which he always kept there. From the drawer of the desk he procured a wooden box containing agreen powder. Carefully tapping one of the powders into the bowl, he next picked up the tiger's head seal, which both Carmelita and Dudley had noticed and wondered about at different times. Applying a match to the powder in the bowl, he waited until it had flared up and then settled to a steady flame before he thrust the seal into it. He waited until the seal was red hot and then pressed it down tightly upon the jewel box. There was the pungent smell of burning wood. When Rao-Singh lifted the seal, the box bore, like his other possessions, the mark of the snarling Bengal tiger, his personal crest.
Hardly had he completed this task when Dhinn appeared noiselessly on the threshold of the study, for it was a region he had been forbidden ever to invade, and announced that the lady had arrived.
Rao-Singh rose and walked from the study, closing the door carefully after him, through the dining-room and into the living-room where Carmelita stood nervously very near the outer door as if anxious to get her business over and be gone, as indeed she was. He wondered why she had worn no wrap or hat, just the light evening gown that exposed her shoulders and neck and a segment of her white
