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

The Love song of Har DyaI'' at the verse
where tho Panthan girl calls upon her Har
Dyal to return. AS the song stopped Ire
jago stepped up under the grating and
whispered, II am here"
Biscsn was good to look upon.
That night was the beginning of many
strange things, and of n double life so wild
that Trcjago today sometimes wonders if
it were not all II dream. Bisesa or her old
handmaidcn who had thrown the object
letter had detached the heavy grating from
the brickwork of the wall, SO that the win
dow slid inside, leaving only n square of
raw masonry into which an active man
might climb.
In the daytime Trcjago drove through
his routine of Office work or put on his
calling clothes and called on the ladies of
the station, wondering how long they
would know him if they knew of poor lit
tie Biscs;l At night, when all the city
was still, came the walk under the evil
smelling bourkn, the patrol through Jitha
Megjis bustec, the quick turn into Amir
Nath' gully between the sleeping cattle
and the dead walls, and then, last of all,
BiscSa and the deep even breathing of the
old woman who slept outside the door of
the bare little room that Durga Charan al
lottcd to his sisters daughter. Who or
what Durga Charan was Ircjago never In
guircd and why in the world he was not
discovered and knitted never occurred to
Lim till his madness was over, and BIZ
les;l- But this comes EIter.
Bisesa was an endless delight to Treja-
60 She was as ignorant rs n bird and
her distorted versions Of the rumors from
the outside world that had reached her in
her room amused IrcjaGO almost as much
rs her lisping attempts tn pronounce his
name, .'ChriStOphcr The first syllable
was always more than she could manage,
and she made funny little gestures with
her rosclcaf hands, as one throwing the
name away, and then, knccling before Ire
jaso, asked him, exactly as an English
woman would do, if he were sure he loved
her. Trrjago swore that he loved her
more than any one else in the world, which
was true.
Aftcra month of this folly the exigencies
Of his other life compelled Trcjago TO DO
especially attentive to lady of his ac-
quaintancc. You may take 1t for n fact
that anything of this kind is not only no
ticcd and discussed by II mans own race,
but by some $50 natives rs we'll Trejago
lad to walk with this lady and talk TO her
at the hand stand and once or twice to
drive with her, never for an instant dream
ing that this would affect his dcarcr out of
the way life But the news flew III tho
usual mysterious fashion from mouth to
mouth till Bisesa's ducnna heard of it and
told Biscsa. The child was SO troubled
that she did the household work cvilly and
was beaten by Durga Charan's wife in
consequence.
A week later Biscsa taxed TFejago with
the filtration. She understood no grada-
tions and spoke openly. Trcjago laughed,
and Biscsa stamped her little fect-little
feet, light as marigold flowers that could
lie in the palm of n mans one hand.
Much that is written about Oriental
passion and impulsiveness' is exaggerated
and compiled ut secondhand, but II little
of it is true, and when an Englishman
finds that little it is quite as startling as
any passion In his own proper life Biscsa
ragged and stormcd and finally threatened
to kill herself if Trcjngo did not at once
drop the alien mcmsahib who had come
between them. Trcjago tried to explain
and to show her that she did not under
stand these things from u western stand
point. Biscsa drew herself up and said
simply:
II do not. know only this--it is not
good that I should have made you dearer
than my own heart to me- sahib. You arc
an Englishman. l am only n black girl"
-she was fuircr than bar gold In the mint
-"and the widow of Il black man"
Then she sobbed and said: But on my
| soul, and my mothers soul, l love you.
There shall no harm come to you whatever
happens to me-"
Trcjago argued with the child and tried
to sOothe her, but she seemed quite unreal
sonably disturbed. Nothing would satisfy
her save that all relations between them
should end. He was to go away at once
And he went. AS he dropped out at the
window she kissed his forehead twice, and
he walked home wondering.
A week and then three weeks passed
| without n sign from Biscsa. Trcjago,
thinking that the rupture had lasted quito
long enough, went down to Amir Mathis
gully for the fifth time in tho three weeks
hoping that his rap at the sill of the shift
ing grating would be answered He was
not disappointed.
There was young moon, and one
stream of light fell down into Amir Mathis
gully and struck the grating which was
drawn away as I've knocked From the
black dark Bisesa held out her arms into
the moonlight. Both hands had been cut
nearly healed.
Then rs Bisesa bowed her head between
her arms and sobbed some one in the room
grunted like wild beast, and something
sharp-knife, sword or spcar-thrust at
1rcja2o in his boorku The stroke missed
his body, but cut into one of tho muscles
OF the groin and he limped slightly from
the wound for the rest of his days.
The grating went into its place. There
was no sign whatever from inside the
housc-nothing but the moonlight strip
on the high wall and the blackness of
Amir Mathis gully behind.
The next thing Trej2go remembers after
raging and shouting like u mailman be-
tween those pitilcss walls is that he found
himself near the river Us the dawn was
breaking, threw away his boorka and went
home hareheadcd.
What the tragedy was-whether BseSa
had in Il fit of causeless despair told every
thing or the intrigue had been discovered
and she tortured 10 tell; whether Durga
Charan knew his name and what became
of Biscsa-Trcjago does not know to this
day. Something horrible had happened,
and the thought of what 1t must have been
comes upon Trejago in the night now and
again ana Keeps him company till the
mnrning One special feature of the case
is that he docs not know where lies the
front Of DurFa ChtHan's house 1t may
open on to u courtyard common to two or
more houses, or it may lie behind any one
of the gates of Jitha Megji's bustcc. Ire
iagn cannot tell. He cannot get Bisesa-
poor little Biscsa-back again. He has
lost her in the city, where each mans house
10 as guarded and us unknowable as the
grave, and the grating that opens into
Amir Mathis gully has been walled up.
but Tcjago pays his calls regularly and