“And leave her in thy hands?” asked the Risaldar.
“In my keeping.”
“Bah! Who would trust a Hindu priest!”
The Rajput was plainly wavering and the priest stood up, to argue with him the better.
“What need to trust me? You, sahib, will know the secret, and none other but myself will know it. Would I, think you, be fool enough to tell the rest, or, by withholding just payment from you, incite you to spread it broadcast? You and I will know it and we alone. To me the power that it will bring—to you all the wealth you ever dreamed of, and more besides!”
“No other priest would know?”
“Not one! They will think the woman escaped!”
“And she—where would you keep her?”
“In a secret place I know of, below the temple.”
“Does any other know it?”