"Why do you ask that, Gulab?"
"Because it was said. And the Missie Baba's heart will be full of the
Sahib, for he is like a god."
"Is the Gulab jealous of the Missie Baba?" Barlow asked mundanely, almost out of confusion.
"No, Sahib, because—because one is not jealous of a princess; because that is to question the ways of the gods. If I had been an Englay and he loved me, and the Missie Baba claimed him, Bootea would kill her."
This was said with the simple conviction of a child uttering a weird threat, but Barlow shivered.
"And now, Gulab," he persisted, "if you thought I loved you would you kill the Missie Baba?"
"No, Sahib, because it is Bootea's fault. It can't be. It is permitted to Bootea to love the Sahib, but at the shrine Omkar will take that sin and all the other sins away when she makes sacrifice—"
"What sacrifice, Gulab?"
"Such as we make to the gods, Sahib."
Then something curious happened. The girl broke, she clung to Barlow convulsively; sobs choked her.