[Ill.u.s.tration: TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, YOU"RE STAKING YOUR MONEY ON THE WRONG FELLAH.]
"Oh, but you don"t catch on. You mistake. Let me explain. You"re backing the othah man. Now, I happen to know about that: and I a.s.suah you, it"s an error. Take my word for it, you"re staking your money on the wrong fellah."
"I do not understand you," I replied, drawing away from his approach.
"And what is more, I may add, you could never understand me."
"Yaas, but I do. I understand perfectly. I can see where you go wrong.
You drew up Marmy"s will; and you think Marmy has left all he"s worth to Harold Tillington; so you"re putting every penny you"ve got on Harold.
Well, that"s mere moonshine. Harold may think it"s all right; but it"s not all right. There"s many a slip "twixt the cup and the Probate Court.
Listen heah, Miss Cayley: Higginson and I are a jolly sight sharpah than your friend Harold. Harold"s what they call a clevah fellah in society, and I"m what they call a fool; but I know bettah than Harold which side of my bread"s b.u.t.tahed."
"I don"t doubt it," I answered.
"Well, I have managed this business. I don"t mind telling you now, I had a telegram from Marmy"s valet when we touched at Aden; and poor old Marmy"s sinking. Habakkuk"s been too much for him. Sixteen stone going under. Why am I not with him? yah may ask. Because, when a man of Marmy"s temperament is dying, it"s safah to be away from him. There"s plenty of time for Marmy to altah his will yet--and there are othah contingencies. Still, Harold"s quite out of it. You take my word for it; if you back Harold, you back a man who"s not going to get anything; while if you back me, you back the winnah, with a coronet into the bargain." And he smiled fatuously.
I looked at him with a look that would have made a wiser man wince. But it fell flat on Lord Southminster. "Do you know why I do not rise and go down to my cabin at once?" I said, slowly. "Because, if I did, somebody as I pa.s.sed might see my burning cheeks--cheeks flushed with shame at your insulting proposal--and might guess that you had asked me, and that I had refused you. And I should shrink from the disgrace of anyone"s knowing that you had put such a humiliation upon me. You have been frank with me--after your kind, Lord Southminster; frank with the frankness of a low and purely commercial nature. I will be frank with you in turn.
You are right in supposing that I love Harold Tillington--a man whose name I hate to mention in your presence. But you are wrong in supposing that the disposition of Mr. Marmaduke Ashurst"s money has or can have anything to do with the feelings I entertain towards him. I would marry him all the sooner if he were poor and penniless. You cannot _understand_ that state of mind, of course: but you must be content to _accept_ it. And I would not marry _you_ if there were no other man left in the world to marry. I should as soon think of marrying a lump of dough." I faced him all crimson. "Is _that_ plain enough? Do you see now that I really mean it?"
He gazed at me with a curious look, and twirled what he considered his moustache once more, quite airily. The man was imperturbable--a pachydermatous imbecile. "You"re all wrong, yah know," he said, after a long pause, during which he had regarded me through his eye-gla.s.s as if I were a specimen of some rare new species. "You"re all wrong, and yah won"t believe me. But I tell yah, I know what I"m talking about. You think it"s quite safe about Marmy"s money--that he"s left it to Harold, because you drew the will up. I a.s.suah you that will"s not worth the paper it"s written on. You fancy Harold"s a hot favourite: he"s a rank outsidah. I give you a chance, and you won"t take it. I want yah because you"re a remarkable woman. Most of the Ethels cry when they"re trying to make a fellah propose to "em; and I don"t like "em damp: but _you_ have some go about yah. You insist upon backing the wrong man. But you"ll find your mistake out yet." A bright idea struck him. "I say--why don"t you hedge? Leave it open till Marmy"s gone, and then marry the winnah?"
It was hopeless trying to make this clod understand. His brain was not built with the right cells for understanding me. "Lord Southminster," I said, turning upon him and clasping my hands, "I will not go away while you stop here. But you have some spark enough of a gentleman in your composition, I hope, not to inflict your company any longer upon a woman who does not desire it. I ask you to leave me here alone. When you have gone, and I have had time to recover from your degrading offer, I may perhaps feel able to go down to my cabin."
He stared at me with open blue eyes--those watery blue eyes. "Oh, just as you like," he answered. "I wanted to do you a good turn, because you"re the only woman I evah really admiahed--to say admiah, don"t you know; not trotted round like the Ethels: but you won"t allow me. I"ll go if you wish it; though I tell you again, you"re backing the wrong man, and soonah or latah you"ll discover it. I don"t mind laying you six to four against him. Howevah, I"ll do one thing for yah: I"ll leave this offah always open. I"m not likely to marry any othah woman--not good enough, is it?--and if evah you find out you"re mistaken about Harold Tillington, remembah, honour bright, I shall be ready at any time to renew my offah."
By this time I was at boiling-point. I could not find words to answer him. I waved him away angrily with one hand. He raised his hat with quite a jaunty air and strolled off forward, puffing his cigarette. I don"t think he even knew the disgust with which he inspired me.
I sat some hours with the cool air playing about my burning cheeks before I mustered up courage to rise and go down below again.
IX
THE ADVENTURES OF THE MAGNIFICENT MAHARAJAH
Our arrival at Bombay was a triumphal entry. We were received like royalty. Indeed, to tell you the truth, Elsie and I were beginning to get just a leetle bit spoiled. It struck us now that our casual connection with the Ashurst family in its various branches had succeeded in saddling us, like the Lady of Burleigh, "with the burden of an honour unto which we were not born." We were everywhere treated as persons of importance; and, oh dear, by dint of such treatment we began to feel at last almost as if we had been raised in the purple. I felt that when we got back to England we should turn up our noses at plain bread and b.u.t.ter.
Yes, life has been kind to me. Have your researches into English literature ever chanced to lead you into reading Horace Walpole, I wonder? That polite trifler is fond of a word which he coined himself--"Serendipity." It derives from the name of a certain happy Indian Prince Serendip, whom he unearthed (or invented) in some obscure Oriental story; a prince for whom the fairies or the genii always managed to make everything pleasant. It implies the faculty, which a few of us possess, of finding whatever we want turn up accidentally at the exact right moment. Well, I believe I must have been born with serendipity in my mouth, in place of the proverbial silver spoon, for wherever I go, all things seem to come out exactly right for me.
The _Jumna_, for example, had hardly heaved to in Bombay Harbour when we noticed on the quay a very distinguished-looking Oriental potentate, in a large, white turban with a particularly big diamond stuck ostentatiously in its front. He stalked on board with a martial air, as soon as we stopped, and made inquiries from our captain after someone he expected. The captain received him with that odd mixture of respect for rank and wealth, combined with true British contempt for the inferior black man, which is universal among his cla.s.s in their dealings with native Indian n.o.bility. The Oriental potentate, however, who was accompanied by a gorgeous suite like that of the Wise Men in Italian pictures, seemed satisfied with his information, and moved over with his stately glide in our direction. Elsie and I were standing near the gangway among our rugs and bundles, in the hopeless helplessness of disembarkation. He approached us respectfully, and, bowing with extended hands and a deferential air, asked, in excellent English, "May I venture to inquire which of you two ladies is Miss Lois Cayley?"
"_I_ am," I replied, my breath taken away by this unexpected greeting.
"May I venture to inquire in return how you came to know I was arriving by this steamer?"
[Ill.u.s.tration: I AM THE MAHARAJAH OF MOOZUFFERNUGGAR.]
He held out his hand, with a courteous inclination. "I am the Maharajah of Moozuffernuggar," he answered in an impressive tone, as if everybody knew of the Maharajah of Moozuffernuggar as familiarly as they knew of the Duke of Cambridge. "Moozuffernuggar in Rajputana--_not_ the one in the Doab. You must have heard my name from Mr. Harold Tillington."
I had not; but I dissembled, so as to salve his pride. "Mr. Tillington"s friends are _our_ friends," I answered, sententiously.
"And Mr. Tillington"s friends are _my_ friends," the Maharajah retorted, with a low bow to Elsie. "This is no doubt, Miss Petheridge. I have heard of your expected arrival, as you will guess, from Tillington. He and I were at Oxford together; I am a Merton man. It was Tillington who first taught me all I know of cricket. He took me to stop at his father"s place in Dumfriesshire. I owe much to his friendship; and when he wrote me that friends of his were arriving by the _Jumna_, why, I made haste to run down to Bombay to greet them."
The episode was one of those topsy-turvy mixtures of all places and ages which only this jumbled century of ours has witnessed; it impressed me deeply. Here was this Indian prince, a feudal Rajput chief, living practically among his va.s.sals in the Middle Ages when at home in India; yet he said "I am a Merton man," as Harold himself might have said it; and he talked about cricket as naturally as Lord Southminster talked about the n.o.ble quadruped. The oddest part of it all was, we alone felt the incongruity; to the Maharajah, the change from Moozuffernuggar to Oxford and from Oxford back again to Moozuffernuggar seemed perfectly natural. They were but two alternative phases in a modern Indian gentleman"s education and experience.
Still, what were we to do with him? If Harold had presented me with a white elephant I could hardly have been more embarra.s.sed than I was at the apparition of this urbane and magnificent Hindoo prince. He was young; he was handsome; he was slim, for a rajah; he wore European costume, save for the huge white turban with its obtrusive diamond; and he spoke English much better than a great many Englishmen. Yet what place could he fill in my life and Elsie"s? For once, I felt almost angry with Harold. Why couldn"t he have allowed us to go quietly through India, two simple unofficial journalistic pilgrims, in our native obscurity?
His Highness of Moozuffernuggar, however, had his own views on this question. With a courteous wave of one dusky hand, he motioned us gracefully into somebody else"s deck chairs, and then sat down on another beside us, while the gorgeous suite stood by in respectful silence--unctuous gentlemen in pink-and-gold brocade--forming a court all round us. Elsie and I, unaccustomed to be so observed, grew conscious of our hands, our skirts, our postures. But the Maharajah posed himself with perfect unconcern, like one well used to the fierce light of royalty. "I have come," he said, with simple dignity, "to superintend the preparations for your reception."
"Gracious heavens!" I exclaimed. "Our reception, Maharajah? I think you misunderstand. We are two ordinary English ladies of the proletariat, accustomed to the level plain of professional society. We expect no reception."
He bowed again, with stately Eastern deference. "Friends of Tillington"s," he said, shortly, "are persons of distinction. Besides, I have heard of you from Lady Georgina Fawley."
"Lady Georgina is too good," I answered, though inwardly I raged against her. Why couldn"t she leave us alone, to feed in peace on dak-bungalow chicken, instead of sending this regal-mannered heathen to bother us?
"So I have come down to Bombay to make sure that you are met in the style that befits your importance in society," he went on, waving his suite away with one careless hand, for he saw it fussed us. "I mentioned you to His Honour the Acting-Governor, who had not heard you were coming. His Honour"s aide-de-camp will follow shortly with an invitation to Government House while you remain in Bombay--which will not be many days, I don"t doubt, for there is nothing in this city of plague to stop for. Later on, during your progress up country, I do myself the honour to hope that you will stay as my guests for as long as you choose at Moozuffernuggar."
My first impulse was to answer: "Impossible, Maharajah; we couldn"t dream of accepting your kind invitation." But on second thoughts, I remembered my duty to my proprietor. Journalism first: inclination afterwards! My letter from Egypt on the rescue of the Englishwoman who escaped from Khartoum had brought me great _eclat_ as a special correspondent, and the _Daily Telephone_ now billed my name in big letters on its placards, so Mr. Elworthy wrote me. Here was another n.o.ble chance; must I not strive to rise to it? Two English ladies at a native court in Rajputana! that ought to afford scope for some rattling journalism!
"It is extremely kind of you," I said, hesitating, "and it would give us great pleasure, were it feasible, to accept your friendly offer.
But--English ideas, you know, prince! Two unprotected women! I hardly see how we could come alone to Moozuffernuggar, unchaperoned."
The Maharajah"s face lighted up; he was evidently flattered that we should even thus dubiously entertain his proposal. "Oh, I"ve thought about that, too," he answered, growing more colloquial in tone. "I"ve been some days in Bombay, making inquiries and preparations. You see, you had not informed the authorities of your intended visit, so that you were travelling _incognito_--or should it be _incognita_?--and if Tillington hadn"t written to let me know your movements, you might have arrived at this port without anybody"s knowing it, and have been compelled to take refuge in an hotel on landing." He spoke as if we had been accustomed all our lives long to be received with red cloth by the Mayor and Corporation, and presented with illuminated addresses and the freedom of the city in a gold snuff-box. "But I have seen to all that.
The Acting-Governor"s aide-de-camp will be down before long, and I have arranged that if you consent a little later to honour my humble roof in Rajputana with your august presence, Major Balmossie and his wife will accompany you and chaperon you. I have lived in England: of course I understand that two English ladies of your rank and position cannot travel alone--as if you were Americans. But Mrs. Balmossie is a nice little soul, of unblemished character"--that sweet touch charmed me--"received at Government House"--he had learned the respect due to Mrs. Grundy--"so that if you will accept my invitation, you may rest a.s.sured that everything will be done with the utmost regard to the--the unaccountable prejudices of Europeans."
His thoughtfulness took me aback. I thanked him warmly. He unbent at my thanks. "And I am obliged to you in return," he said. "It gives me real pleasure to be able, through you, to repay Harold Tillington part of the debt I owe him. He was so good to me at Oxford. Miss Cayley, you are new to India, and therefore--as yet--no doubt unprejudiced. You treat a native gentleman, I see, like a human being. I hope you will not stop long enough in our country to get over that stage--as happens to most of your countrymen and countrywomen. In England, a man like myself is an Indian prince; in India, to ninety-nine out of a hundred Europeans, he is just "a d.a.m.ned n.i.g.g.e.r.""
I smiled sympathetically. "I think," I said, venturing under these circ.u.mstances on a harmless little swear-word--of course, in quotation marks--"you may trust me never to reach "d.a.m.n-n.i.g.g.e.r" point."
"So I believe," he answered, "if you are a friend of Harold Tillington"s. Ebony or ivory, he never forgot we were two men together."
[Ill.u.s.tration: WHO"S YOUR BLACK FRIEND?]
Five minutes later, when the Maharajah had gone to inquire about our luggage, Lord Southminster strolled up. "Oh, I say, Miss Cayley," he burst out, "I"m off now; ta-ta: but remembah, that offah"s always open.
By the way, who"s your black friend? I couldn"t help laughing at the airs the fellah gave himself. To see a n.i.g.g.ah sitting theah, with his suite all round him, waving his hands and sunning his rings, and behaving for all the world as if he were a gentleman; it"s reahly too ridiculous. Harold Tillington picked up with a fellah like that at Oxford--doosid good cricketer too; wondah if this is the same one?"
"Good-bye, Lord Southminster," I said, quietly, with a stiff little bow.
"Remember, on your side, that your "offer" was rejected once for all last night. Yes, the Indian prince _is_ Harold Tillington"s friend, the Maharajah of Moozuffernuggar--whose ancestors were princes while ours were dressed in woad and oak-leaves. But you were right about one thing; _he_ behaves--like a gentleman."
"Oh, I say," the pea-green young man e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, drawing back; "that"s anothah in the eye for me. You"re a good "un at facers. You gave me one for a welcome, and you give me one now for a parting shot. Nevah mind though, I can wait; you"re backing the wrong fellah--but you"re not the Ethels, and you"re well worth waiting for." He waved his hand. "So-long!
See yah again in London."
And he retired, with that fatuous smile still absorbing his features.
Our three days in Bombay were uneventful; we merely waited to get rid of the roll of the ship, which continued to haunt us for hours after we landed--the floor of our bedrooms having acquired an ugly trick of rising in long undulations, as if Bombay were suffering from chronic earthquake. We made the acquaintance of His Honour the Acting Governor, and His Honour"s consort. We were also introduced to Mrs. Balmossie, the lady who was to chaperon us to Moozuffernuggar. Her husband was a soldierly Scotchman from Forfarshire, but she herself was English--a flighty little body with a perpetual giggle. She giggled so much over the idea of the Maharajah"s inviting us to his palace that I wondered why on earth she accepted his invitation. At this she seemed surprised.
"Why, it"s one of the jolliest places in Rajputana," she answered, with a bland Simla smile; "_so_ picturesque--he, he, he--and _so_ delightful.