Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-30

whenever one of them came in sight Then too, she
showed inclination whatever for the society of her
grandfather; her attitude whenever she summoned
to his presence being that of awed and frightened
to the point of panic
Of the man himself, Miss Amelia and Miss Phoebe
knew next to nothing having merely caught glimpse
of him when he carried into the house, and that
glimpse had shown them more than swathed shape,
turbaned head, and face like face cut in bronze.
He left his rooms and, oddly enough since he
had come to England for treatment no doctor
summoned to his presence But for all his aloofness in
other respects he sent occasional messages the
through the medium of his attendants; nqurng they
perfectly contented and begging them they de-
sired anything, to have hesitation in making the
fact known. He hoped he stated, to be able in the
of few days to leave his apartments, when he
would be honored if the ladies would accord him
audience.
desired improvement manfesng itself; that at the
end of August the just ignorant regard
ing him and his affairs as they had been at the begin
ming of June. AS matter of fact, they did not
know his name; for the attendants merely spoke of
him as ahs Highness, and nothing might be gained
from little Aylitta since the child possessed but the
most documentary ideas of English and it appeared
If she never would learn.
"She makes me think of dog, Phoebe, the way she
crouches ones feet and looks up with her big,
owlish eyes," declared Miss Amelia. at very
peculiar considering her station. | know next to
nothing, of course of Indian people and their customs,
but | have always been under the impression that
really high caste natives rather imperous; yet at
times the child is actually serve. 1t is strange-t is
very strange indeed
RUT by and by there came time when Miss Amelia
= began to think that other things Strange"
too, and to experience the old, almost forgotten
feelings of anxiety and unrest
To all intents and purposes, his Hghness still contin
ued too unwel to leave his to enter into any
closer acquaintance with the two women yet, the
advanced toward its waning point,
curious depredations began to occur which Miss
Amelia could not but believe in the face of the
evidence directly traceabe to him. Ere
quently in the middle of the night, long after
attendants and house
was very still, she would hear his door open and
soft footsteps steal along the passage, and regu-
lary after these nocturnal events the roses she
would not have gathered for worlds were found to
have been cut and carried away in large quantities.
Shocked beyond measure by these acts of van
dalism, Miss Amelia wrote to his Highness re-
porting them and his Highness had sent back
word that the place should be watched and the
plferer caught. But despite that promise the
despoling of the garden went the
ever; and it was only when Miss Amelia herself
mounted secret guard that the truth of the affair
out
In the gray of the dawn she had seen Ginda
Hamadi, chief of his Hghnesss retinue, steal
up the staircase with his arms filled with dew-wet
blooms pass like shadow along the hall, and
vanish into his master S bedroom with the stolen
flowers.
a do not understand tt do not like it,
IN Phoebe, she said when she took her cousin into
4. her confidence and unburdened her troubled mind
.NA "If his Highness wants the roses, he has every
H. right to gather them: they are his Why. then.
q should it be done in secret? do not like it at all,
n Dear; it makes nervous and suspicious. We
y really know nothing whatever about him; and
if this secrecy continues l think we shall have
to resign position and leave the house. For
all we tell, Dear, he may be very undesir
able person to know"
at certainly has a very unpleasant look"
agreed Miss Phoebe nervously. "But let do
nothing in haste, Amelia. We may be misudgng
him, Dear. Suppose let matters stand for
another week, and then, if there is satisfactory
explanation Forthcoming, quite agree with you
that it will be better for us to CO.
So the point decided: Miss Amelia agree
ing to take further steps in the matter until
= a week had passed, but secretly beginning to
pack up all her little personal treasures all the