The Spectator., 1915-04-09
CHAPTER XIV.
According to the Rules.

 she was angry at the world, angry at the gentle consul general, above all, angry at herself To have laid herself open to the charge of indiscretion! To have received lecture, however kind- ly intended. from the man she loved and respected next to her father! To know that persons were exchanging mods and whispers behind her back!
 It was a detestable world. It was folly to be honest, to be kind, to be individual, to have likes and dislikes, unless these might be regulated by outsiders. Why should she care what people said? She did not care. What made her furious was the absolute stupidity of their deductions. She had not been indiscreet; she had been merely kindly and human; and if they wanted to twist and misconstrue her l actions. let them do so.
 Once or twice she saw inwardly the will-o'-the-wisp lights of her soul. But resolutely she smothered the sparks
 The coolie stopped suddenly.
 Go on," she said.
 But the coolie smiled and wiped his l shaven poll. Elsa gazed at the hotel veranda in bewilderment Slowly she l got out of the rickshaw and paid the 1 fare. She had not the slightest recol- 1 More than this, it was a quarter to seven. She had been gone exactly an 1 hour.
 Perhaps, after all," she thought. Il am hopeless They may be right: ought to have guardian. l am not always accountable for what I do.'
 She dressed leisurely and with cal 1 culation. She was determined to con- vince everyone that she was beau tiful woman, above suspicion, above reproach. The spirit within her was not. however. in direct accord with this determination. Malice stirred into 1 life again: and she wanted to hurt someone. hurt deeply. It was only the tame in spirit who, when injured, sub mitted without murmur or protest. And Elsa, only dimly aware of it. was mortally hurt
 Elsa" said Martha, that frown will stay there some day. and never go away"
 1 Elsa rubbed 1t out with her finger the cage at Jaipur? How they leased him until he lost his temper and came smashing against the bars? Well, I sympathize with that brute. He would have been peaceful enough had they let him be. If Mir. Warrington calls to morrow. say that I am indisposed."
 Martha evinced her satisfaction visiby. The frown returned between Elsa's eyes and remained there until she went downstairs to join the consul general and his wife She found some very agreeable men and women, and some of her natural gayety returned. At a far table on the veranda she saw Craig and Mallow in earnest conversa- 1 tion.
 She nodded pleasantly to the colo nel as the head boy came to announce that dinner was served. Anglo-Indian society had so many twists and rami. 1 tications that the situation was not ex- actly new to the old soldier True, none had confronted him identical to this. But he had not disciplined men all these years without acquiring abun- dant self.oontrol. The little veins in his nose turned purple. as Elsa prophesied they would but there was no other indication of how dstasteful the moment was to him. He would surely warn the consul general, who doubtless was innocent enough. They sat down. The colonel blinked. Fine passage we had coming down" Was itg" returned Elsa innocently. The colonel reached for an olive and bit into it savagely. He was no fool She had him at the end of a blind alley. and there he must wait until she was ready to let him go. She could harry him or pretend to ignore him, as Women. all women. possessed at least one attribute of the cat. It was dig ging in the claw, hanging by it, and boredly looking about the world to see what was going on. At that moment the colonel recognized the sting of the claw
 Elsa turned to her right and en- gagged the French consul discursively: indeed she gradually became the cen. ter of interest; she drew them inten- tionally. She brought touch of home to the Frenchman, to the German. to the Italian, to the Spaniard; and the British official, in whose hands the civil business of the Straits settle ments rested. was charmed to learn that Elsa had spent various week-ends at the home of his sister in Surrey