Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21
CHAPTER XII-Continued.

The girl kept him waiting but a little
while. Lacking the attentions of an ayah
she had probably been unable to battle
so extensively as he. but eventually she
appeared In an UNNECESSARILY more happy
state of body and mind, calling up to him
the smile, stronger than any other, Of a
tall, fair lily after a morning shower.
And she was in a bewitching humor.
one that ingenuously enough succeeded
in entangling him more thoroughly than
ever before in the web OF her fascina-
lions. Over an execrable curry of stringy
fowl and questionable rice, eked out with
tea and timed delicacies of their own,
their chatter. at the beginning sufficiently
gay and inconsequent. drfted by imper-
ceptible and unsupported gradations peril
ously close to the shoals of intimacy.
And subsequently. when they had packed
themselves back into the narrow tonga
seat and again were being bounced and
juggled breathlessly over shocking roads,
the exchange Of condolences continued
with undated interest. Amber. on his
part was led to talk of his life and
work OF his adventures in the name of
science of his ambitions and achieve
ments In return he received a vivid i'm
preston Of the lives of those women who
share with their men the burden of OFF,
cial life in British India-of serene days
in the brisk. invigorating. clear atmos-
phere OF hill stations; Of sun-smitten days
and steaming nights in the Deccan: of
the uncertain, anchorless exlstences OF
those who know not from one day to an
other when they may be whisked half
across an empire at the whim Of that
awful force simply nominated govern
ment
For all the faint upon her pedigree, she
proved herself to Amber at heart a sim
pie lonely Englishwoman-a stranger In
sullen and suspicious land, desiring
nothing better than to return to the Eng
land she had seen and learned to love,
the England of ample lawns. of box
hedges and lanes. of travelled highways.
theaters. of home and family ties
But India she knew. II sometimes
fancy she told him with the conscious
laugh that deprecates a confessed super
stition. that l must have lived here in
some past incarnation" She paused. but
he did not speak. DO you believe in re-
incarnation" Again he had no answer
for her. though temporarily he saw the
here for long and resist belief in it.
But as a matter of fact j seem to under
stand these people better than they're
understood by most of my people. Don't
you think it curious? Perhaps it's mere
THAT'S the birthright of your SEX" he
said. rousing. ION the other hand. you
have to remember that your father is one
of a family that for generations has
served the empire. And your mother?'
She too. came of an Angio-1ndian
family. Indeed. they met and courted
here though they were married in Eng
land I" So you think my insight into
native character a sort of birthright-a
sense inherited?'
"Perhaps-something Of the sort
You may be right. Well never know.
At all events, l seem to have more
more painful comprehension of the native
than most of the English In this coun-
try have; I seem to feel, TO sense their
motives. their desires. aspirations. even
sometimes their untranslatable thoughts.
II believe I understand perfectly their
"Then." said Amber. you know some
thing his highness the viceroy would give
his ears to be sure Of"
II know that. but l do"
And that feeling is-?
mot love, Mr.. Amber
Much to the contrary-
VERY much,' she affirmed with deep
conviction.
This Indian unrest one reads of In
the papers is not mere gossip, then!
Anything but that: it's the hidden fire
stirring within the volcano we told our
selves was dead. The quiet OF the last
fifty years has been not content but sum-
Der; deep down there has always been
the fire. slow. deadly. smodering beneath
the ashes. The mutiny still lives In
spirit; some day 1T will break out afresh.
You must believe mel know. The more
we English give our lives to educate the
natives the further we spread the propa-
ganda of discomfort: day by day were
tea ching them to understand that We are
no better than they. no more fit to rule:
they are beginning to look up and to see
over the rim of the world-and We have
opened their eyes. They have learned
that japanese can defeat Cauca slams.
that China turns in its sleep. that Eng
land is no more omnipotent than omnis-
cient They've heard of anarchy and So
ciafism and have learned to throw bombs
Only the other day a justice in Bengal
talk the girl broke off with her clear
laugh, precisely like my father, who