The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-02-11

Mr.. Bannerjee's house was that
rare thing in Ranchipur. a house
constructed OF lath and stucco. II
was in every way very odd
house. designed and built cheaply
rs years earlier beneath the eye
Of Lady Streetingham, the eccen-
trio wife OF the Resident during
the reign Of the Wicked MALARIA
jah, TO house her guests.
The house was already falling
into ruin when the Maharajah re-
claimed ii as residence for his
librarian, Mr.. Bannerjec. The
librarian was by nature rather
like old Lady Streetingham, ex-
tremely hospitable. He was the
leader of a society which was
neither Indian nor European, but
a mixture of the two.
He had been educated at Ok
ford, and there, largely by ohser-
walton and instinct rather than by
contact. he had acquired a 'nob-
berry which in its essence was not
that, 1t was English.
He was very like his own par
ties, a strange mixture of ele-
ments which he was never quite
able TO bring together into a har-
monious whole. As the leader OF
the cosmopolitan set in Ranchipur
important guests Of the Maharajah
were sent to him for at least one
dinner or tennis party. The Brit
ish suburban set. ruled over by
Lily Hoggett-Egburry, professed
to hold him In scorn, although IN
their hearts. they were eaten up
with rage and envy that the real
plums. like Lord and Lady Esketh
were always entertained by Mr.
Bannerjee and seldom seen by
themselves.
And he was rich. as a leader OF
society needs to be, for when the
older Mr.. Bannerjee. his father
had retired from an extraordinary
prosperous counting house and in
surance office in Calcutta to with
draw into a life OF meditation, he
had given everything he possessed
10 his son. Mr.. Bannerjee also
had a beautiful wife and posi-
ton of eminence and authority and
even power, but he was not a
happy man, for there was great
deal which Mr.. Bannerjee had to
conceal from the world.
There was his own indecision
and the weakness OF a character
and a personality that was cleft
exactly in twain. Only some one
with an all-seeing eye could have
known this, for only some one
with an all-seeing eye could have
believed that the Mr.. Bannerjee,
debonair and a little arrogant,
passing out cocktails at a tennis
party and talking about the thea
ter in London and the races IN
Paris was the same man who IN
the early morning crept out from
the octagonsl house into the maze
of ramshackle outhuildings at the
far end Of the compound 10 cut
the throat Of a goat before a
small and monstrous statue of
Kali already smeared with the
blood of a hundred sacrifices.
Ransome was fond OF Mr.. Ban
nerjee in way, and sorry for
him. because at times he came
very close 10 understanding that
Mr.. Bannerjee's indecision and
misery were not so different from
his own. And Of course. there
was always Mrs. Bannerjee, cold
and beautiful. chewing her pan
and gossiping and giggling In a
corner with some woman friend.
But he was not happy at Mr.. Ban
nerlee's house and he could never
remember ever having enjoyed
himself at one OF the parties
What II was that depressed him
he could not define exactly, save
that il had the quality Of some
thing sinister. From the moment
he entered the house until he left
IL he always felt family i'll AZ ease
and even awkward.
He told Ransome that the elder
Mr.. Bannerjee in his old age had
given up all worldly pleasures TO
find wisdom. 10 contemplate. 70
prepare himself for another life,
and the reverence and awe in the
voice Of the son impressed Ran
some. not because he had any spe-
cisl respect for the Hindu faith.
but hecsus, IL seemed extremely
odd that a worldly man hks th<