"Do you know what has become of little Châli, whom the rajah gave me?"
He immediately assumed a sad and troubled look, and said, in evident embarrassment:
"We had better not speak of her."
"Why? She was a dear little woman."
"She turned out badly, Sir."
"What—Châli? What has become of her? Where is she?"
"I mean to say that she came to a bad end."
"A bad end! Is she dead?"
"Yes. She committed a very dreadful action."
I was very much distressed. I felt my heart beat, and my breast was oppressed with grief, and insisted on knowing what she had done and what had happened to her.