Linforth, however, had not as yet noticed him.

“It can’t be Shere Ali,” he said.  “He is in the country.  I heard from him only to-day.”

“Yet it is he,” said Mrs. Oliver, and then Linforth saw him.

“Hallo!” he said softly to himself, and as Shere Ali joined them he added aloud, “something has happened.”

“Yes, I have news,” said Shere Ali.  But he was looking at Mrs. Oliver, and spoke as though the news had been pushed for a moment into the back of his mind.

“What is it?” asked Linforth.

Shere Ali turned to Linforth.

“I go back to Chiltistan.”

“When?” asked Linforth, and a note of envy was audible in his voice.  Mrs. Oliver heard it and understood it.  She shrugged her shoulders impatiently.

“By the first boat to Bombay.”

“In a week’s time, then?” said Mrs. Oliver, quickly.

Shere Ali glanced swiftly at her, seeking the meaning of that question.  Did regret prompt it?  Or, on the other hand, was she glad?

“Yes, in a week’s time,” he replied slowly.

“Why?” asked Linforth.  “Is there trouble in Chiltistan?” He spoke regretfully.  It would be hard luck if that uneasy State were to wake again into turmoil while he was kept kicking his heels at Chatham.

“Yes, there is trouble,” Shere Ali replied.  “But it is not the kind of trouble which will help you forward with the Road.”

The trouble, indeed, was of quite another kind.  The Russians were not stirring behind the Hindu Kush or on the Pamirs.  The turbulent people of Chiltistan were making trouble, and profit out of the trouble, it is true.  That they would be sure to do somewhere, and, moreover, they would do it with a sense of humour more common upon the Frontier than in the Provinces of India.  But they were not at the moment making trouble in their own country.  They were heard of in Masulipatam and other cities of Madras, where they were badly wanted by the police and not often caught.  The quarrel in Chiltistan lay between the British Raj, as represented by the Resident, and the Khan, who was spending the revenue of his State chiefly upon his own amusements.  It was claimed that the Resident should henceforth supervise the disposition of the revenue, and it had been suggested to the Khan that unless he consented to the proposal he would have to retire into private life in some other quarter of the Indian Peninsula.  To give to the suggestion the necessary persuasive power, the young Prince was to be brought back at once, so that he might be ready at a moment’s notice to succeed.  This reason, however, was not given to Shere Ali.  He was merely informed by the Indian Government that he must return to his country at once.

Shere Ali stood before Mrs. Oliver.

“You will give me a dance?” he said.

“After supper,” she replied, and she laid her hand within Linforth’s arm.  But Shere Ali did not give way.