Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-04
CHAPTER XIII.
and S5.o8 for SID Robes.
Envoi.

With the surrender of one man the
great Marut rising came to an end. 1t
had been built up by him and on him, and
with him it collapsed. AS the news
reached the armed thousands encamped
fell upon them. There was no attempt
at organization or resistance. They be-
lieved simply that heaven had turned
against them and Vishnu Joined hands
with the Englishman. and they waited to
hear no more. What had seemed an over
whelming force melted away as though it
had been a shadow. and in the jungle.
sinking along the lightless highways. or
budding in the lonely novels outside
Marut, the remnant of Behar Singh S
great army hid from the hand of the de-
stroyer. They had followed their god.
and their god had deserted them. All
hope was lost. and with the fatalism OF
their race they flung their weapons, from
them as they fled.
Nehal Singh, now Steven Caruthers, was
held prisoner in the clubhouse he had
built two years before. Part OF the re-
turned regiment was encamped about the
surrounding gardens. In order to prevent
all attempt at rescue, but the precaution
was mere formality. Visitors came
constantly. There was not q man In all
the station who was not anxious to help
bury the past and to hold out the hand of
friendship to one whom at the bottom of
their hearts they had once wronged and
sighted. Among them Carmichael and
Nicholson were the chief. They passed
many hours of each day with him. and
worked steadily and enthusiastically for
and grateful. but beneath his gratitude
there still lurked the demon Of unrest.
She had not come-the one being for
whom he waited-she had sent no word.
He knew that her mother lay dying
above all things he knew that on the
great day OF the attack she had stood
resolutely between him and death-but
nothing, no explanation or assurance,
Gained the hidden trouble OF his mind.
After all, it had been pity-or remorse-
not love.
Thus three weeks passed. The colonel
had spent the day with him discussing
the future. arranging for the transfer
ence Of Lois fortune into his unwilling
hands, and now. toward nightfall. he was
once more alone. wearied In body and
soul For the first time since his sur
render his sense of quiet and release
from an immense burden was gone. He
was still alone. He felt now that he
would always be alone. for there was but
one who could fill the blank in his life.
And she had not come He did not and
could not blame her. Who was he that
a woman should join her lot to his? An
Englishman truly. but one over whose
birth and youth there hung shadow,
perhaps a curse such as had darkened
his mothers life and the life Of all those
in whose veins there flows an alien
blood. She must not even think that any
link from the past bound her. She must
be free-quite free to choose. YEARLY he
seated himself at his table and took his
pen.
"You have been the great guiding light
Of my life," he wrote to her. You will
always be. because l cannot learn to for
get. But for you 1t would be easier and
better to forget. You will be happier
And then he heard the door open and she
stood before him. The words that he had
meant to write rushed to his lips. but no
further. Moved by q common impulse
they advanced to meet each other, and