It was never Ameerah who talked, and Hester was never conscious that she talked very much herself.

But afterwards she saw that the few sentences she had uttered were such as would satisfy curiosity if the Ayah felt it.

Also she was not, on the whole, at all sure that the woman felt it.

She showed no outward sign of any interest other than the interest of a deep affection.

She loved her young mistress to-day as passionately as she had loved her as a child when she had held her in her bosom as if she had been her own.