Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-10
CHAPTER VII-Continued.

| A nice young English boy in Mr. Laber-
touches employ received and stamped il
| with the date of delivery and put it away
with the rest of the incoming CORE
spondence in a substantial-looking safe.
After. which he returned to his desk in
the anteroom and resumed his study OF
the law, which he pursued comfortably
enough with a cigarette In his mouth. his
chair tilted back and his feet gently but
firmly implanted upon the fair printed
pages of an open volume of Blackstone.
His official duties. otherwise. seemed to
| consist solely in imparting to all and
! sundry the Information that Mr.. Laber-
! touche was somewhere up in the Mo-
fussil. hunting bugs-I don't know ex-
actly where"
This was. broadly speaking. perfectly
true, within the limitations of the youths
/ personal knowledge. He was a pleasant
hammered boy of twenty or whereabouts,
with an engaging air of candOr which
successfully masked a clOse-mouthed reti-
cence, even as his ostensbly needless.
/ happy-go-lucky ways disguised habit OF
! extreme caution, and keen and particular
observation; qualities which caused him
| sistant to a solicitor without any client
ele worth mentioning. and who chose to
! spend most Of his time somewhere UP in
| the Mofussil hunting bugs.
The Mofussil, by the way. is an ex-
| tremely elastic term. standing as II does
In the vocabulary of the resident Cal
cutta-man, for the empire of India out
side the seat of government.
Precisely why Mr.. Labertouche main
tanned his office was a matter for casual
conjecture to his wide circle of acquaint-
ances; although it's not unlikely that.
were he the subject Of discussion. the
! bulk of the wonder expressed would be
| inspired by his unreasonable preference
Anglo Indian Imagination is incapable OF
comprehending the frame Of mind which
| holds existence In Calcutta tolerable when
one has the rest of Indta-including
| Simla-Open to one. And Labertouche
| was unmarried. unconnected with the
| government. and independent Of his pro-
! fesson; certainly 1t would seem that the
| slender stream of clients which trickled
| in and out of the little Offices on Dhur-
rumtollah street. near the Madam. could
| hardly have provided him with prac-
| tice lucrative enough to be a considera'
| ton On the other hand 1t had to be ad-
| mitted that the man kept up his estab-
| lishment in Calcutta rather than 1veo
| there; for he was given to unexpected
and extended absences from home. and
was frequently reported as having been
| seen poking sedulOusly over this plain OF
| through that jungle, with butterfly net
| a bottle of chloroform and an air OF alb
straction. In view of all of which he was
| set down as an original and wholly ire
sponsible. The first of which he was and
the second of which he emphatically was
not.
| Henry Charles Beresford Labertouche
was. in person, a quiet and unassuming
body. with nothing particularly remark
| able about him save his preference for
[ boot heels nearly three inches high and
| a habit of dying his hair-naturally gray
| Ina he
quite brazen about these matters and
would cheerfully discuss with compare
| tive strangers the contrasted merits OF
| this hair dye and that, and the obvious
advantages of being five feet nine and
one-h half inches in height instead of fve
| feet seven. his idiosyncrasies were not
held against him. Otherwise he was q
man strikingly inconspicuous: his eyes
| were a very dark brown, which ID notn-
/ ing remarkable, and his features were al
most exasperatingiy indefinite. You would
| have found him hard to recall to memory
usually, aside from the boot heels, which
might easily have been overlooked. and
| the black hair. which was, when airs
said, rather becoming than otherwise
| Living with two native servants In a
modest bungalow somewhere between
Chitpur and Barrackpur. he went to and
| from his office. or didn't, at his whim.
spoken and gifted with a distinct sense
| of the humorous, he would converse
agreeably and intelligently upon any i'm
| personal topic for hours at a time, when
| the spirit so moved him. AS an ento-
mologist his attachments were said to be
| remarkable; he was admittedly an inter
ested student of ethnology, and he filled
i'm his spare time compromising unholy
smells i'm little laboratory connected
with his suburban home. This latter
proceeding earned him the wholesome
| fear and respect of the native popula-
F, ton, who firmly believed him an intimate
| of many devils.
| Such, at least. was the superficial man.
| Now upon the morning Of the day that
found the steamship PoOnah nuzzling up
| the Hooghly's dirty yellow flood, MI
1 Labertouche's clerk arrived at the Dhur-
rumtollah street Office at the usual hour
which. in the absence of his employer.
was generally between IL O'Clock and
noon Having assorted and disposed OF
the mornings mail. he donned his of1ice
coat, sat down, thumbed through Black
| stone until he found two perfectly clean
pages. opened the volume at that place
| tipped back his chair. and with every in
dication Of an untroubled conscience I'M
| posed his feet upon the book and began
the days labors with cigarette.
The window at his right was open. al
ton of one story. of the tide Of traffie
| ebbing and flowing In Dhurrumtoilan
| street The clerk watched ii sleepily
between half-closed eyelids. Presently he
became aware that an especially dirty
| and travel-stained Attit mendicant had
| suuatted down across the way, In the full
glare of sunlight. and was composing
| himself for one OF those apparently pur-
! poseless and interminable vigils peculiar
| to his vocation. Beneath their dropping
lashes the eyes of the clerk frightened
| But he did not move. Neither did the
4 Att mendicant.
| In the course Of the next half hour the
| clerk consumed two cigarettes and enter
tained a visitor in the person of dappei
little Greek curio dealer from the La
bazaar, who left behind him an invita-
| ton to Mr.. Labertouche to call and in
spect some scarabs in which he had pro-
| fessed an interest. 1t was quite fresh
| importation averred the Greek: the clerk
| was to be careful to remember that.
| When he had gone the clerk made q
note of 1t. Then, glancing out the win
| dow, he became aware that the IItl'
/ mendicant for some reason dissatisfied
| was preparing to move on. Yawning, the
| clerk resumed his street coat and went
| out to lunch, careessly leaving the dooI
| unlocked and the memorandum OF the
| Creeks invitation exposed upon his blot
| ter When he returned at o'c.ock the
door Of Mr. LabertOuche's private once
| was atar and that gentleman was at his
desk. The memorandum was, however
gone.
Mr.. Labertouche was in the process OF
opening and reading ten-day accumu'
| lation of correspondence, an occupation
| which he suspended temporarily to cal
his clerk In and receive his report. This
proved to be a tolerably lengthy session
| for the clerk. whose name appeared t6
be Frank demonstrated his command oil
a surprising memory. Without notes ne
n - ~