He usually eats his meals alone or with one of his Indian followers. He eats little and sometimes joins us when we are eating breakfast. Like a Father, he watches our appetites.

"That first morning it rained. Rustom and I went for a short walk behind the house, only to be hastily recalled. Baba does not like us to go out without asking his permission. Usually he seems to know when we are out, without being told."

To go back to London a moment and to those still there who had met Baba that first evening. All one could talk about was Baba and the pros­pect of seeing him soon again. There was the difficulty to be overcome of letting Zilla go to Devon as Baba had asked. Her mother thought that a girl of 14 was too young for the life and discipline of a retreat such as we had described East Challacombe to be. None of us then knew that the life planned there was not at all the type that Baba wanted us to lead at this particular period. No doubt, to many the life planned helped many spiritually. We who had been there more than once before found the quiet, outdoor life very delightful. I did my best. Baba wrote by Herbert to say Zilla must come down for a week. Less was no good and there were frequent telegrams to and fro to try and fix it up. As so often happens, the impossible happened and her mother gave her consent to Zilla's going, if she did not do any meditating.

We left on Tuesday afternoon by the 4:30 P.M. train from Waterloo. It was dark when we reached Ilfracombe. We took the bus to Coombe Martin to the bottom of the lane. We were met by Kenneth Ross and Tom Sharpley, both with flashlights. As we entered the house, all was quiet. No one spoke in the sitting room. I found about a dozen people reading around the fire. Meredith greeted me in the passage. Margaret Starr and her sister Esther were kindness itself. We had some food and then Baba called us upstairs to his room. Baba's little room was above the entrance lobby facing south, looking out over the transverse valley to where the steep downs cut across the sky. Meredith would conduct visitors up to this room for a few minutes' interview with Baba. Baba asked us if we had had a good journey, also whether Zilla was glad she had come, to which she replied "Yes." He then sent us to bed. Next morning Baba and Herbert came into the garden and looked at us but did not say much.

Meredith had rather formal notions as to how we all should behave with regard to Baba. The Indian followers had to keep in the background and felt a little cut off. Meredith insisted that the routine of four hours' meditation should be observed as usual. During these times Baba would