"I have no desire to live save for vengeance, but my life would last but an hour or two within those walls," she said calmly.
"Where would your Highness prefer to go?"
"I would fain entrust my son's ashes to Mother Ganga, and visit Kashi in pilgrimage. That is my desire."
"It shall be done. Will your Highness permit Lieutenant Charteris to escort you to Ranjitgarh?" He looked round for Charteris, intending to present him, but he had slipped away a moment before. "At Ranjitgarh the Resident will charge himself with your safety."
"What Jirad Sahib suggests is impossible," said Sher Singh with determination. "My izzat"—a convenient term, covering most things from self-esteem to family honour—"would be destroyed if my father's wife wandered away from my house."
"The choice lies with her Highness," said Gerrard. "Let her servants decide whether they will serve her or Sher Singh Rajah."
The Rajputs stepped over to their mistress's side at once, and so did
Rukn-ud-din and most of his troopers, but some even of these who had
accompanied the Rani from Agpur preferred to worship the riding
[Transcriber's note: rising?] sun. Sher Singh smiled unpleasantly.
"Since I am so many, and he so few, Jirad Sahib will not force me to defend my izzat with the sword?"
"I begin to think that it needs a good deal of defending," said Gerrard meaningly, "but that will not be done by attacking me. I shall attend the Rani Sahiba to Ranjitgarh myself."
[1] Starving oneself to force a debtor to pay.