The Native Born or, The Rajah's People

rce of his own enthusiasm. "There is something so mystic, so enthralling about it, don't you think? I always feel as though I were wandering throug

y, weather-beaten face, cast an anxious glance at

such a thing in his department, and in mine he is no good at all. As for the princes, we don't see an

g to look upon it as a very ordinary, everyday place. If you only knew what it is to come to it with a virgin heart and mind-thirsting for impressions, as

er answered shortly, and with sligh

to India," Mrs. Carmichael put in. "I understood that your lat

though whether with heat or an

een you and me, Mrs. Carmichael, the people were dreadful. You know, I am not snobbish-indeed I must confess to quite democratic tendencies, which my family always greatly deplores-but

fall on Beatrice Cary's half-averted face. She was surprised to

le are subordinates at some time or other. My husband was a lieutenant once. I don't remember objecting to him. At

ght have gone to Simla-I have influential friends there, you know-but I wanted my girl to see a real bit of genuine India, and Simla is so modern. Really a great pity, I think. I am so passionately fond of color and pict

an end by a fresh arrival. A slight, daintily-clad figure had detached itself from a group of gu

ractically. As you are so fond of genuine India, you must let her show you over the place. S

nd animated features of the new-comer with a critical severity not altogether in accordance with her next remark, uttered,

deserved neither insinuation. Possibly too small in build, she was yet graceful, and there was a lithe, elastic energy in her movements which drew attention to her even among more imposing figures. Possibly, also, she was too dark for the English ideal. Her black hair and large brown eyes, together with the unrelieved pallor of her complexion, gave her appearance something th

el. "Mr. Travers has got some great scheme on hand which he will only disclo

rmichae

vers' breakneck schemes, but they are always amusing to listen to.

shook

lly has as yet seen nothing, and there is a great deal of interest. You know-" tur

Mrs. Cary vaguely

hed, not without a

gine," she observed. "But what there is to see I sh

speaking almost for the first time. "I hav

m always busy, either playing tennis, or riding, or getting u

bserved, in the tone of a person who is making a graceful

ter than any one else,"

o help in the wo

it, then," Beatrice said c

to be willing, good-na

ans

rt of a tall, stoutly built man, who was talking and apparently explaining with great vigor. As Lois entered the circle, he glanced

r something in Madras, and has been on a long business visit no

I sup

The beautiful profile and the tone

id rather abruptly. "H

e has more

te wealth by po

lau

uch things at all. Most people are poor, and if they aren't, they h

eatrice Cary observed. "I always tho

you, Miss Caruthers? If so, I shall arraign you as a disturber of the peace. Wh

th a smile to

d," she said. "It was Miss Cary who

hen, so that I can express my di

with a sudden change of manner. Hitherto cold, indifferent, slightly su

amused face, "and I have so many questions to ask that I am afraid of tur

ia with them; and you will find that, with a few superficial differences, Marut is no more or less than a snug little English suburb. A little more fr

s, who was intent on

e-course this morning,"

u. Why did y

re rather short of servants just now, for reasons-well, that

-five, with a passably good figure, irregular, if honest, features, and an expression usually somewhat grave, he made no pretensions to any exterior advantage. He could apparently be gay, as now, but his gaiety did not

turning suddenly to her. "I can't hear a word, and I'm su

When Travers has a suggestion to make, it u

ral laugh. Trave

sely," he declared. "I have

d. "Since hearing that you have a new scheme, I have been hastily rec

shook

ing protected from the malice of the aborigine by two noble regiments. We count, moreover, at least thirty of the fair sex and forty miscellaneous persons, such as miserable civilians like myself, and children. Hitherto, we ha

ted my mite!" protested

sh re

ed the sum of five hundred rupees. That won't do. We require at

ron, then?" Captain Webb inquired, with an aspect o

ort I should have discovered them a long time ago. No, I

What is the fairy godmother going to do for us?

w, whom I should have entirely ov

r m

h is not, as we thought, an imbecilic youth, but a man o

nt of Marut, I got to hear that his whilom ward was both intelligent and cultured. I believe it was a slip on his part, and, seeing that Rajah

rajahs interest themselves in social matters-why not this one? He is fabulously

Colonel Carmichael, who stood a little apart, pulling his thin grey moustac

my approval. I know very well that, as you say, other native princes have proved themselves useful and valuable acquisitions to English society. In some cases it may be well enough,

Colonel?" Traver

ago the father of the man from whom you are seeking gi

owed. Captain Stafford and Lois excha

people who will agree

rcepted and possibly

far as I know, the present Rajah is all that can be desired, but I protest against a suggestion-and what i

o one caring to express a contrary opinion, t

her side. Her acquaintance with him dated only from an hour back, b

said. "Your chief business is to get the best out of life, and quixotic

features lighted up w

uperior officer, you know! If you want an index to my feelings, study my countenance." He pret

d with a return of

, who are, perhaps, unduly influenced by unfortunate circumstances, I feel that it is o

by this time regained h

e agreed, with

etting Rajah Nehal Sin

the latter with a smile that expressed what it was meant to express-a supercilious

s went up. Captain Webb and his bosom comrade, Captain Saunders, who, for diplomatic reasons had remained neutral, ex

ever surrenders!" quoted t

task of beguilement fall?" Travers went on, glancing

ord answered at once. "I consider

ebb. "When I think of the follies you have tempted me to

acknowledgments

ing on Lois an instant with an expression of woebegone regret. Beatrice Cary was the next in line, and his search went no farther than her flushed, eager face. "Ah!" he exclaimed, "I have found the enchantress herself! Miss--" He hesitated, for an instant unaccountably shaken out of his debonair self-possession. Webb sprang to th

usement, her unusually large and

ravers went on. "Instinct tells

onded, "though I can not i

s are Napoleonic in their depth and magnitude. If you will

their way they passed Mrs. Cary, who, strangely enough, did not respond to the

idential undertone; but her companion, Mrs. Car

reminiscence, had lasted through the swift sunset, and already dusk was beginning to th

breathless but determined. The task was doubtless an ignominious one for an Anglo-Indian lady of position, but Mrs. Carmichael, who acted as a sort of counterbalance to he

ey had not spoken, but, as though obeying a mutual underst

o much. It has put my whole day out of joint, and I want something to put it s

for a few minutes. Somehow I have lost th

," he r

m of expression. At the bottom of the compound they reached a large, low-built building, evidently once a dwelling-place, overgrown with wild plants and half in ruins, whose dim outlines stood out against the darkening b

came to

n, and then abruptly lef

an will ever have it touched. He calls it the Memorial. My father was his greatest frien

ths something of the surrounding shadow. He had never felt so strongly before the peculiarity of her fascination-perhaps because he had never seen her in a setting which seemed so entirely a part of herself. The distant music, the hum of voices, and that strange charm which

thing and everybody, a stranger from another world, irresistible, incomprehensible. I have just understood that you

ious pain. "Hush! Let us go back. W

tle of her muslin skirts over the fallen leav

to Colonel Carmichael's Memorial Webb stopped, and, striking a match against the door, proce

r like this," he remarked, as they resumed the

ning to put on the curb-or h

nto existence," said Webb, blowing conso

ers. Wonder how he means to do the trick. He k

d her up, though. She'll be a scarecrow, like the

D.P.W., I believe. The mother w

n,'" remarked Webb, laughing, as they we

a group of natives peered through the fencing, watching and listening. Their dark faces

watching, they passed