it is our fate as a nation, head and heart of a world empire, that much of our manhood must pursue its career far away from home. and it is our strength that these english sons of ours have taught themselves to make it home wherever they find their work.
the fervid land of india had become home to raymond bethune for so many years that it would have been difficult for him to picture his life elsewhere. the glamour of the east, of the east that is england's, had entered into his blood, without, however, altering its cool northern deliberate course; that it can be thus with our children, therein also lies the strength of england.
raymond bethune, major of guides, loved the fierce lads to whom he was at once father and despot, as perhaps he could have loved no troop of honest thick-skulled english soldiers. he was content with the comradeship of his brother officers, men who thought like himself and fought like himself; content to spend the best years of existence hanging between heaven and earth on the arid flanks of a kashmir mountain range, in forts the walls of which had been cemented by centuries of blood; looked forward, without blenching, to the probability of laying down his life in some obscure frontier skirmish, unmourned and unnoticed. his duty sufficed him. he found happiness in it that it was his duty. such men as he are the very stones of our empire's foundation.
* * * * *
yet though he was thus intimately satisfied with his life and his life's task, bethune was conscious of a strange emotion, almost a contraction of the heart, as he followed the kitmutgar to lady gerardine's drawing-room in the palace of the lieutenant-governor, this october day.
the town below hung like a great rose jewel, scintillating, palpitating, in a heat unusual for the autumn of northern india. out of the glare, the colour, the movement, the noise; out of the throng of smells—spice, scent, garlic, the indescribable breath of the east—into the dim cool room; it was like stepping from india into england! and by the tug at his heart-strings he might have analysed (had he been of those that analyse) that, after all, the old home was nearest and dearest still; might have realised that his content beneath the scorching suns, amid the blinding snows of his adopted country, arose after all but of his deep filial love of, and pride in, the distant english isle.
he put down his bat and looked round: not a hint of tropical colour, not a touch of exotic fancy, of luxuriant oriental art anywhere; but the green and white and rosebud of chintz, the spindle-legged elegance of chippendale, the soft note of chelsea china, the cool greys and whites of wedgwood. from the very flower-bowl a fastidious hand had excluded all but those delicate blossoms our paler sunshine nourishes. some such room, dignified with the consciousness of a rigid selection, reticent to primness in its simple yet distinguished art, fragrant with the potpourri of english gardens, fragrant too with memories of generations of wholesome english gentlefolks, you may meet with any day in some old manor-house of the shires. to transport the complete illusion to the heart of india, bethune knew well must have cost more labour and money than if the neighbouring palaces had been ransacked for their treasures. it was obvious, too, that the fancy here reigning supreme was that of one who looked upon her sojourn under these splendid skies with the eyes of an unresigned exile.
"the wife of the lieutenant-governor can evidently gratify every whim," he said to himself, bitterly enough, the while he still inhaled the fragrance of home with an unconscious yearning.
in the distance the tinkle of a piano seemed to add a last touch to the illusion. in india one so seldom hears a piano touched during the hot hours. and scales, too—it was fantastic!
suddenly the music ceased, if music it could be called. there was a flying step without. the door was thrown open. raymond bethune turned quickly, a certain hardness gathering in his eyes. their expression changed, however, when he beheld the newcomer. a young, very young girl, hardly eighteen perhaps, of the plump type of immaturity; something indeed of a cherubic babyhood still lurking in the round face, in the buxom little figure, and in the rebellious aureole of bronze hair rising from a very pink forehead. it was evidently the energetic musician.
she came in, examining one finger of her right hand; and, without looking at him, began to speak with severity:
"i told you, mr. simpson, i could not possibly see anybody in my practising hours! how am i ever to keep up my poor music in this beastly country?" then she added, in a pettish undertone: "i have broken my nail now!" and glancing up, accusingly, to behold a stranger: "oh!" she exclaimed.
major bethune smiled. the sight of this creature, so unmistakably fresh from the salt brisk english shores, was as pleasant as it was unexpected.
"oh, it's not mr. simpson!" she cried, with a quaint air of discovery.
the officer bowed. life had taught him not to waste his energy on a superfluous word.
"oh!" she said again. she looked down at her nail once more, and then sucked it childishly. over her finger she shot a look at him. she had very bright hazel eyes, under wide full brows. "perhaps," she said, "you want to see the runkle? i mean," she interrupted herself, with a little giggle—"i menu, my uncle, sir arthur."
"i called to see lady gerardine," he answered imperturbably. "i wrote to her yesterday. she expects me."
"oh!"
every time this ejaculation shot from the girl's lips it was with a new lively note of surprise and a comical rounding of small mouth and big eyes. then she remembered her manners; and, plunging down on a chair herself:
"won't you take a seat?" she cried, with an engaging schoolgirl familiarity.
bowing again, he obeyed.
"do you think lady gerardine will see me?"
she glanced at the clock on the cabinet beside her.
"my aunt will be here," she replied, "in just ten minutes. she is always down at the hour, though nobody comes till half-past." she flung a look of some reproach at the visitor's inscrutable face, and passed her handkerchief over her own hot cheeks. "i think aunt rosamond is wonderful," she went on, preparing herself, with a small sigh, to the task of entertaining. "the runkle—i mean my uncle—is always after her. but i am sure there is not another lieutenant-governor's wife in india that does her duty half so well." here she yawned, as suddenly as a puppy. the visitor still maintaining silence, she paused, evidently revolving subjects of conversation in her mind, and then started briskly upon her choice:
"of course, you don't know who i am." two deep dimples appeared in the plump cheeks. "i am aspasia cuningham, and i have come to live with my uncle and aunt in india. i wish i had not; i hate it. what is your name?"
"raymond bethune."
"civil?" inquired miss aspasia, running her eye over his light-grey suit.
"no, military. guides. major," he corrected.
she nodded.
"i see—turbans and things," commented she.
bethune gave a dry chuckle which hardly reflected itself on his countenance. another silence fell; and, still scrubbing her cheeks with an energy calculated to make even the onlooker feel hot, the girl took a good look at him. a somewhat lantern-jawed, very thin face had he, tanned almost to copper; brown hair, cropped close, a slight fair moustache; and steady pale eyes beneath overhanging brows. there was not an ounce of superfluous flesh about the long lean figure. no mistake (thought aspasia sagely) about his scottish origin. she cocked her head on one side. "he would have looked well in a kilt," she told herself.
presently the silence began to oppress her. he did not seem in the least disposed to break it. his attitude was one of patient waiting; but, second by second, the lines of his countenance grew set into deeper sternness. miss cuningham coughed. she played a scale upon her knee, stretched out all her fingers one after another, waggled them backwards and forwards, and finally, with a pout and a frown, dashed into exasperated speech:
"could not i take a message?"
the man brought his attention to bear upon her, with an effort, as if from some distant thought.
"i beg your pardon?"
"do you not think you could give me a message fur aunt rosamond?"
"i am afraid not."
"do you want her to get the runkle—sir arthur, i mean—to do anything for you?"
"no."
"do you know aunt rosamond—lady gerardine?"
he hesitated. then he said: "no," and "no" again, with a cold incisiveness.
"oh!"
miss cuningham was nonplussed; yet was she interested, in spite of herself. "what a rude pig!" she thought angrily, in her downright schoolgirl vernacular. but the next moment his saturnine face softened.
"do not let me keep you," he said. "you want to return to your music. you were practising very hard. i have never heard any one play scales with such energy over here before. it quite brought me back to the schoolroom in the old place at home."
his expression softened still more as he spoke.
aspasia was delighted to find him so human all at once; and, being herself the most gregarious little soul alive, hastened to take advantage of the opportunity.
"oh, it does not matter now," she said. "thank you. it is rather hot. i will finish my exercises later on. you see, i must keep up my technique." she stretched her fingers again, with an important air. "but, when he's at home, it annoys the runkle—there it is again! i cannot help it, really. i only began it for fun, to tease him; now it's irresistible, nervous i think. you remember, i told you my name is aspasia. a stupid sort of name. you cannot even shorten it into anything decent. you could not call me aspy, or pashy, or asia, could you? so people have got into the way of calling me baby. i do not mind. it's better than aspasia. but uncle won't. he is my godfather, you see, and thinks it's a lovely name. there's a stupid old cousin of ours, lady aspasia something-or-other, whom he thinks the world of. so he always will say: 'my dear raspasia ... my dear raspasia!' so i got into the way of calling him: 'my dear runkle rarthur!' rather silly, but i began it in sheer self-defence. and now—it's really quite wicked—everybody calls him the runkle, all the secretaries and things—behind his back, of course. and there's one of them, a silly sort of creature, mr. simpson—i thought it was him, just now—he's not got used to it yet, and he always goes purple and explodes. and the runkle gets mad. he has to pretend he has not noticed anything, to save his dignity!"
her frank young laugh rang out, one might have thought infectiously enough. but the visitor's eyes had wandered from her. and as now (perceiving suddenly that he had not been listening to her) she fell into an affronted silence, she noticed how they became fixed in the direction of the door with a curious intensity of gaze, like that of a hawk sighting his quarry.
one of the native servants, who kept squatting watch in the passage without, had noiselessly pushed the door-hangings aside; a soft murmur of muslin skirts against matting grew into the silence. lady gerardine came into the room. she was looking at a card in her hand.
"major bethune?" she said questioningly, as she approached.
"my name must be familiar to you," he replied gravely.
she paused a second, slightly contracting her brows; then shook her head, with a smile.
"i am afraid—i have such a bad memory. but i am very glad to see you."
she put out her hand graciously. he barely touched it with his fingers.
"pray sit down," she said, and took her own chair.
one felt the accomplished woman of the world. no awkwardness could exist where lady gerardine had the direction of affairs. sweet, cool, aloof, the most exquisite courtesy marked her every gesture. had the new comer been shy he must promptly have felt reassured; for a long-looked-for guest could not have been more easily welcomed.
"you will like some tea," said she. "baby, why did not you order tea? dear child, how hot you are!"
a faint ripple of laughter broke the composure of her countenance. miss cuningham ran to the door clapping her hands.
"tea, abdul," she cried. and, like the genie of the persian fairy tale, the servant instantly stood salaaming on the threshold.
"oh, aunt rosamond, may he not have a lemon-squash? major bethune, i am sure you would prefer a lemon-squash!"
bethune sat stonily staring at his hostess from under his heavy brows.
* * * * *
so that was she—rose of the world! not so beautiful as he had fancied. and yet, yes—grudgingly he had to admit it—beautiful and more. with every instant that passed, the extraordinary quality of her personality made itself felt upon him; and his heart hardened. this grace more beautiful than beauty; those deep strange eyes startling with their unexpected colour, green-hazel, in the pallor of the face under a crown of hair, fiery gold; those long lissom limbs; the head with its wealth, dropping a little on the long throat. oh, aye, that was she! even so had she been described to him: the "flower among women!"—even so, by lips, eloquent with the fulness of the heart (alas! what arid mountain wind might not now be playing with the dust of what was once instinct with such generous life!)—even so, had harry english described her to his only friend. save, indeed, that by his own telling harry english's bride had been rosy as a dorset apple-blossom, as the monthly roses that hung over the wicket-gate of the garden at home; and the wife of sir arthur gerardine had no more tint of colour in her cheeks than the waxen petals of the white daturas that marked the governor's terraces with their giant chalices.
raymond remembered. but she—she had such a bad memory!
* * * * *
"have you been long here?"
she seemed to take his visit quite as a matter of course.
"i arrived yesterday. i am on leave."
"indeed. and what regiment?"
he told her. a change, scarcely perceptible, passed over her face. she compressed her lips and drew a breath, a trifle longer than normal, through dilated nostrils.
just then a procession of soft-footed, white-clad servants entered upon them, and the tension, if tension there had been, was dispelled.
"will you have tea, major bethune, or this child's prescription?"
the ice tinkled melodiously in the fragrant yellow brew. "baby" was already sucking through a straw; she rolled her eyes, expressive of rapture, towards the visitor. but he was not to be diverted.
"i will have nothing, thank you."
he had not thought himself so sentimental. why should he bear so deep a grudge against this woman? how could her forgetfulness, her indifference, now harm the dead? it was fantastic, unreasonable, and yet he could not bring himself to break bread with her to-day. he clasped his lean brown fingers tightly across his knees.
"i am afraid," he said briefly, "that my presence must seem an intrusion. but i trust you will forgive me when you understand upon what errand i come."
she disclaimed his apology by a wave of her hand. the emeralds upon it shot green fire at him.
"the fact is," he went on, doggedly making for his point, "i have been asked to write a life of—your husband."
he was interrupted by a commotion among the ice and bubbles of miss aspasia's long tumbler.
"gracious," she sputtered; "but the runkle is not dead yet!" she choked down, just in time, the comment: "worse luck!" which had almost escaped her terribly frank tongue.
lady gerardine was smiling again in her detached manner.
"a great many people, distinguished people, baby, have their lives written before they die. and they have then the advantage of correcting the proof-sheets. i dare say your uncle will not object."
major bethune allowed a pause to fall before continuing his speech. then he said, with almost cruel deliberation:
"i beg your pardon, lady gerardine. i should have said your late husband. i refer to harry english."
