Not the least ominous symptom is that this spirit of revolt seems to have obtained a firm hold of the zenana; and the Hindu woman behind the _purdah_ often exercises a greater influence upon her husband and her sons than the Englishwoman who moves freely about the world.

Absolute evidence in such matters is difficult to obtain, but there was a very significant and quite authentic case last year, which I may as well quote here, though it occurred in the Bombay Presidency.

Two Brahman ladies of good position from Bombay were discovered at Kolhapur wearing the garb of _sanyasis_, i.e., mendicant ascetics.

They confessed that they had left their homes, to which the police wisely restored them, to invoke the assistance of a great ruling chief of Southern India in a plot to exterminate the hated foreigner, and their main object in starting upon this insane venture had been to regain their hold upon their husbands' affections by a great "patriotic" achievement.

That real _sanyasis_ are frequently the missionaries of sedition is certain, and their reputed sanctity gives them access to the zenana.