“From now on until I set you free, your desires are nothing,” Ommony said sternly. “You consider my needs and my convenience. When I have time to consider yours, it will remain to be seen whether I forget or not. Go and wait on the porch. Try to make friends with the dog; she can teach you a lot you must learn in one way or another. If the dog permits you leisure for thought, try to imagine which way the Lama may have gone.”
Dawa Tsering went out through the hall, too impressed by the novelty of the situation even to mutter to himself. Ommony went to the window and said two or three words to Diana, whose long tail beat responsively on the teak boards. Presently came the sound of Dawa Tsering’s voice:
“O thou: my time has not come to be eaten.[[9]] Have wisdom!”
A low rumbling growl announced that Diana was considering the situation, keeping Ommony’s command in mind.
“I have no doubt thou art a very evil devil!”
Again the growl, followed by a thump and the shuffling sound of Dawa Tsering squatting himself on the porch.
“So—thus. We will see whether Ommonee knows what he is doing. Attack me, and die, thou mother of fangs and thunder! Then I will know it is not my karma to obey this Ommonee. Lie still, thou earthquake, and I will—” His voice dropped to a murmur and died away. Thoughts too obscure for expression seemed to have riveted his whole attention. Ommony, peering through the shutter slats, could see him sitting almost within arm’s reach of the dog, staring straight in front of him at the stars on the north horizon. He turned to Mrs. Cornock-Campbell:
“And now I’ll go away and let you sleep. When we come to your house, Mac and I invariably forget manners and stay into the wee small hours—”
But at a sign from her he sat down again. She closed the piano and locked it. “Cottswold,” she said, “tell me what you have in mind. You have said too much or too little.”
“I have told all I know—that is that I care to tell, even to you,” Ommony answered. “I suppose, as a matter of fact, I’m a bit piqued. That Lama has had scores of opportunities to realize that I wouldn’t betray confidences. I am told I’m notorious for refusing to tell the government what I know about individuals; and the Lama is perfectly aware of that. I’ve risked my job fifty times by insisting on holding my tongue. Am I right, Mac?”