It's not so very long ago--two years, that's all." He came to a stop with a queer feeling of shame.

He remembered the night himself, and always had remembered it.

But he was not given to sentiment, and here he had been talking sentiment and to no purpose.
Shere Ali spoke again to his courtier, and the courtier stepped forward more bland than ever.
"His Highness would like to know if his Excellency is still talking, and if so, why ?" he said to the Pathan, who translated it.
Linforth gave up the attempt to renew his friendship with Shere Ali.

He must go back to Peshawur and tell Ralston that he had failed.

Ralston would merely shrug his shoulders and express neither disappointment nor surprise.