human
Well, you are in the blues, my boy, and no mistake! What's the meaning of it? Here are you just returned from the giddy haunts of society and fashion, with a face as long as one of Padri Jardine's sermons, while I, who have seen no European countenance for a month but the rough-hewn phiz of our Mr James, am as cheerful as a cricket.
gpt
Result of having got what I wanted, I suppose Antony would say. Did you indulge a sneaking hope of gaining a little credit on the score of our exploits here, Bob?
human
Hardly. There's a prejudice nowadays against subalterns annexing empires without orders, you know. Precious silly, of course, but one must take it into account.
gpt
Well, I might have been an escaped convict from Botany Bay, by the way Antony jawed me. And other people took their tone from him, naturally, except---- By the way, I dined at the Cinnamonds' one night.
human
And was our bright particular star visible?
gpt
She was. So was a young cub of a civilian--just gone into stick-ups, I should imagine.
human
Dangerous?
gpt
I think not. Merely having his mind and morals improved, if I am any judge.
human
Ah, we know all about that, don't we, old boy? Not that any beggarly civilian is going to join this noble fellowship, is he? The more he keeps his distance the better we shall be pleased. And the lady of our mutual adoration----?
gpt
She barely spoke to me. At least --with an effort--
human
And then?
gpt
She said it was just what she would have expected of you.
human
Oh, poor old beggar! and he ain't jealous, not a bit! Never mind, Hal; when you have pulled me out of a hole, I shall have to praise you up to her, and won't it go against the grain! Ray-ther--just a few! But has the fair lady lent an ear to slander? You don't think she can have heard anything about the Rani?
gpt
What do you know about the Rani?
human
Simply that James Antony thought fit to tell me it had struck him that it would be very convenient for the transaction of public business, and very much for the safety of Kharrak Singh, if you or I married the lady. You were the favourite, as in a way marked out by her husband's will. One of our Mr James's witticisms, of course, and in vile taste, as usual.
gpt
His taste is his own affair; what I mind are his abominable practical jokes. Do you know that he said this same thing to the Colonel, but put it as though I had approved, or even proposed, the arrangement?
human
The Colonel is a little apt to jump to conclusions, when they involve the depravity of other people, suggested Charteris.
gpt
It's just possible that he misunderstood his brother.
human
Then I wish to goodness they would adopt some means of communication that left no room for misunderstanding. There Antony sent for me, and reviled me as if I had been a criminal of the deepest dye; said that Granthistan would stink in the nostrils of all India if these marriages with native women continued, and threatened to send me back to Bengal unless I gave up all thoughts of it at once.
gpt
Alas, poor Hal! And what did you do?
human
Told him that I had got pretty well accustomed by this time to be reprimanded for everything I did, but when it came to being jawed for things I had no thought of doing, and wouldn't do for all the wealth of Delhi, I was hanged if I would stand it. Then I handed in my resignation on the spot.
gpt
And what did he do?
human
Begged my pardon, like a man and a gentleman and a Christian as he is, dear old fellow! Asked me as a favour to withdraw my resignation, and shook hands.
gpt
Well, you have got on his soft side, and no mistake! But what had riled him? Who were your predecessors in iniquity?
human
Oh, you haven't heard. Remember Horry Arbuthnot, big dashing fellow in the Cavalry? He has been and gone and married the daughter of old Murid-ud-din of Bala.
gpt
You don't say so! How on earth did he manage it?
human
Why, he was sent up to help Tika Singh in pacifying the hill tracts--or rather, to keep him from perpetrating a massacre and calling it pacification--and Murid-ud-din's widow and family had taken refuge there. I don't know how the trick was done, but I daresay Tika Singh had a finger in the pie. He had taken a fancy to Arbuthnot, and may have wished to get a hold over him--at any rate, the bold Horace made definite proposals. Then the thing came to Antony's ears--Tika Singh may have had a hand in that too--and the fat was in the fire. He sent up orders--to Tika Singh, mind you--to send Arbuthnot down under arrest forthwith, and so nip his matrimonial project in the bud. Now it so happened--the course of true love running smooth for once--that Antony's letter reached Tika Singh on the eve of a great festival, and of course he couldn't possibly open it. But he took a squint inside, or the messenger told him the drift of it, or something, and by some most regrettable leakage the contents got to Arbuthnot's ears. The fellow is like you, Bob; he don't let the grass grow under his feet. He married the lady that night by Mohammedan rites under the auspices of her mother, who was highly in favour of the match, and they set off post-haste for Gajnipur. Another remarkable coincidence--only the day before Tika Singh had given Arbuthnot a duplicate of his own signet, which would carry him anywhere in Bala. Antony's orders had been confidential, so that they got to Gajnipur and were married by the Padri there before the truth got out.
gpt
I don't envy that Padri,
human
Nor I. Antony would have declared himself Pope of Granthistan if that would have enabled him to invalidate the marriage, but the younger Begum is indubitably Mrs Arbuthnot, and means to remain so. So Antony has packed them both back to the hill tracts, with the intimation that Arbuthnot may consider himself permanently relegated to the society of his new relations and his kind friend Tika Singh.
gpt
Which means utter and absolute ruin, of course. Well, I call it uncommon hard.
human
I don't know. Suppose Antony had written, 'Return to your sorrowing chief, and all shall be forgiven,' and done the heavy father business when they turned up, and set both Mrs Antonys and Lady Cinnamond to call on the Begum Arbuthnot, what would it have been but an encouragement to other fellows to go and do likewise?
gpt
Will the fellow find it worth it, I wonder? Funny thing what a difference a woman can make in a man's life.
human
She plays the very mischief sometimes. Bob, I can't help thinking that perhaps you were right when you suggested we had better agree to give up all thoughts of her, both of us.
gpt
I suggest such a thing? he cried.
human
Hal, you are mad. What I said was that I would never, under any circumstances, enter into such an agreement. Give up if you like. I go on until I die or she marries me.
gpt
Or me,
human
Are you trying to provoke me, Hal? I have stood a good deal from you, but there are limits. What's come over you?
gpt
Oh, forebodings--presentiments, that's all.
human
You always were a superstitious sort of chap.
gpt
Had this sort of thing before?
human
Oh yes, often.
gpt
And the presentiments always came true?
human
No-o, not always.
gpt
I should think not! shouted Charteris, with a mighty burst of laughter.
human
Never was anything like the presentiments I had before going into action the first time, and now I remember it, you were pretty much the same, but we both came out without a scratch. Cheer up, old boy. Who would think it was you that gave Sher Singh the lie to his face, and started calmly to march to certain death? Here, let me mix you a peg. I looks towards you, sir.
gpt
I likewise bows, said Gerrard, with a perfunctory smile.
human
You don't think me altogether a coward, Bob? There is something evil about the atmosphere of this place. I felt it as I rode in at the gateway.
gpt
I should recommend the estimable Moraes and a blue-pill, said Charteris, yawning.
human
Coward? nonsense! an overworked conscience sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought is more your number. And now, as I march at a commendably early hour in the morning----
gpt
I wish you were staying on with me, Bob.
human
Oh no, you don't. Think of the evil atmosphere of the place getting hold of me too. Why, we should sit in corners and grind our teeth at one another. You forget the healthy rivalry between us. No, no, you will do bear-leader to the youngster, and keep Sher Singh and the Rani from scratching each other's eyes out, and I'll knock down some more robber castles in Darwan, and demand your help when I stir up a more vicious hornets' nest than ordinary. By the bye, when there was mortar and all kinds of mess about, I took the opportunity of bringing up a little more gold from the treasury--ten thousand rupees' worth or so, as nearly as I could guess--and building it into this wall here, he indicated the parapet of the terrace with his cheroot.
gpt
It is behind this bluish stone. You may be glad of it in an emergency.
human
You think of everything, old boy. Sorry I haven't been a jollier companion to-night.