"Oh! it isn"t that," replied the first voice, "I mean that I couldn"t take a child to Cawnpore. I should always be thinking of the well!"
_Always thinking of the well!_
The words brought home to Lesley Drummond in an instant--a never-to-be-forgotten instant--that _something_ which so often chills the golden glory of the Eastern sunshine, that vision of the sentinel of memory which, for both races, bars the door of reconciliation that might otherwise stand open for comradeship.
She had read books on that past tragedy, she had told herself that it _was_ past, that it should be forgotten; and now--
"Drink your tea sharp!" said Nevill Lloyd with kindly familiarity, "or you"ll be getting ague. That"s the worst of this beastly hole. It"s always in extremes. Hot as blazes one moment, chill as charity----" He paused, for the iron hand beneath the parti-coloured velvet and brocade glove of India was resolved to have the girl in its grip at once, and a rattling thud, followed by a dull reverberation, rose from the near distance, making more than one in the chattering crowd pause also, until the sound came again, when the pause ended cheerfully in fresh chatter.
"It"s a funeral," explained Nevill Lloyd in answer to Lesley"s look.
"The cemetery is close to the course, and enteric is shocking bad in barracks just now. Young Summers of ours is down with it, too. Awful ill, poor chap--couldn"t be worse, I"m afraid."
A lady, pa.s.sing, turned to listen, and, as she went on, said to her companion in a whisper, "I do hope they won"t have to put off the ball to-night--I"ve got such a jolly new dress from Paris for it."
Another vision came to Lesley, the vision of a dead lad and a Paris dress.
"Come for a turn--you"re positively shivering," said Captain Lloyd concernedly.
They had barely escaped from the crush, however, when Sir George Arbuthnot appeared in the important fuss of new authority. A cipher telegram had come from England, he must return to Government House at once, if Captain Lloyd would kindly order the carriage.
"It"s an orful nuisance, Miss Dwummond," commented Jerry, tucking his hand into hers after his fashion with every one he liked, "for dad and I was going to put five whole wupees on the blackboard thing for the Cup wace. And now he can"t, of course. But I can. Can"t I, dad?" he added, artfully appealing to a weak point in his parent, "for you pwomised, didn"t you?"
Now the keeping of promises had always been a prop to Sir George"s somewhat irresolute mind, so he promptly gave Jerry the five rupees, and, with a suggestion that Miss Drummond would help him to get the ticket, bustled off, leaving the latter no time for remonstrance.
She stood looking resentfully at the pieces of silver which were to betray her principles, then said with chill dignity--
"We had better take the ticket at once, I suppose, if it has got to be taken. Come, Gerald!"
But Jerry"s face was the face of Jerry when he forgot his hymn, and his hands, holding the five rupees, went behind his back to match his consciousness of error.
"I"m afwaid I don"t know, please," he began.
"Don"t know what? Speak up, don"t be stupid!"
The flaming flag which always heralded the child"s confessions of ignorance flew to his face; but, after his habit, he looked his inquisitor full in the eyes.
"What, please, a w.a.n.kest outsider is."
Lesley hid her smile deftly; she had ample practice in the art with her pupil. "And _I_ don"t know which is the rankest outsider, so we must take it on chance," she replied tartly.
The little laddie"s face fell, but he stood firm. "Please, I"d _wather_ take it on the--the other; for Mr. Waymond knows lots about betting and you don"t know nothing."
"I"m glad I don"t!" she retorted, feeling quite nettled, for Jerry"s obstinate adherence to his ideal was not to be set aside with a high hand. "And what is more, I don"t wish to; so if you"re not satisfied, we needn"t take the ticket at all!" So far she got almost spitefully, then something smote the womanhood and motherhood in her. "Or," she went on, "suppose we take one on Kingscraft--every one says he is sure to win."
The boy"s face was a study of pitying contempt. "Kingscwaft!" he echoed. "Why, he"s the favourite, and I"m not going to foller a lead--_I_"m going to collar the lot!"
A sudden mist came to the girl"s eyes; and through it she seemed to see the st.u.r.dy little soul enshrined in the st.u.r.dy little body. She held out her hand and said simply, "Come, there"s Mr. Raymond--he"ll know."
"The rankest outsider?" echoed Jack Raymond quite gravely. "Let"s have a look at the card, Jerry." Then, as he stooped over the child, he added, "Shall I read out the names, or can you?"
The confessional scarlet flew to the little lad"s very ears this time.
"Only some, I"m "fwaid. That one"s Kitten. An" I know that other one--least one end of it I do, "cos it"s Miss Dwummond"s name."
"Which? Bonnie Lesley?" asked Jack Raymond, and the scarlet flag flew to another face.
"Only the other end of it, please," corrected Jerry; whereat one flush vanished in two laughs.
"My name doesn"t matter, dear; read the next," began Lesley, when Jack Raymond interrupted her.
"Excuse me, we gamblers believe in omens.--H"m! country-bred mare--undersized--maiden--Of course I remember! a post entry, railed down this morning--owner up--that looks good--white and green sleeves--better--the fellow knows his border ballads. Bonnie Lesley it is, my boy, for the luck"--"of the name" trembled on his tongue, but the immaculate collar and cuffs made him alter the phrase to "the thing."
The next instant he and Jerry were elbowing their way to the totalisator, Lesley waiting for them out of the crush, and watching fresh white strokes come as fast as they could to number two on the blackboard. That, she thought, must be the favourite"s number, while poor Bonnie Lesley, tho rankest outsider, was probably thirteen, with but one white stroke!
She turned to the bookmakers" booths to see if she could verify her guess by their lists, but all save one, round which a few determined old stagers were lounging, had already closed. However, she saw what she wanted there--Kingscraft, No. 2, Bonnie Lesley, No. 13!
When she turned back again, the little and the big covert coats had disappeared in the crowd; indeed, she was beginning to wonder what had kept them so long, when Jack Raymond"s voice called her from behind.
"This way, Miss Drummond, everything"s full up this side, but I"ll take you across to the other."
Jerry, leaning over the railings below the judge"s stand, beamed with delight, but Lesley, finding Mr. Lucanaster and the Rightful Heir next her, felt herself mixed up with the extreme racing set and their nefarious practices. So she glared at her guide resentfully, though he was too much absorbed in his race-gla.s.s to notice it.
"Just in time," he said, looking round with a cheerful smile. "Now, Jerry, my man! steady to win, or lose--that"s the game!"
He followed his own advice, anyhow, and Lesley, watching his hands, felt instinctively that the man must be a first-cla.s.s rifle shot. But Jerry followed the advice also, though, with a wonder as to whether the strain was good or bad for the child, she noticed his fingers clenched white on the white railings in his effort to be calm.
"They"re off!"
The familiar stir of relief ran through the crowd.
Then came the familiar silence, while every eye was riveted on the confused onward sweep over the curved tan--that silent half-seen sweep, which, for all its dimness, its silence to the outward ear and eye, holds in it from the first, a sob, a strain of fiercest effort for the inward sight and hearing.
So, at the curve, the trail of horses cl.u.s.tered, spread out again, settled for the straight run home!
"Bonnie Lesley"s had it in her pocket from start to finish, Jerry,"
said Jack Raymond, suddenly lowering his gla.s.ses.
"By Jove! I wish I"d----" He broke off and raised the gla.s.ses again.
But by this time others had seen that the little brown mare was coming home to her stables cheerfully, and a blank half-irritated surprise began to leaven the suspense.
Then a voice--Mr. Lucanaster"s--said, "What a rotten race!"
It was, to many; yet as the little mare neared the spectators, there was something in the bronze gleam of her straining muscle, something in the deer-like bound of her forward sweep, something in the eager head with its full anxious eye, outstretched as if to pa.s.s the post a second sooner, something in the slack swing of a pair of green sleeves telling of a win, hands down, which made every sportsman present forget personal disappointment in a surge of admiration for the game little beast.
"By Jove! Raymond!" said one of the judges as he pa.s.sed out, "what a flyer! I"d give something to own her!"
"I"d give something to have known her," corrected another. "Twenty to one! Ye G.o.ds! What a chance for my widow and orphans!"--