Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-23
CHAPTER XIII Continued.

bridge. Sophia did not care to play and
Amber was ignorant of the game-a de-
feet in his social education which he
found no cause to regret, since it left
him in undisputed attendance upon the
girl.
She had seated herself at a warped and
discouraged piano, for which Raikes had
already apologized: it was. he said, a
legacy from former resident For years
Its yellow keys had not known a woman's
touch such as that to which they now
responded with thin, cracked voices; the
girls fine. slender fingers wrung from
them plaintive. pathetic parody of
melody. Amber stood over her with his
arms folded on the top of the instrument,
comfortably unconscious that his pose
was copied from any number of senti-
mental photographers and art photo
graphs. His temper was sentimental
enough, for that matter: the woman was
very sweet and beautiful in his eyes as
she sat with her white. round arms flash
ing over the keyboard, her head bowed
and her face a little averted, the long
lasheS low upon her cheeks and tremu-
lous with fathomless emotion. 1t was
his thought that his time was momen-
tarily becoming shorter. and that just
now, more than ever, she was very dis
tant from his arms. something inacces-
sible. too rare and delicate and fine for
the rude possession of him who sighed
for his own unwOrthiness
Abruptly she brought both hands down
upon the keys. educing a tangled, startled
crash from the tortured wires. and swing
ing round. glanced up at Amber with
quaint mirth trembling behind the veil of
moisture in her misty eyes.
'1ndian' she cried, with a broken laugh:
India epitomiZed-a homesick exiled
from the broken heart of a crippled
piano! That is an Englishwoman's India
its our life. ever to strive and struggle
and contrive to piece together out of
makeshift odds and ends the atmos-
phere of home! . It's suffocating in
here. Come" She rose. with quick
shrug of impatienCe. and led the way
back to the gardens.
The table had been removed together
with the chairs and candles: nothing re-
manned to remind them of the hour just
gone. The walks were clear of SER
wants. Their only light came from the
high arch of stars smitten to its zenith
with pale, quivering waves of light from
low them the city hummed like a dis
turbed beehive Somewhere afar a gentle
hand was sweeping the strings of a
Zitar. sounding weird. sad cords. The
perfumed languor of the night weighed
heavily upon the senses, like the woven
e'' VI sumo ae-o'' civ 'a ''''''en'
Pensive the girl trained her long skirts
heedlessly over the .dew-drenched grasses;
Amber at her side, himself speeches.
soning sense of expectancy. Never. he
| told himself. had a love4's hour been
more sauspiciously timed or staged, and
this was his hour. altogether his! .
If only he might find the words of wooing
to which his lips were strange! He
dared not delay; tomorrow 1t might be
too late; in the womb of the morrow a
| world of chances stirred-contingencies
that might in a breath set them world
apart.
They found seats in the shadow of a
pepul.
you must be tired, Mr. Amber" she
said. why don't you smoker
II hadn't thought of it and hadn't
asked permission
please do. l like it,
He found his cigarette case and struck
| match. Sophia watching intently his
face in the rosy glow of the little. flicker
ing flame.
Are you in the habit of indulging in
protracted silences?" she rallied him
gently. Between friends of old stand
ing they're permissible, l believe, but"
"A days journey by tonga natures ac-
quaintanceshipS wonderfully" he OBJ
served. abStrusely.
"Indeed?" She laughed.
AT least, l hope So
He felt that he must be making prog
ress; thus far he had been no less inane
fiction. And he wondered was she laugh
ing at him. softly, there in the shadows?
You see, she said amused at his re-
lapse into reverie. you're incurable and
ungrateful. I'm trying my best to be at
tractive and interesting. and YOU won't
pay me any attention whatever. There
must be something on your mind. Is it
this mysterious errand that brings you so
Unexpectedly to India-to kuttarpur, Mr.
Amber?'
Yes he answered. truthfully.
And you won't tell me?''
Il think l must he said, bending for
ward
There sounded stealthy rustiing in
the shrubbery. The girl drew away and
rose with startled exclamation. With
bound a man in native dress sped from
the shadows and paused before them,
painting.
Amber jumped up. overturning his chair,
and inStinctively feeling for the pistol
that was with his travelling things up
stairs in the residency.
The native treasured him with swift,
obsequious gesture. Pardon, sahib, and
yours sahiba, If have alarmed you. but
am come on an errand Of haste, seeking
him who is known as the Sahib David
Amber
me-"
ut is only this, that l have been COM
missioned to bear to you, sahib."
The man fumbled hurriedly in the folds
of his surtout, darting quick glances of
apprehension round the garden. Amber
looked him over as closely as he could
in the dim light. but found him wholly a
stranger-merely a low-caste Hindu. coun-
terpart of a million others to be encoun-
tered daily in the highways and bazaars
of India. The Virginian's rising hope
that he might prove to be Labertouche
failed for want of encouragement; the in
truder was of a stature the Englishman
could by no means have counterfeited.
From whom come your he demanded
in the vernacular.
Nay, a name that is unspoken harms
none sahib.' The native produced
small thin, fiat package and thrust it in
to Ambers hands with permission, l
go, sahib: it were unwise to linger-'
There is no answer?
None sahib." The man salaamed and
strobe away, seeming to melt soundlessly
into the foliage.
For minute Amber remained astare.
The girls voice alone reused him.
II think you are a very interesting
person. Mr.. Amber she said. resuming
her chair.
well. 1 begin to think this a
most uncommonly interesting country"
He laughed uncertainty, turning the pack
age over and over. Upon my word!
/ haven't the least notion what this can
be!'
''Why not bring it to the light and find
out?''
He assented meekly, having been per-
fectly candid in his assertion that he had
no suspicion of what the packets might
contain and a moment later they stood
beneath the window of the residency.
from which a broad shaft of light
streamed out like vaporized gold.
Amber held the packet to the light; it
vas oblong, thin. stiff. covered with COM
mon paper, guiltless of superscription and