Here is a virtuous and high-born widow of a Hill Rajah on pilgrimage , she says , to Buddha Gay . She it is sends us those dishes ; and when thou art well rested she would speak to thee . ' ` Is this also thy work ? ' The lama dipped deep into his snuff-gourd . ` Who else watched over thee since our wonderful journey began ? ' Kim 's eyes danced in his head as he blew the rank smoke through his nostrils and stretched him on the dusty ground . ` Have I failed to oversee thy comforts , Holy One ? ' ' A blessing on thee . ' The lama inclined his solemn head . ' I have known many men in my so long life , and disciples not a few . But to none among men , if so be thou art woman-born , has my heart gone out as it has to thee -- thoughtful , wise , and courteous ; but something of a small imp . ' ` And I have never seen such a priest as thou . ' Kim considered the benevolent yellow face wrinkle by wrinkle . ` It is less than three days since we took the road together , and it is as though it were a hundred years . ' ` Perhaps in a former life it was permitted that I should have rendered thee some service . Maybe ' -- he smiled -- ' I freed thee from a trap ; or , having caught thee on a hook in the days when I was not enlightened , cast thee back into the river . ' ` Maybe , ' said Kim quietly . He had heard this sort of speculation again and again , from the mouths of many whom the English would not consider imaginative . ` Now , as regards that woman in the bullock-cart . I think she needs a second son for her daughter . '
` That is no part of the Way , ' sighed the XXXXX .
Gay Kim bullock-cart days imp lama second snuff-gourd woman-born years