Now I say good-bye.' He held out his hand English-fashion.
She took it mechanically.

'Good-bye, my dear.' 'Good-bye, and--and'-- she was remembering her English words one by one--'you will come back again?
Good-bye, and--thee God bless you.' Half an hour later, as the creaking litter jolted up the hill path that leads south-easterly from Shamlegh, Kim saw a tiny figure at the hut door waving a white rag.
'She has acquired merit beyond all others,' said the lama.

'For to set a man upon the way to Freedom is half as great as though she had herself found it.' 'Umm,' said Kim thoughtfully, considering the past.

'It may be that I have acquired merit also ...

At least she did not treat me like a child.' He hitched the front of his robe, where lay the slab of documents and maps, re-stowed the precious food-bag at the lama's feet, laid his hand on the litter's edge, and buckled down to the slow pace of the grunting husbands.
'These also acquire merit,' said the lama after three miles.
'More than that, they shall be paid in silver,' quoth Kim.