And so it seemed useless to pursue the matter.  She could only wait and watch.  Some day the man might emerge from his lair, and she would be able to identify him beyond all dispute.  Peter could help her then.  But till then there was nothing that she could do.  She was quite helpless.

So, with that shrinking still strongly upon her that made all mention of Ralph Dacre’s death so difficult, she buried the matter deep in her own heart, determined only that she also would watch with a vigilance that never slackened until the proof for which she waited should be hers.

The weeks had begun to slip by with incredible swiftness.  The tragedy of Ermsted’s death had ceased to be the talk of the station.  Tessa had gone back to her mother who still remained a semi-invalid in the Ralstons’ hospitable care.  Netta’s plans seemed to be of the vaguest; but Home leave was due to Major Ralston the following year, and it seemed likely that she would drift on till then and return in their company.

Stella did not see very much of her friend in those days.  Netta, exacting and peevish, monopolized much of the latter’s time and kept her effectually at a distance.  The days were growing hotter moreover, and her energies flagged, though all her strength was concentrated upon concealing the fact from Everard.  For already the annual exodus to Bhulwana was being discussed, and only the possibility that the battalion might be moved to a healthier spot for the summer had deferred it for so long.

Stella clung to this possibility with a hope that was passionate in its intensity.  She had a morbid dread of separation, albeit the danger she feared seemed to have sunk into obscurity during the weeks that had intervened.  If there yet remained unrest in the State, it was below the surface.  The Rajah came and went in his usual romantic way, played polo with his British friends, danced and gracefully flattered their wives as of yore.

On one occasion only did he ask Stella for a dance, but she excused herself with a decision there was no mistaking.  Something within her revolted at the bare idea.  He went away smiling, but he never asked her again.

Definite orders for the move to Udalkhand arrived at length, and Stella’s heart rejoiced.  The place was situated on the edge of a river, a brown and turgid torrent in the rainy weather, but no more than a torpid, muddy stream before the monsoon.  A native town and temple stood upon its banks, but a sandy road wound up to higher ground on which a few bungalows stood, overlooking the grim, parched desert below.

The jungle of Khanmulla was not more than five miles distant, and Kurrumpore itself barely ten.  But yet Stella felt as if a load had been lifted from her.  Surely the danger here would be more remote!  And she would not need to leave her husband now.  That thought set her very heart a-singing.

Monck said but little upon the subject.  He was more non-committal than ever in those days.  Everyone said that Udalkhand was healthier and cooler than Kurrumpore and he did not contradict the statement.  But yet Stella came to perceive after a time something in his silence which she found unsatisfactory.  She believed he watched her narrowly though he certainly had no appearance of doing so, and the suspicion made her nervous.