"
Bathurst stopped for a day at Patna to see Rujub and his daughter.
He was received as an expected guest, and after spending a few hours
with them he continued his journey. At Calcutta he found a letter
awaiting him from Isobel, saying that she had arrived safely in
England, and should stay with her mother until his arrival, and
there he found her.
"I expected you today," she said, after the first rapturous greeting
was over. "Six weeks ago I woke in the middle of the night, and
heard Rabda's voice distinctly say: 'He has been with us today:
he is safe and well; he is on his way to you.' As I knew how long
you would take going down from Patna, I went the next day to the
office and found what steamer you would catch, and when she would
arrive. My mother and sister both regarded me as a little out of
my mind when I said you would be back this week. They have not the
slightest belief in what I told them about Rujub, and insist that
it was all a sort of hallucination brought on by my sufferings.
Perhaps they will believe now."
"Your face is wonderfully better," he said presently. "The marks
seem dying out, and you look almost your old self."
"Yes," she said; "I have been to one of the great doctors, and he
says he thinks the scars will quite disappear in time."
Isobel Bathurst has never again received any distinct message
from Rabda, but from time to time she has the consciousness, when
sitting quietly alone, that the girl is with her in thought.
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