Under the Deodars

, volvit

where looms

our Five contri

ned if one caugh

Hugues of

ugues of S

husband it must have been a man threw her clothes at her. She then did her hair with her fingers, and rubbed her bonne

am miserable today. Stay me with fondants, comfort me with

red them. Who and what is the creature? There were at least half-a-doze

rs. Jim of that ilk. She dances as untidily as she dresses, I believe, and

a minute, and I wondered at the attraction that a dowd has for a certain type o

, surely,' draw

head ache. And round this hayrick s

they also

n't be Rab

the sweets. She and Mrs. Hauksbee shared the same house at Simla; and these things

ndah and looked down upon the Mall,

s. Hauksbee sh

said Mrs. Ma

e Dancing Master

aged gentleman, of reprobate and romantic t

ture, and I should imagine that this animal how terrib

I never could take an interest in a monotonous liar. The frustra

et that sort of man b

e a few days ago. Ugh! Som

appened

tood man. Heaven knows the femme incomprise is

hed in his face. Men seldom confide

th their careers in the past. Pro

you encou

at I am sympathetic. I know I always profess astonis

re once allowed to talk, whereas women's confide

ter a week's acquaintance. Really, if you come to consid

t men will never believe it. They s

Alas! These chocolates pall upon me, and I haven't

more exercise and a more intelligent i

many ways, and I like you you are not a woman's woman

most fascinating things in the whole wide world, lazy one. I am interested in The Dowd I am i

the Hawley Boy? He

is Higher Standard, or whatever the authorities think fit to exact from him, I shall select a pretty little girl, the Holt gir

ntal in Simla, and earned the undying hatred of Mamma Holt, what

front of the fire, and, chin in hand, ga

rry you to some one else your husband would object and the experiment might not be successful after all. I th

ions. They are so rude. Go to th

bow, and when any one asks me what I am doing, I shall say that I am going to Phelps's to get it

where they found Mrs. Delville and the man who went by the nick-name o

. Hauksbee, with the air of one

reature. Ugh! Good-evening, Mr. Bent. I th

nswered The Dancing Master. 'I understood I

allowe had

ilure. Now wherefore should he have preferred a walk with The Dowd to tea with us? Elective aff

s. Mallowe. 'He will be a sufficient punish

less lovely, and her raiment was strikingly neglected. All t

nt about the clothes falling off? If I were a man I would perish soone

t is

she does not. Look! Oh look! Untidiness I can e

he'll h

he's going out. What a thoroughly objectionable couple she and The Dancing

sation of The Dancing Master loathly man!

w anything

hivalrous soul, told me that he repented his bargain and sent her to her as often as possible a person who has lived in the

bie

evolting way. I hated him for it. He thoug

nerally in the wake of some girl, disappointing the Eligibles.

ville may occupy his

knows that he is t

eternal secrecy. Wherefore I tell y

buse his wife to me, I find that the Lord gives me wherewith to answer him

t. I've no se

hink about. A well-educated sense of humour will save a woman when Religion,

hat the Delville

m have any notion of the fitness of things much less their folly? If she discards

the woman at Peliti's half an hour later you saw her walking with

e Dancing Mast

I admit, but why on the streng

is attracted to The Dowd because he is objectionable in every way and she in every othe

ty years you

red and lied he has a mouth under that ragged moustache simp

ose really are,'

new books, was humming softly: 'What shall he have who

Mrs. Delville. Both Mrs. Hauksbee and Mrs. Mallowe were in

rs. Mallowe. 'It would be a de

studied hersel

the others, to show her what a morning-wrapper ought to be. It might enliven her. As it is, I sh

would be too good; and you know th

shall try, though one cannot expect very much fr

s! When did

d made the lace lie down. To complete the effect, she was wearing an unclean terai with the

s riding with you.

ay, and just when I thought he had seen the elastic, he said, "There's something very taking

be in the least surprised if the H

Master, and his wife when she comes up. I'm rather cur

d, at the end of an hour,

ey Boy. She kept us waiting ten minutes, and then emerged as though she had been tipped out of the dirtyclothes-basket. You know my way, dear, when I am at all put out. I was Superior, crrrrushingly Superior! 'Lifted my eyes to

d s

as suffering from stomach-ache, at the very least. It was all I could do not to ask after

ou cer

constructed for sitting down in. I stayed for a quarter of an hour trying to penetrat

u

the minute I was outside. At any rate, she lay in a lump and grunted. Ask the Hawley Boy, dear. I

ncorrigibl

, and a child may eat jam in my lap before Church. But I resent being grunted at. Wouldn't you? Do you supp

ch importance to T

the sight of him. He smiled greasily, and moved about t

able. Any sin but

on the sofa revived slightly, and the Hawley Boy and I came away together. He is disill

hed creature and The Dancing Master

God not that I wish to disparage Him for a moment, but you know the tikka dhurzie way He attires those lilies of the field this

id that swe

say my say, and I shall be calm. Otherwise I may go abroad and disturb Simla with a few original reflections. Excep

suggested M

nd as Mrs. Delville says - ' Here Mrs. Hauksbee, to the horror of the khitmatg

rning to her natural speech. 'Now, in any other woman that would have been v

ly; 'all complications are as old as the hil

put my head in your lap, you dear, big sceptic, you will learn that my parting is gauze but never, no n

never interfere with men or women unless I am comp

. Bent came up to Simla a few days after the conversation faithf

ay be. Let me consider. The Bents and the Delvilles inhabit the same hotel; and the Delville is detested by the Waddy do you know the Waddy? who is al

said Mrs. Mallowe, 'I

fter having borrowed yes! everything that she can, from hairpins to babies' bottles. Such, my dear, is lif

r if you were not always looki

e Waddy will. Let us hope that The Dancing Master's greasy smile and manner of the pedagogue will soften the heart o

on has she for

ivial errors fall, Look in his face and you'll believe them all." I am prepared to credit any ev

uity? I always prefer to believe the bes

es useless expenditure of sympathy. And you may b

sighed and ma

after dinner while Mrs. Hauk

. Hauksbee left her in peace till two in the morning,

iot of an ayah has gone home, and, as I hope to sleep t

bad!' said Mrs.

n my stays. And such news too! Oh, do unlace me, there's a darling! The D

und like this?' protested Mrs. Mallow

your eyes. Do you know you've lovely eyes, dear? Well,

want muc

loose-boxes in kanats, and she wa

How? E

e could hear every word, and we listened shamelessly 'sp

. There! Now turn ro

She drops her final g's like a barmaid or a blue-blooded Aide-deCamp. "Look he-ere, you're gettin' too fond o' me," she said, and The Dancing Master owned it was so in language that nearly made me ill. The Dowd refle

he wou

till the Hawley Boy suggested that he should burst in and beat him. His voice runs up into an impassioned squeak when he is afraid. The Dowd must be an extraordinary woman. She explained that had he been a bachelor she might not have objected to his devotion; but since he was a married man and the father of a very nice baby, she considered him a hypocrite, and this she repeated twice. She wound up her drawl with: "An' I'm tellin' you this because your wife is angry wi

osely as you did. It sound

to make him keep quiet. She grunted at the end of each sentence and, in the end, he went away swearing to himself, quite like a man in a novel.

Mrs. Mallowe, yawning. 'Perhaps she spoke the t

asing persecution at the hands of Mrs. Delville, and he told the tale so often and with such eloquence that he ended in believing it, while his wife marvelled at the manners and customs of 'some women.' When the situation showed signs of languishing, Mrs. Waddy was always on hand to wake the smouldering fires of suspicion in Mrs. Bent's bosom and to contribute generally to the peace and comfort of the hotel. Mr. Bent's life was not a happy one, for if Mrs. Waddy's story were true, he was, ar

my sake,' hinted

designing woman,'

ery other hotel

you afraid o

all-pox, Diphtheria kills, but it

five young on the rail" and fled. The Dancing Master fears for his precious throat, and that miserable little

you learn

ger of the hotel is abusing the Bents, and the Bents

at's on y

now it's a gra

to my bringing the child

standing that we see noth

away. Polly, you're an angel. The

a minute's amusement. Therefore you risk your life for the sake of her brat. No, Loo, I'm not th

she looked out of the window an

' said Mrs. Ha

u d

ver do that again without warning. Now we'll get the rooms ready. I d

ness I shall at last ge

evoutly and undisguisedly thankful, for he was afraid of the infection, and also hoped that a few weeks in the hotel alone wi

to the Doctor's than the hotel, and you won't feel as though you were living in a host

first. She said I ought to be ashamed of myself for introducing d

door to her at the Elysium, three years ago. Now see, you won't give us the least trouble, and I've ornamented all the house with sheets soaked in carbolic. It

ked with the smell of the Condy's Fluid, chlorine-water, and carbolic acid washes. Mrs. Mallowe kept to her own rooms she considered that she had made suf

rs. Hauksbee to the Doctor. 'Only t

as you possibly can,' said the Doctor; 'I'd turn her out of the sick-room, but that I honestly be

olive hollows under her eyes and forced her to her oldest d

at least twenty times a day; and twenty times a day

, and the Doctor seemed

bad turn,' he said; 'I'll come over betwe

the turn would be! My education has been horribly neglected;

he fire. There was a dance at the Viceregal Lodge, and she dreamed of

d Mrs. Bent piteously. 'Dora's choking

r the bed. The child was fighting for breath,

I can't hold her. Why didn't the Doctor say this was comi

let none blame her weakness after the strain of long watching she broke down, a

s. Bent screaming for the Doctor as she ran round the room. Mrs. Hauksbee, her hands to her ears, and her face buried in the chintz of a cha

ant, took Mrs. Bent by the shoulders, and s

ville had thrown herself down by the sid

ried Mrs. Bent. 'Where's th

ly for a minute, but busi

ulder. Will you do as you are told? The acid-bo

, her face still hidden, sobbed and shivered. One of the ayahs

lle turned

e said. 'It was chokin' her wh

It was the general weakness I feared,' said the Doctor half to himself, and he whisper

der her breath. 'Can you do anythin'? W

bee raised

'I'm useless I'm worse than us

t, realising for the first time who was t

tting on a dirty long glove and smoothi

early, an' your door was open, an' I I lost my boy this way six months ago, an' I've been tryin'

the Doctor's eye with a la

ve come too late, but, I assure you' he was addressing himself to Mrs. Delville 'I had not the faintes

e's arms, where she was weeping bitterly, and Mrs. Bent was unpicturesquely mixed up wi

auksbee, lifting her head from the lump of crushed gum and calico

louched out of the room, mopping her eye

a woman,' sobbed Mrs. Hauksbee hy

out of the Valley of Humiliation, had ceased to reproach herself for her collapse in

as it should, and I kissed The Dowd, Poll

ourse you know what the result of The

a statue only no sculptor

been smirking through Simla, giving every one to understand that she came because of he

Mrs.

ne else. She won't speak to The Dowd n

e and raged till bed-time. The d

-trotter girl say last season when she was tipped out of her 'rickshaw turning

lowe. 'Through her nose l

he voice. 'Ha-ow

hi

Master, I whooping in a chair, and The Dowd dropping in fro

U

do you

k me. Go

ype="