He had promised to make her Maharanee.

But he knew too thoroughly what that would mean not to entertain more than a passing doubt as to the wisdom of the course.

He was as ready to break his word on that point as on any other.
A woman of his own race, however wooed and won, would have been content to accept the usual status of whisperer from behind the close-meshed screens.

Not so an Englishwoman, with no friends to keep her company and with nothing in the world to do but think.

She, he realized, would expect to make something definite of her position, and that would suit neither his creed (which was altogether superficial), nor custom (which was iron-bound and to be feared), nor prejudice (which was prodigious), nor yet convenience (which counted most).
He came to the conclusion that the fate in store for her was not such as she would have selected had she had her choice.