The lawless element among the troops was his, Umballa's; at least his long enough for the purpose he had in mind.
When the multitude round the platform dissolved and Winnie was led to her chamber in the zenana, Umballa treated himself to a beverage known as the king's peg--a trifle composed of brandy and champagne.

That he drank to stupefaction was God's method of protecting that night an innocent child--for Winnie was not much more than that.
Alone, dazed and terrified, she dropped down upon the cushions and cried herself to sleep--exactly as Kathlyn had done.

In the morning she awoke to find tea and food.

She had heard no one enter or leave.
Glancing curiously round her prison of marble and jasper and porphyry, she discovered a slip of white paper protruding through a square in the latticed window which opened out toward the garden of brides.
Hope roused her into activity.

She ran to the window and snatched the paper eagerly.