"Ah, why not ?" she said.
He did not answer her.

Only, with his face bent down to hers, he said, "The past is past then ?" "For ever," she made swift reply.

"But I have always loved Bhulwana--even in my sad times.

Ah, listen! That is a _koil_!" They listened to the bird's flutelike piping, standing closely linked in the shadow of a little group of pines.

In the bungalow behind them Peter the Great was decking the table for their wedding-feast.