But to none among men, if so be thou art woman-born, has my heart gone out as it has to thee--thoughtful, wise, and courteous; but something of a small imp.' 'And I have never seen such a priest as thou.' Kim considered the benevolent yellow face wrinkle by wrinkle.

'It is less than three days since we took the road together, and it is as though it were a hundred years.' 'Perhaps in a former life it was permitted that I should have rendered thee some service.

Maybe'-- he smiled--'I freed thee from a trap; or, having caught thee on a hook in the days when I was not enlightened, cast thee back into the river.' 'Maybe,' said Kim quietly.

He had heard this sort of speculation again and again, from the mouths of many whom the English would not consider imaginative.

'Now, as regards that woman in the bullock-cart.