The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1896-06-26
BEYOND THE PALE.

A man should, whatever happens, keep
to his own caste, race and breed. Let the
white go to the white ard the black to the
black. Then whatever trouble falls Is In
the ordinary course of things, neither sud
den, alien nor unexpected.
This is the story of Il man who willfully
stepped beyond the safe limits of decent
everyday society and paid for it heavily.
He knew too much in the first instance,
and he saw too much III the second. He took
too deep an interest i'll native life, but he
will never do 50 again.
Deep away in the heart of the city, be-
hind .!itha McEji's bustcc, lies Amir Nath 5
gully, which cEds in u dead wall pierced
by orc grated window. At the head of the
gully is IL big COW byrc, and the walls on
either side of the gully urc without win
dows. Neither Suchct Singh nor Gaur
Chand approves of their women folk look
ing into the world. If Durga Charan had
been Of their opinion, he would have been
happier man today, ard little Bcscsa
would have been able to kncad her own
bread. Her room looked out through the
grated window into the narrow dark gully
where the sun never came and where the
buffalocs wallowcd in the blue slime She
vas II widow about 10 years old, and she
prayed the gods day and night to send her
a lover, for she did not approve of living
alone.
One day the man-Trciago his name
was-came into Amir Mathis gully on an
aimlesS wandering, and, after he had passed
the buffalocs. stumbled over big heap of
cattle food
Then he saw that the gully ended In a
trap ard heard little laugh from behind
the grated window. 1t was a pretty little
laugh, and Trcjado, knowing that for all
practical purposes the old Arabian
Nights" are good guides, went forward to
the window and whispered that verse of
The Love Song of Har Dyal," which be
gins:
Can n man stand upright in the face of
the naked sun, or n lover in the presence
Of his beloved?
If my feet fail me, oh, heart of my
heart, am to blame, being blinded by the
glimpse Of your bcauty?'
There came the faint chinks of wo-
mans bracelet from behind the grating,
and a little voice went ON with the song at
the fifth verse:
Alas, alasl Can the moon tell the
Lotus of her love when the gate of heaven
Is shut and the clouds gather for the rains?
They have taken my beloved and driven
her with tho pack horses to the north.
There are iron chains on the feet that
were set on my heart
Call to the bOwmcn to make ready
Tho voice stopped suddenly, and Trejago
walked out of Amir Mathis gully, wonder
ing who in the world could have capped
THE Love Song of Har Dyal" so neatly
Next morning, as he was driving to
office, an old woman throw packet into
his dog cart. In tho packet was the half
of Il broken glass bangle, one flower of the
blood red dhak, pinch of bhusa, or cattle
food, and ii cardamons. That packet was
Il lctter-not clumsy, compromising let
ter, but an innocent, unintelligible lovers
epistlc.
Trejago knew far too much about these
things, us l have said. No Englishman
should DO able to translate object letters
But Trejago spread all the trifles on the
lid of his office box and began to puzzle
them out.
A broken glass bangle stands for Hin
doc widow all India over, because, when
her husband dies, n woman's bracelets are
broken on her wrists Trejago saw the
of the little bit of the glass. The
flower of the dhak means adversely ode
sire, 'comc, " write" or danger" ac-
cording to the other things with it. One
means Jealousy" but when
any article is duplicated in an object letter
it loses its symbolic meaning and stands
merely for one of n number Indicating
time, or, II incense, curds or saffron be
sent also, place
The message ran then, "A widow-dhak
flower and bhusa-at IL o'clock" The
pinch of bhusa enlightened Trcjago He
saw-this kind of letter leaves much to
instructive knowledge-that the bhusa re-
ferred to tho big heap of cattle food over
which he had fallen in Amir Mathis gully,
and that the message must come from the
person behind the grating, she being q
widow So the message ran then, "a
widow In the gully in which is the heap of
Dhusa desires you to come at IL o'clock"
Trejago threw NIL the rubbish into the
fireplace and laughed He knew that men
u the east do not mako love under win
lows at IL in the forenoon nor do women
tx appointments week in advance. So
no went, that very night at IL, into Amir
Mathis gully, clad in boorka, which
,loaks O man rs well as n woman. Di-
'ectly the gongs In the city made the hour,
.ha little voice hahind tha grating tnnk I'M