And then, in a changed voice, unconscious of the time and place, 'Tooni, what happened to the memsahib ?' he asked.
The ayah burst into an incoherent torrent of words and tears.

The memsahib was very, very ill, she said.

There were not five breaths left in her body.

The memsahib had gone in the cart--and the chota baba[12]--the Sonny Sahib--had always had good milk--and she had taken none of the memsahib's ornaments, only her little black book with the charm in it.
[12] 'The little baby.' 'That is true talk,' interposed Sunni, 'Tooni's words are all true.
Here is the little black book.' Colonel Starr had the face of a man in a dream, half conscious and trying to wake up.

His lips worked as he took the oilskin bag from Sunni, and he looked at it helplessly.