It couldn't be treachery--she had done so much for him; it must be the
something that looked out of her eyes when they rested on his face, the
unworded greatest thing on earth in the way of fealty and devotion.
Possibly this was the grand motive, the reason she had given being
secondary.
"You said, Gulab, that you had another reason for this awful trip; what
is it?" he asked.
The girl's eyes dropped to the ruby bracelet again; "To acquire merit
in the eyes of Mahadeo, Sahib."
"To do good acts so that you may be reincarnated as a heaven-born, a
Brahmini, perhaps even come back as a memsahib."
At this her big eyes rose to Barlow's face, and he could swear that
there were tears misting them; and sensing that if she had fallen in
love with him, what he had said about her becoming a memsahib had hurt.
Perhaps she, as he did, realised that that was the barred door to
happiness--that she wasn't of the white race.
"Yes, Sahib," she said presently, "a Swami told me that in a former
life I had been evil."
"The Swami is an awful liar!" Barlow ejaculated.
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