Evening journal., 1900-11-17


was on the point of leaving India
and returning to England when he sent
for me. At least, to be accurate-and
am always accurate-I was not quite on
the point, but nearly, for l was going to
start by the mail on the following day.
had been up to Government house to
take my leave few days before, but Sir
John had been too i'll TO see me, or at
least he had said he was. And now he
was much worse-dying, it seemed, from
all accounts, and he had sent down a ma
tive servant in the MONDAY heat with
note, written in his shaking old hand,
begging me to come up as soon as it be-
came cooler He said he had a commits
sion which he was anxious l should do
for him in England.
OF course | went. It was not very
convenient, because had to borrow one
of our fellows traps, rs | had sold my
own, and none of them had the conf
dence in my driving which had myself.
l was also obliged to leave the packing
of my collection Of Malay krises and In
dian kookeries to my bearer.
wondered. as / drove along, why Sir
John had sent for me. Worse, was hc?
Dying, and without a friend: Poor oil
man! He had done pretty well in this
world. but ] WAS afraid he would not be
mp to much once he was out of it; AMI
now. it seemed. no was going | felt
sorry for him felt more sorry when |
saw hin-whpa lie gall. long faced A.
ID. c. too, ne iato his room and let rs.
Yes, Sir John was certainly going
There was no mistake about it. Il V,.3
written in every line Of his drawn, fever
worn face, and in his wide. fever lit
eyes, and in the clutch Of his long, vel
low hands upon his tussore silk dTessin,
gown. He looked a very sick. bad Ol
man as he lay there on his low couch
placed SO as to court the air from without,
cooled by its passage through dainle
grass screens, and to receive the full
strength of the punkah, pulled by an iu-
visible hand outside.
"You go to England tomorrow he
asked, sharply.
1t was written even in the change Of
his voice, which was harsh, as Of old.
but with all the strength gone out OF it.
"By to-morrow's mail" l said.
should have liked to say something mors
something sympathetic about his be-
ing i'll and not likely to get better, but
he had always treated me discourteously
when he was well, and l could not open
out all at once now that he was i'll.
"Lool1 here, Middleton" he went on;
81 am dying, and l know it. / don't
suppose you imagined had sent for yol
10 bid You a last farewell before depart
ing to my long home. am not in suc,i
hurry to depart as all that, / can tell
you; but there is something want dons
that want you to do for me. meant
TO have done it myself, but l am down
now and / must trust somebody. |
know better than to trust a clever man.
An honest fool-but / am digressin;
from the case in point. l have never
trusted anybody all my life, SO You may
feel honored. l have a small parcel
which want you to take to England for
me. Here it is.
His long, lean hands went searching
in his dressing gown, and presently
produced an old brown bag, held to-
gether at the neck by a string.
'See here. he said; and he pushed the
glasses and papers aside from the table
near him and undid the string. Then he
craned forward to look about him, lay
ing a spasmodic clutch on the bag. I'm
watchedi know I'm watchedw he
said in whisper. his pale eyes turning
slowly in their sockets. Il shall be
killed for them if l keep them much
longer, and l won't be hurried into my
grave. I'll take my own time"
'There is no one here" said. "and 10
one in sight except Cathcart smoking in
the veranda, and can only see his legs,
so he can't see us"
He seemed to recover himself, and
laughed. l had never liked his laugh
especially when, as had often happened,
it had been directed against myself; but
] liked it still less now.
''See herer' he repeated, chuckling.
and he turned the bag inside out upon
the table.
Such jewels l had never seen. They
fell like cut fame upon the marble table,
green and red and burning white. A
large diamond rolled and fell upon the
floor. ! picked it up and put it back
among the confused blaze of precious
stones, too much astonished for a mo-
menJ 10 spebh.
Beautiful aren't they?" the old man
chuckled, passing his wasted hands over
them. "You won't match that necklace
in any jewelers. in England. tore il
off an old she devil Of a Rhanee's necl
after the mutiny, and got bite in the
arm for my trouble. But she'll tell nc
tales. Hel hel hel 1 don't mind say.
ing now how got them. I am hum
bic Christian now am 50 near heaven
eh, Middleton? Hel hel You don't like
TO contradict me. Look at those emer
aids. The hasp is broken, but it makes
pretty bracelet. don't think III tel
how the hasp got broken-little accident
as the lady who wore it gave 1t to me
Rather brown. isn't it, on one side? Bu'
it viii come off. No, you need not b'
afraid Of touching it; it isn't wet. He
bel And this crescent Look at thos'
Furhacr xrs0rs1d hr rro.t