--- a/rust/hg-cpython/src/cindex.rs	Wed Nov 27 17:59:58 2019 +0100
+++ b/rust/hg-cpython/src/cindex.rs	Thu Dec 12 03:46:47 2019 +0100
@@ -71,6 +71,11 @@
             capi: unsafe { revlog_capi::retrieve(py)? },
         })
     }
+
+    /// return a reference to the CPython Index object in this Struct
+    pub fn inner(&self) -> &PyObject {
+        &self.index
+    }
 }
 
 impl Clone for Index {