Trent casually took in Sarojini Nanjee's manner of dress—casually, because he did not wish to appear particularly interested. She wore a long maroon garment such as Tibetan women wear; only the lines were not bulky, but adapted themselves to the purpose of revealing the contours of her figure. Her skin was darkened by a stain—skin that was quite unlike that of the women of Shingtse-lunpo in that it was smooth and without a coat of dust and grease. A silver aureole rose behind her black hair, which was parted after the Tibetan fashion. A flame, as of black opals, danced and flashed in her eyes as she smiled at him.
"I have not sent for you before," she told him, "because it would have been indiscreet. Too, we could have done nothing until now. I did not know of your arrival until many hours after you reached the city. I—"
"You expected my muleteers to report my presence," he put in, smiling.
She smiled, too, although he could see she was not pleased.
"Yes. Where are they?"
"I didn't fancy being spied upon night and day," he replied, "so I left them at Tali-fang."
"Do you realize that was disobeying me?"
"You didn't forbid changing servants." After a pause he went on, "Yet my precautions were useless, for I daresay by now you know everything that happened since I left Tali-fang."
She looked at him quizzically. (And he did not know whether the expression was genuine or not.)
"What do you mean?"