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182 lakhs of rupees. De Boigne then returned to Aligarh, marching by Alwar, the Rájá of which place had some years before displayed great loyalty to Sindia in very critical circumstances. Here he had an audience of the Rájá. An incident which occurred at this audience is thus related in de Boigne's memoirs. "One day when the Rájá gave audience to the general, whom he had made to sit near him, M. de Boigne observed the minister of the Rájá, who was standing behind his master, bend down and whisper into his ear some words in the Persian language — a language which the general did not understand. The Prince replied only by a sign of disapproval and by a look in which anger and indignation were painted. The general's vakil turned pale. The conversation nevertheless continued as before, and the audience terminated without the general having conceived the least suspicion. But in going out of the palace he was informed by his vakil — who knew Persian, and who had overheard the words whispered by the minister — that the latter had proposed to the Rájá to assassinate de Boigne in the hall of audience." De Boigne took no notice of the incident.

The power of Mádhají Sindia was now consolidated in Hindostan. While his armies had been triumphing in Rájpútáná his policy had been gaining ground at Púna, whither, on his request, de Boigne had expedited 10,000 of his trained infantry under the command of Perron. Mádhají, in fact, was on the point of crossing the threshold to attain which had been the dream of his