Page:Zodiac stories by Blanche Mary Channing.pdf/260

Rh on in silence for a while. But Bobby was never long silent.

"Why don't Hindu people ever have white faces?" he asked presently.

"I do not know, Bobby sahib." Not a muscle of Dilâl's face moved.

"Do you wish you were white, Dilâl?"

"No, Bobby sahib."

"Why don't you?"

"As the man is made, so is it best for him," was the answer.

"But if you could have chosen, would you have been a Hindu?"

A queer flash came into the dark face.

"I would have been as I am—ay, and no other."

Bobby was still for at least three minutes after this; he had a dim idea that his questions had been too personal. Dilâl kept at his work and never glanced towards him.

"Dilâl, what is a scorpion like?"

"I do not know, Bobby sahib."