But I should not like you to be alone with strangers; and, independently of this consideration, I should perhaps have asked of you a somewhat unusual favour.

My daughter Eveena, who, like most of _our_ women" (he laid a special emphasis on the pronoun) "has received a better education than is now given in the public academies, has been from the first greatly interested in your narrative and in all you have told us of the world from which you come.

She is anxious to see your vessel, and I had hoped to take her when I meant to visit it in your company.

But after to-morrow I cannot tell when you may be summoned to visit the Campta, or whether after that visit you are likely to return hither.

I will ask you, therefore, if you do not object to what I confess is an unusual proceeding, to take Eveena under your charge to-morrow." "Is it," I inquired, "permissible for a young lady to accompany a stranger on such an excursion ?" "It is very unusual," returned my host; "but you must observe that here family ties are, as a rule, unknown.