The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-01-18
The Rains
Came

travelling. and sometimes Major
Safti
Mrs. Smiley vas a small woman
With a thln body and face which,
although it had never been pretty.
vas agreeable and had in It the
light which Is in the faces Of good
simple people. Both her body ana
her face worn bv the heat aud the
hard work Of . years spent IN
Ranchipur. save for one year of
leave in Cedar Falls. We're those
Of a woman 10 wears older But
somehow this made very little DIFF
ference. no more difference than
her lack of interest in clothes. IL
was something else which you
found in Mrs Smiley. something
which lay deeper than prettiness
OF fashionable frocks. something
which you could not quite define.
bat which made you notice her a
moment or two after she had come
into a room notice her and think.
This is ne ordinary woman
To Raschid Ali Khan Mrs.
Smiley was always something of
a mystery. but Mr.. Jobnekar. the
Untouchable. sitting on stool in
one corner. listening. understood
her a little. because he had been
to America. He was small dark
man. why and compact like a
panther. with the tough smolder-
ing vitality special TO Gntouch-
ables.
Unlike Raschid. who had been TO
school in oxford and Berlin and
Paris. Mr. Jobnekar spoke English
awkwardly and with difficulty He
had learned 1t first in the mission
schools from the predecessor of
Mr.. Smiley and although four
years in America had helped him
it did not give him an easy COM
mand of the tongue. Now and
+ then in the midst of an impas-
stoned speech he would say, You
bet" or BY Golly,'
1t was the Maharajah himself
who had paid for Mr.. Jobnekars
education in America and now Mr..
Jobnekar was the leader of the de-
pressed classes and the only or
ganizer they had in all the turmoil
Of people and races and faiths that
was India. He Travelled from one
end OF India TO another. up and
down and crosswise. INTO the great
+ cities of British India, into obscure
barbaric little states.
+ Aunt Phoebe liked little Mr. job
nekar immensely. too He always
reminded her of job Simmons back
in Wesaukee county as a young
man.
At 20 Aunt Phoebe had discov-
+ cred India. and at 81 she was still
i discovering it, finding each day
something new and fascinating
and unbelievable She had come
to Ranchipur when the Smileys
returned from the only leave they
had ever taken. when u months
of Iowa seemed to them dull and
uneXciting after the first reception
and the first speeches of Cedar
Falls We're presented.
Presently they all sat down to
lunch at one end of the big kitchen
overlooking the inclosed part Of
i the garden where the Smileys kept
+ their little menagerie. They had
no children and 80 they had all
sorts of animals.
At the table there were two
empty places. Mr.. Smiley said. I
expect Miss MacDaid has been
kept at the hospital. We won't
take away her place, And I can't
imagine what's happened to the
major
And then they all fell to talking
Of the weather and whether more
rain would come Mr.. Jobnekar
treasured them. He knew. In him
there was 10000 years of India.
Beside him Raschid and even
Major Safti and their people were
newcomers.
Outside motor drove up under
the trees and from it stepped Miss
MacDaid and the Major. She
looked crisp and cool even in the
heat, but she had put too much
rouge on her worn face. The
major was in high spirits.
I can't stay" he said. I've
got to 60 and see Bannerjee's
father. The old gentleman is hav-
ing an attack of angina. III be
back
It's a shame said Miss Mac
Daid. He never gets moment
10 himself
She watched him go out. climb
into the motor and drive off. RAN
some at the far end of the table
looked at her and remembered sud
denly what John the Baptist had
told him.
Ransome thought. If she would
only stop talking. She's trying 10
hide it and she can't. It's horrible"
And now one by one the Euro
peans would discover il. Ransome.
watching her across the table.
knew that what John the Baptist
mad SAID was true and for a mo-
ment he was a little startled and
frightened by the thought of how
blind and cruel nature might be.
For moment, for the first time
since the war, he felt a lump in
his throat.
To Be Continued