'All right, then. Don't treat me as though I were a starry-eyed youth who'd never heard the facts of life. At times everyone does things they are ashamed of afterwards. I don't give a damn what you've done.'

'It's nothing I am ashamed of.'

'Then why on earth won't you tell me what it is?'

'I can't. Really I can't. If I did you might insist on trying to help me.'

'All the more reason to go ahead.'

'No. I'm not going to let you run into danger, just because I've been fool enough to bite off more than I can chew.'

'Margot, you must tell me! You've got yourself in the hell of a mess. It's as clear as daylight that you're scared stiff of something. I love you, my dear, and . . .'

She suddenly lifted her face to his and, her eyes still misty with tears, cried, 'Do you mean that?'

For a second Barney was a little taken aback. He enjoyed his life as a bachelor and did not want to put it into her head that he was on the verge of proposing to her; so he replied with a smile, 'Wanting to protect someone is one of the first symptoms, isn't it? If so, I've got it. And I'm determined to free you from the cause of your terror. But I can't fight your battle if you leave me in the dark. That's why you must tell me how you got drawn in to this thing.'

'Well . . . all right, then. I'll give you my reason for leading Ratnadatta on until he took me to his Temple. But nothing more. Nothing. You understand? It was because I hoped it might lead to my being avenged on someone.'

Barney gave her a surprised look. 'Really! I shouldn't have thought you were a vindictive sort of girl. Of course, when a hurt has had lasting consequences, wanting to get one's own back is very natural. Still, what you tell me surprises me all the more because I thought you had become a believer in Reincarnation.'

'I have. But I don't see what that's got to do with it.'

'Then you can't have consciously taken in one of its principal teachings. As I understand it, every evil deed has to be paid for either in this or some future life. There is no escaping that, but payment may be made in one of two ways. Either the injured party exercises his right to return tit for tat or, failing that, Karma takes the form of appearing to have some natural cause - like a brick falling on the head of a chap who at some time in the past had hit someone on the head with a hammer. That someone could have hit him back and, providing the blow was no harder, not received a bad mark. But progress to a higher state can be made only by learning forgiveness, and refusing to take such opportunities. If you are still running around with a tomahawk, you're not going to stand much chance of getting yourself promoted from one of the lower forms in this vale of tears.'