Roy’s hand closed sharply on the arm of his chair.  “Confound the fellow!  It’s chiefly the mental effect they rely on.  They’re no fools; and even men like Grandfather—­who can’t possibly believe such rot—­seem powerless to stand up against them.  Does he know all this?”

“It’s hard to tell.  They’re so guarded—­even the most enlightened—­in alluding to domestic matters.  Without a shade of discourtesy, they simply keep one outside.  Poor Aruna was terrified at having told me.  Broke down utterly.  But no idea of giving in.  It’s astonishing the grit one comes upon under their surface gentleness.  She said she would starve or drown rather. I said she should do nothing of the kind; that I would speak to Sir Lakshman myself—­oh, very diplomatically, of course!  Afterwards, all in a rush, came my inspiration.  Some sort of secretarial work for me would sound fairly plausible. (Did you know—­I’m making a name, in a small way, over my zeal for Indian women?) On the strength of that, one could suggest a couple of rooms in the Residency; and she could still keep on at the hospital with Miss Hammond, giving me certain afternoons.  It struck me as flawless—­till I imparted it to Vinx and saw him tweak his left eyebrow.  Of course he was convinced it ’wouldn’t do’; Sir Lakshman ... my position ... and so on.  I said I proposed to make it do—­and the eyebrow twitched worse than ever.  So I mildly reminded him that he had not held Aruna sobbing in his arms, and he didn’t happen to be a mother!  Which was unanswerable.—­And, my dear Roy, I had a hectic week of it, manipulating Sir Lakshman and Aruna and the honourable grandmother—­strictly unseen!  I’m sure she’s anti-English.  I’ve got at all the other high-borns; but I can’t get at her.  However—­with a bold front and a tactful tongue, I carried the day.  So I hope the holy man will transfer his potent curse to me.  Naturally, the moment I’d fixed things up, came Lance’s letter about you.  But I couldn’t back out.  And I suppose it’s all right?”

“Well, of course.”  Roy was troubled with no doubts on that score.  “What a family you are!  I was hoping to pick up threads with Aruna.”

“You shall.  But you must be discreet.  Jaipur isn’t exactly Oxford.  Brother and cousin are almost the same word with them; but still——­”

“Is she at the hospital now?” Roy cut in irrelevantly.  Her insistence on discretion—­with Aruna, of all people—­struck him as needless fussing and unlike Thea.  And by now he was feeling more impatient to see Aruna than to see Jaipur.

“No.  But she seemed shy of appearing at tiffin.  So I said if she came out here afterwards, she would find you and me alone.  She’s looked happier and less fragile lately.  Even Vinx admits the event has justified me.  But of course it’s simply an emergency plan—­a transition——­”

“To what?” Roy challenged her with surprising emphasis.

“That’s my puzzle of puzzles.  Perhaps you can help me solve it.  Sometimes I wonder if she knows herself, what she wants out of life....  But perhaps I haven’t the key to her waverings....”