Rocky Ford enterprise., 1916-03-03

born at the same time. OF the Same
mother: blew hot. blew cold. balmiiy
or tempestuously, from all points at
once. Perhaps.
In the zenana Of the royal palace
there was a woman. tall, 1.-THE. WIN
skin of ivory and roses and eyes as
brown as the husk of water chestnut.
On her bare ankles were gem-in-
crusted anklets, on her arms bracelets
of hammered gold. round her neck
rope of pearls and emeralds and ru-
bies and sapphires. And still sne was
not happy.
From time to time her fingers
strained at the roots Of her glossy
black hair and the whites Of her great
J eyes glistened. She bit her lips to
keep back the sobs crowding in her
throat. She pressed her hands to-
gether so tightly that the little knuck-
les cracked.
"Ai, ait" she walled softly.
She paced the confines of her cham
Der with slow step. with fast step; or
leaned against the wall, her face hid
den in her arms; or pressed her hot
cheeks against the cool marble OF the
lattice.
Human nature is made up Of con-
traries. Why. when we have had the
courage coolly to plan murder. or 70
aid or suggest 1t, why must we be
troubled with remorse? More than
this, why must we battle against SHY
impulse to tell the first we meet what
we have done? Remorse: what is 1t!
Now, this woman Of the Zenana De-
lieved not in the God of your fathers
and mine. She was a pagan; her
heaven and hell were ruled by thou
sand gods, and her temples were hlled
with their images. Yet this thing re-
morse, was stabbing her with its hot
needles, till NO torture devised by man
could equal 1t.
She was the poor. foolish woman
who loved Durga Ram: loved him as
these wild Asiatic women love, from
murder to the poisoned cup. Loved
him, and knew that he loved her not
but used her for his own selfish ends.
There you have it. Had he loved her.
remorse never would have lifted its
head or raised its voice. And again.
had not Umballa sought the white
woman. this butterfly of the harem
might have died of old age without un-
burdening her soul. Remorse is the
result of crime committed uselessly.
Humanity is unchangeable. for all Its
variety of skins.
And here was this woman. wanting
to tell some one!
Umballa had done a peculiar thing:
he had not laid hand upon either Ra-
mabai or Pundita. When asked the
reason for this generosity toward
man who but recently put a price on
his head, Umballa smiled and ex'
planned that Ramabai was not only
broken politically. but was religious
outcast 1t was happiness for such
person to die, SO he preferred that Ra-
mabai should live.
| Secretly. however. Ramabafs revo
lutionary friends were still back OF
him. though they pretended to bow TO
the yoke of the priests.
So upon this day matters stood
thus: the colonel. Kathlyn, Bruce and
Winnie were prisoners again: Ahmed
was in hiding; and Ramabai and his
wife Knocked by those who once had
cheered them. The ingratitude oi
kings is as nothing when compared
to the ingratitude of a people.
A most ridiculous country: to crown
Kathlyn again (for the third time!)
and then to lock her up! Next tc
superstition as q barrier to progress
there stands custom. Everything one
did must be done as some one else
had done IT.: the initiative was still
chained up in the temples. II belonged
to the bald priests only.
But Umballa had made two mis-
takes: he should have permitted tint
white people to leave the country ant
given a silken cord to the chief eunucf
to apply as directed. There are NJ
written laws among the dark peoples
that forbids the disposal OF that chat
tel known as a woman or the narem
or zenana There are certain Gus
toms that even the all powerful Brit
ish raj must ignore.
The catafalque of the dead KIM
rested upon the royal platform. fw'
troopers stood below: otherwise tn
platform was deserted. When Rama
bal and Pundita arrived and MOUNTED
the platform to pay their last respect
to a kindly man, the soldiers salute'
graveIy, even sorrowfully. Ramaba
/, for his courage. his honesty and jus
tice, was their man; but they N
longer dared serve him, since it woul'
be at the expense of their own lives.
MY lord!" whispered Pundits
. pressing Ramabai's hand. Courage!
For Pundlta understood the man a
her side. Had he been honorless. sh
would this day be wearing a crown.
, cro BE CONTINUED)