettah, to get some sewing silk to match this;" and she drew out a small fragment of yellow silk.
"Very well, then. You had better go and do it, or they may think that you are too long away.
"Goodbye, Annie. I hope that in another week, or ten days at the latest, I shall have you out of this;" and he held out his hand to her.
She took it timidly, and would have raised it to her forehead, but Dick said, laughing:
"That is not the way, Annie. English girls don't treat their friends as if they were lords and masters. They just shake hands with them, as if it were two men, or two girls."
"I shall know better, in time," she said, with a faint smile, though her eyes were full of tears. "I want to do something, though I don't know what. You saved my life from the tiger, and now you are going to save me again. I should like to throw myself down, and kiss your feet."
"You would make me horribly uncomfortable, if you did anything of the sort, Annie. I can understand that you feel strange and out of your element, at present, but you will soon get over that, when you come to know me better.
"There, goodbye, lassie. I hope to see you again, tomorrow or next day, and then you will be able to tell me more about yourself.
"Is the coast clear, Surajah?"
Surajah looked out through the curtains.