Melo thought to herself, “Will it do no harm to myself?” But Melo was but a new Christian; habit is strong, and she had been accustomed to tell lies from the time that she first could speak. Melo resolved that when her Mem Sahiba noticed the harm done to the scent-bottle, she would say that the last ayah had done it. She was timid, and could not bear that the Mem Sahiba, whose service she had just entered, should think her careless.