"Don"t be more of a coward than need be," she said scornfully, as the Lala, after shooting up like a Jack-in-the-box, began to sidle away from her, his dangling legs swinging wildly in his efforts to move his fat form. "I"ve not come to beat the breath from thy carcase. "Twill die soon enough, never fear; and just now there is a son to perform the obsequies. There won"t be one by and by."
The indifference of her voice, and the aptness of her words to his own thoughts, roused the Lala"s rage. "What dost want, hag of a noseless one?" he shrieked, "she-devil! base-born!--"
"Not bad words, Lala," she interrupted calmly. "I"ve had enough of them. I want money. I"m starving; thou knowest it. What else could I be?"
"Starving!" The word rolled sweeter than any honey under Shunker"s tongue. "Then starve away. So thou thoughtest to trick me--me! How didst like the bangles, Kirpo dear? the brave bangles,--he,--he!"
To his surprise the allusion failed to touch her. Instead of breaking into abuse she looked at him curiously, drew her veil so as to hide all but her great dark eyes, and squatted down, as if for a chat, on the ground opposite to him.
"Look here, Lala!" she said. "This is no matter for ill words: "tis business. What is past, is past. I"m going to give thee a chance for the future--a last chance! Dost hear? So I"ve come to say I am starving. For six months I paid for my food in this very place; paid for it in thy pleasure. Fair and square so far. But now, because of that pleasure, Ramu is in jail again and I am noseless. Then Ramu"s people have taken his sons,--_hai! hai!_ his beautiful sons--from me because of that pleasure. Is not that payment enough, Lala? Shall I starve also?"
"Why not?" chuckled Shunker, "I have no need of thee any more."
Kirpo leaned forward with hand raised in warning, her fierce eyes on his face. "Have a care, Lala! Have a care! It is the last chance. Thou dost not want me; good. I asked for naught to be taken; I asked for something to be given."
"Not a _paisa_, not a _pai!_" broke in the usurer brutally. "I"m glad of thy starvation; I"m glad they"ve taken away thy sons."
"Stop, Lala!" shrieked Kirpo, her calm gone, her voice ringing with pa.s.sion. "I did not say _my_ sons! I said Ramu"s! Look, Shunker, look!
I have another,--" as she spoke, she tore her veil aside--"in my arms, Lala! Is he not fair and strong for a two months" babe? Would you not like to have him? No, no, hands off, no touching! He is mine, I say, mine, mine!" She sprang to her feet holding the baby high above his head exultantly. He sat staring at it, and trembled like a leaf.
"Kirpo!" he gasped, "give it to me; by all the G.o.ds in Heaven, I will pay--"
A peal of mocking laughter greeted the words. "Bah! Now I have roused thee. "Tis all a lie, Shunker, all a lie! Only a trick of starving Kirpo"s! And yet, somehow he favours thee as thou mightest have been before the grease came to spoil beauty. For all that not like Nuttu, the sickly one. Nuttu will die, this one will live. Wilt thou not, heart"s darling and delight?" She covered the babe with a storm of pa.s.sionate kisses.
"Kirpo! by all the torments of h.e.l.l--" urged Shunker.
"What! art there already? Not so fast, Lala! not so fast. Wait till I bring this babe to curse thy pyre, to spit on thy ashes,--thy son--thy son!"
"It is a lie!" burst in the wretched man, beside himself with doubt, certainty, and desire. "He is not mine."
"Well said, Shunker, well said!" laughed Kirpo triumphantly, growing calmer with her evident success. "He is not thine, he is mine." She folded her veil round the sleeping child with a flourish, as if to emphasise her words, and stepped backwards. As she stood there sombre, malignant, the winged thoughts flew through Shunker"s brain. There is, strictly speaking, no possible divorce, no remarriage for the Hindu; but if Ramu could be got out of the way, he, Shunker Das, might pose as a social reformer. It was a fine idea. Or he might,--a thousand suggestions found expression in the covetous hands he stretched towards his victim. "Kirpo, listen!"
"I will not listen. I gave the chance for the child"s sake. Now--"
"Kirpo! take what thou likest--"
"I _will_ take what I like, Lala. That is revenge!" Before he could say another word she had turned her back on him, and ere he could rise to stop her was down the narrow stair and out into the street with her precious burden.
So Lala Shunker Das lay down and cried, because not one of the women his wealth had bought could bear him a son save this Kirpo whom he had betrayed. Fool that he was not to have seen she must have some deep move on hand ere she came to beg of him! Revenge! He had dreamt of that himself; but what was his poor spite to this devilish malice? He tried to remember that want was a hard master; that Kirpo"s own people came from beyond the fourth[7] river and were therefore useless to her as a refuge; that it was woman"s way to bark more than bite. In his heart of hearts he knew that she had said truly when she offered him his last chance. And, as a matter of fact, while he sat trying to recover confidence on the edge of his bed, Kirpo and the baby, with many a swing of the full skirts as she strode along, were making their way direct to the enemy"s camp; in other words to John Raby"s new factory. The _sahib_ had interfered on her behalf once, and he hated Shunker. He could give her coolie"s work on the new dam, and in return she could give him valuable information as to the usurer"s little game. The Lala, had had his chance, partly for the sake of comfort, partly for the sake of the child. Now she would devote herself to revenge and gain a living at the same time.
Of all this, however, Belle was profoundly ignorant; nor did Kirpo say more to her new master than was necessary to show a sound, conceivable reason for her professions of attachment to his cause. John Raby laughed when he heard of his enemy"s vows of vengeance; but he was wise enough to see the prospect of unpopularity with his poorer neighbours, and the advisability of being prepared for opposition.
"I hope you don"t mind, Marsden," he said a day or two before the Major left, "but I"ve been treating with that truculent rascal of yours, Afzul. He"s coming back to India, he says, next cold weather, on business or something. I"ve asked him to bring me a gang of navvies and do overseer himself till next rainy season. Those hill-men work like Englishmen, and the new dam will require constant care until it solidifies; besides, I believe in mercenaries; a bandit is always handy."
"And Afzul consented?" asked Philip in surprise.
"Jumped at it. There is no one like the n.o.ble savage for turning an honest penny when he can, and I own to tempting him pretty stiffly. We may want that sort of fellow by and by to keep things going."
"I am surprised at Afzul for all that," continued Philip, thoughtfully. "I wonder what he means?"
"Devotion to you," laughed the other; "you should have heard him. And you too, Belle! He laid the b.u.t.ter on thick about your capabilities as a nurse."
She looked up quickly. "I suppose it"s ungrateful, but I don"t like that man. He always seems to have something in his mind that I can"t get hold of."
"He is very intelligent," replied her husband with a shrug of his shoulders; "and took quite an interest in the business, I a.s.sure you; he asked a lot of questions. And, to tell the truth, I think a thoroughly devoted rascal is the most useful thing in creation; so I hope he is one."
Philip laughed. "Shall I leave my interests in his hands, Belle, or in yours?"
"Leave them to me, my dear fellow," interrupted John. "Belle doesn"t understand business."
CHAPTER XXI.
Perhaps her husband was right in saying Belle did not understand business. At any rate she had little to do with it in the uneventful months which followed. It was a dry, hot year bringing no respite of rain to the long weary hours. It brought plenty of work, however, to John Raby, who was up with the dawn, and never seemed to tire or flag in his unceasing pursuit of success. In good sooth, as Belle confessed to herself, Philip could have found no better custodian for his money; and this knowledge was a great consolation,--how great she scarcely realised until something came to disturb it.
She was writing to Philip Marsden one day when John entered the room.
She rose hastily, even though she felt vexed with herself for doing so. Why should she not write? As a matter of fact she spent a considerable portion of her time over these letters. Sometimes she would resolutely put pen and paper away, and set to work to sew every possible b.u.t.ton on John"s under-garments, or perform some other virtuous domestic duty, only to find when all was done that leisure still stared her in the face. For the leisure of a long hot-weather day in an outstation may be compared to that of a solitary cell. Their nearest neighbours were twenty miles away, and Belle"s experiment of having her youngest and most good-natured step-sister on a visit had ended in disastrous failure. The girl had cried for three days consecutively out of sheer low spirits. It was all very well, she said plaintively, when one was married and got something by it; but what was the use of being miserable before there was any necessity for it, and when one couldn"t even scold the servants to amuse one"s self? By and by, when Charlie Allsop got his step, she would no doubt have to put up with jungle life for a time; but now her dearest Belle must excuse her. Maud had written _such_ a description of the dress she was going to wear at the Masonic ball; and really, now that Mabel was married to her widower, and Charlie"s schooling paid for by John, they got on splendidly in the little house. Why shouldn"t Belle go back to Missouri with her, and take rooms at Scott"s Hotel? They would have such fun! But, though her husband gave her full leave to do as she liked, Belle shook her head over this tempting offer. She felt that she could not afford to neglect the t.i.thes of mint and c.u.mmin, the jots and t.i.ttles of the law; she must at any rate make offering of what she had to give. So she stayed at home, and blushed violently when she rose from her desk.
"Writing to Marsden?" said John carelessly. "I thought you might be, and I wanted you just to give him a hint or two about the business. It would come naturally from you and save surprise. The fact is, there has been a lot of unforeseen expense; then the firm in Calcutta to which I sent my first batch of stuff has failed. Altogether I sha"n"t be able to spare any interest on the money this year."
"No interest?" Belle could only echo his words stupidly, for the very idea of such a contingency had never entered her head, and the fact seemed to bring back all the old sickening dislike to the situation.
"Well!" He looked at her with the expression of distasteful patience which always came to his face when awaiting a remonstrance. But none followed. She was so absorbed in the fresh shame, to her, of this failure, that she could think of nothing else.
"Of course it is a pity," he went on, somewhat mollified by her silence, "but Marsden isn"t a fool. He knows one has generally to wait for a return; indeed I consider it lucky we have not to borrow. I wish you wouldn"t look so tragic over it, Belle. We are not ruined; far from it. Only for the present we have to live on our capital."
Belle"s face brightened. "Could we not pay the interest out of capital, too, John?"
Her husband burst out laughing as he threw himself into an easy chair.
"Upon my soul, for utter incapacity to understand even the morals of business, commend me to a really good woman! Interest out of capital!
We are not a swindling company, Belle!"
"We might pay it out of your own savings, John," she urged, knowing how hopeless it would be to argue.
"Transference from one budget-head to another, and consequent cooking of accounts! No, my dear; I left that system of book-keeping behind me when I quitted Government service. Marsden must go without his interest for the present; he has very good pay, and the loss is quite temporary. In any circ.u.mstances the returns would have been unfavourable for this year, owing to the drought. Why, even with the aid of the dam I have scarcely had enough water for a quarter of the acreage I intend to have next season."
His voice tailed off into indifference as his attention became concentrated in a paper he had taken up, and there was an end of the matter so far as he was concerned.
Pens, ink and paper had lost their attraction for Belle that day, and for many days after; indeed, it was not until the knowledge that her long silence would cause anxiety, that she faced the task of finishing her letter to Major Marsden. The very certainty that he would care little for the absence of the promised dividend, and be quite ready to accept her husband"s views on the matter, made it seem all the more hard for her; and though she determined to leave the proper person to tell the unwelcome news, she found herself hampered on all sides by her own knowledge. Even remarks on the dryness of the weather savoured of an attempt at excuse, and for the first time she felt glad to write her signature at the bottom of the page. When it was done she leant her head over her crossed arms in a sudden rush of weariness, and thought how different it would have been if she could have met Philip on equal terms; if they could have told each other the truth in all things. Theoretically it was all very well to say that the money had nothing to do with the position, but practically she could not get rid of the conviction that she and John were preying on a man"s sense of honour, or, worse, on his affections. It was no use telling herself she was despicable in having such thoughts; that, setting love aside, friendship itself excluded the question of give or take. As a matter of fact Philip did give her all he had, and he took,--what did he not take? She cowered before that, the worst question of all. She could not escape from the haunting sense of wrong which seemed to sap the strength of her self-respect; and back through all her heart-burnings came the one foolish fancy that if she could only have met Philip with the money, or even a decent five per cent, interest on it, in her hand, she could have looked into his face with clear unshadowed eyes.
And now! How was she to meet him when there was not even a dividend?
Philip meanwhile was undergoing no qualms; on the contrary, he was having a very good time. To begin with he was in command of the regiment and drawing, as John Raby said, excellent pay. Furthermore he was enjoying, as was inevitable, the return to health and life after eighteen months of death to all pleasure. Lastly, his conscience was absolutely at rest in regard to Belle. He would have been more, or less, than human had he not been aware that he had behaved as well as a man could, in very trying circ.u.mstances. In fact he was a little complacent over what had been, so far, a very simple and easy solution of a problem which other people held to be insoluble. He sent Belle the last new books, and wrote her kind brotherly letters, and thought of her as the best friend he had, and always with the same underlying consciousness of pure virtue. He forgot, however, that poor Belle stood in a very different position; one in which calm peace was well-nigh impossible. So as her letters became less frequent and less frank, he began to puzzle somewhat captiously over the cause. Finally he hinted at an explanation, and receiving nothing but jesting replies, he took ten days" leave and went down to Saudaghur, ostensibly to settle the half yearly accounts; for both John and he found a sort of solemn refuge from the truth in the observance, so far as was possible, of strict business relations.
It gave him quite a shock to find how much change his few months"
absence had wrought. The bare deserted house where Belle had nursed him back to life, and where he and she had spent so many days forgetful of the work-a-day world, content in a kindly constant companionship, was now a luxurious house hedged about by conventionalities. The drawing-room, where his sofa had reigned supreme, was full of _bric-a-brac_ tables and heaven knows what obstacles, through which a man had to thread his way like a performing ape. Belle herself, despite her kind face and soft voice, was no longer the caretaker full of sympathy. She was his hostess, his friend, but also another man"s wife; a fact of which she took care to remind him by saying she was glad he had come in time to celebrate the anniversary of her wedding-day on the morrow. Despite his theories Philip did not like the change. It vexed him, too, that she should look pale and worried when he had really done all, all that an honest man could do, to smooth her path. Had he not even kept away for five whole months? So he was decidedly out of humour when, coming from a long spell of business with John in the office, he found her alone for the first time. She was standing by the fireplace in the drawing-room, and he made his way towards her intent on words. But she forestalled him. "Well! he has told you about it, I suppose,--that there is no dividend?" she said defiantly; and as she spoke she crushed the withered roses she had been removing from a vase and flung them on to the smouldering embers.