52 AFOOT THROUGH THE 



been closed from the outside, and I was left alone among 

 the ghosts of long-dead emperors and their gay courtiers, 

 the tiny sparks of light could be still seen through the 

 lattice work, and short bursts of song told me that the 

 Mahant was keeping his vigil. 



" What gift, Huzur, for my beautiful prayers ? " 

 asked my devotional friend next morning, as he pre- 

 sented me with a fresh bouquet. I proffered a small 

 gift. " Was my husband a colonel or general Sahib," 

 he asked, " they would have given more." " No," I 

 answered ; " I give for myself ; no colonel or officer 

 Sahib pays my debts." ' That was hard," he con- 

 sidered in sympathetic tones. " In that case the gift was 

 sufficient, but many officers and commissioner Sahibs 

 had thought very highly of his efforts, and given him 

 much backsheesh; but he was glad too of the matches, 

 a whole box, and would not forget the ' Presence/ He 

 trusted she would be lucky in her walk, and her life 

 blessed with health and prosperity." We mutually 

 salaamed, and the lonely guardian of a forsaken Hindu 

 shrine returned to his devotions and his unshared 

 worship. 



