I think she needs a second son for her daughter.' 'That is no part of the Way,' sighed the lama.

'But at least she is from the Hills.

Ah, the Hills, and the snow of the Hills!' He rose and stalked to the cart.

Kim would have given his ears to come too, but the lama did not invite him; and the few words he caught were in an unknown tongue, for they spoke some common speech of the mountains.

The woman seemed to ask questions which the lama turned over in his mind before answering.