And against the
granite of her self-sufficiency the iron of the girl's proud anger broke
until at length, baffled by the other's conceit, Noreen drifted back into
the semblance of her former friendliness. And Ida never remarked any
difference.
A hundred miles away Dermot roamed the hills and forest again. The
interdict of the Rains was lifted, and the game was afoot once more.
The portents of the coming storm were intensified. Much that the Divisional
Commander, General Heyland, had revealed to him in their confidential
interviews at Darjeeling was being corroborated by happenings in other
parts of the Peninsula, in Afghanistan, in China, and elsewhere. Signs were
not wanting on the border that Dermot had to guard. Messengers crossing and
re-crossing the Bhutan frontier were increasing in numbers and frequency;
and he had at length succeeded in tracking some of them to a destination
that first gave him a clue to the seat and identity of the organisers of
the conspiracy in Bengal.
For one or two Bhutanese had been traced to the capital of the Native State
of Lalpuri, and others, having got into Indian territory, had been met by
Hindus who were subsequently followed to the same ill-famed town. But once
inside the maze of its bazaars their trail was hopelessly lost. It was
useless to appeal to the authorities of the State.
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