THE PLEASURE COLONY
A town on the hill-tops; a town of clubs, churches, and hotels, of luxury
shops, of pretty villas set in lovely gardens bright with English flowers
and shaded by great orchid-clad trees; of broad, well-kept roads--such is
Darjeeling, seven thousand feet above the sea.
At first sight there is nothing Oriental about it except the Gurkha
policemen on point duty or the laughing groups of fair-skinned,
rosy-cheeked Lepcha women that go chattering by him. But on one side the
steep hills are crowded with the confused jumble of houses in the native
bazaar, built higgledy-piggledy one on top of the other and lining the
narrow streets and lanes that are thronged all day by a bright-garbed
medley of Eastern races--Sikkimese, Bhuttias, Hindus, Tibetans, Lepchas.
Set in a beautiful glen are the lovely Botanical Gardens, which look
down past slopes trimly planted with rows of tea-bushes into the deep
valleys far below.
As Noreen was borne along in her _dandy_ she thought that she had never
seen a more delightful spot. Everything and everyone attracted her
attention--the scenery, the buildings, the varied folk that passed her on
the road, from well set-up British soldiers in red coats and white helmets,
smartly-dressed ladies in rickshas, Englishmen in breeches and gaiters
riding sleek-coated ponies, to yellow-gowned lamas and Lepcha girls with
massive silver necklaces and turquoise ornaments. She longed to turn her
chair-coolies down the hill and begin at once the exploration of the
attractive-looking native bazaar--until she reached the English shops with
the newest fashions of female wear from London and Paris, set out behind
their plate-glass windows. Here she forgot the bazaar and would willingly
have lingered to look, but Ida's _dandy_ kept steadily alongside hers and
its occupant chattered incessantly of the many forth-coming social
gaieties, until they turned into the courtyard of their hotel and stepped
out of their chairs.
When Ida had shown her friend into the room reserved for her she said:
"Take off your hat, dear, and let me see how you look after all these
years. Why, you've grown into quite a pretty girl. What a nice colour your
hair is! Do you use anything for it? I don't remember its being as golden
as all that at school."
The girl laughed and shook the sunlit waves of it down, for it had got
untidy under her sun-hat.
"No, Ida darling, of course I don't use anything. The colour is quite
natural, I assure you. Have you forgotten you used sometimes to call me
Goldylocks at school?"
"Did I? I don't remember. I say, Noreen, you're a lucky girl to have made
such a hit straight away with Captain Charlesworth. He's quite the rage
with the women here."
"Is he? Why?" asked the girl carelessly, pinning up her hair.
"Why? My dear, he's the smartest man in a very smart regiment. Very well
off; has lots of money and a beautiful place at home, I believe. Comes from
an excellent family. And then he's so handsome. Don't you think so?"
"Yes; he's rather good-looking. But he struck me as being somewhat
foppish."
"Oh, he's always beautifully dressed, if that's what you mean. You saw
that, even when he had just come off a train journey. He's a beautiful
dancer. I'm so glad he asked me for a couple of dances at the L.G.'s ball.
I'll see he doesn't forget them. I'll keep him up to his word, though
Bertie won't like it. He's fearfully jealous of me, but I don't care."
"Bertie? Who is--? I thought that your husband's name was William?" said
Noreen wonderingly.
Ida burst into a peal of laughter.
"Good gracious, child! I'm not talking of my husband. Bill's hundreds of
miles away, thank goodness! I wouldn't mind if he were thousands. No; I'm
speaking of Captain Bain, a great friend of mine from the Bombay side. He's
stationed in Poona, which is quite a jolly place in the Season, though of
course not a patch on this. But he got leave and came here because I did."
"Oh, yes, I see," replied Noreen vaguely, puzzled by Ida's remark about her
husband. She had seen the Civil Servant at the wedding and remembered him
as a stolid, middle-aged, and apparently uninteresting individual. But the
girl was still ignorant enough of life not to understand why a woman after
two years of marriage should be thankful that her husband was far away from
her and wish him farther.
"But I'm not going to let Bertie monopolise me up here," continued Mrs.
Smith, taking off her hat and pulling and patting her hair before the
mirror. "I like a change. I've come here to have a good time. I think I'll
go in and cut you out with Captain Charlesworth. He's awfully attractive."
"You are quite welcome to him, dear," said the girl.
"Oh, wait until you see the fuss the other women make of him. He's a great
catch; and all the mothers here with marriageable daughters and the spins
themselves are ready to scratch each other's eyes out over him."
"Don't be uncharitable, Ida dearest."
"It's a fact, darling. But I warn you that he's not a marrying man. He has
the reputation of being a terrible flirt. I don't think you'll hold him
long. He's afraid of girls--afraid they'll try to catch him. He prefers
married women. He knows we're safe."
Noreen said nothing, but began to open and unpack her trunks. In India, the
land of servants, where a bachelor officer has seven or more, a lady has
usually to do without a maid, for the _ayah_, or native female domestic, is
generally a failure in that capacity. In the hotels Indian "boys" replace
the chambermaids of Europe.
Ida rattled on.
"Of course, Bertie's awfully useful. A tame cat--and he's a well-trained
one--is a handy thing to have about you, especially up here. You need
someone to take you to races and gymkhanas and to fill up blanks on your
programme at dances, as well as getting your ricksha or _dandy_ for you
when they're over."
Noreen laughed, amused at the frankness of the statement.
"And where is the redoubtable Captain Bain, dear?"
"You'll see him soon. I let him off today until it's time for him to call
to take us to the Amusement Club. He was anxious to see you. He wanted to
come with me to the station, but I said he'd only be in the way. I knew
Miguel would be much more useful in getting your luggage. Bertie's so slow.
Still, he's rather a dear. Remember, he's my property. You mustn't poach."
Noreen laughed again and said:
"If he admires you, dear, I'm sure no one could take him from you."
"My dear girl, you never can trust any man," said her friend seriously.
Then, glancing at herself in the mirror, she continued modestly:
"I know I'm not bad-looking, and lots of men do admire me. Bertie says I'm
a ripper."
She certainly was decidedly pretty, though of a type of beauty that would
fade early. Vain and empty-headed, she was, nevertheless, popular with the
class of men who are content with a shallow, silly woman with whom it is
easy to flirt. They described her as "good fun and not a bit strait-laced."
Noreen knew nothing of this side of her friend, for she had not seen her
since her marriage, and honestly thought her beautiful and fascinating.
Ida picked up her hat and parasol and said:
"Now I'll leave you to get straight, darling child, and come back to you
later on."
She looked into the glass again and went on:
"It's so nice to have you here. A woman alone is rather out of it,
especially if she comes from the other side of India and doesn't know
Calcutta people. Now it'll be all right when there are two of us. The cats
can't say horrid things about me and Bertie--though it's only the old
frumps that can't get a man who do. I _am_ glad you've come. We'll have
such fun."
* * * * *
Captain Bain, a dapper little man, designed by Nature to be the "tame cat"
of some married woman, was punctual when the time came to take the two
ladies to the Amusement Club. Noreen had very dubiously donned her smartest
frock which, having just been taken out of a trunk after a long journey,
seemed very crushed, creased, and dowdy compared with the freshness and
daintiness of Ida's _toilette._ Men as a rule understand nothing of the
agonies endured by a woman who must face the unfriendly stares of other
women in a gown that she feels will invite pitiless criticism.
But for the moment the girl forgot her worries as they turned out of the
hotel gate and reached the Chaurasta, the meeting of the "four-ways,"
nearly as busy a cross-roads as (and infinitely more beautiful than) Carfax
at Oxford or the Quattro Canti in Palermo. To the east the hill of
Jalapahar towered a thousand feet above Darjeeling, crowned with bungalows
and barracks. To the north the ground fell as sharply; and a thousand feet
below Darjeeling lay Lebong, set out on a flattened hilltop. On three sides
of this military suburb the hill sloped steeply to the valleys below. But
beyond them, tumbled mass upon mass, rose the great mountains barring the
way to Sikkim and Tibet, towering to the clouds that hid the white summits
of the Eternal Snows.
Bain walked his pony beside Noreen's chair and named the various points of
the scenery around them. Then, when Noreen had inscribed her name in the
Visitors' Book at Government House, they entered the Amusement Club.
Noreen was overcome with shyness at finding herself, after her months
of isolation, among scores of white folk, all strangers to her. Ida
unconcernedly led the way into the large hall which was used as a
roller-skating rink, along one side of which were set out dozens of
little tables around which sat ladies in smart frocks that made the girl
more painfully conscious of what she considered to be the deficiencies
of her own costume. She saw one or two of the women that had travelled
up in the train that day stare at her and then lean forward and make
some remark about her to their companions at the table. She was
profoundly thankful when the ordeal was over and, in Ida's wake, she had
got out of the rink. Conscious only of the critical glances of her own
sex, she was not aware of the admiring looks cast at her by many men in
the groups around the tables.
But later on in the evening she found herself seated at one of those same
tables that an hour before had seemed to her a bench of stern judges. She
formed one of a laughing, chattering group of Ida's acquaintances. More at
ease now, the girl watched the people around her with interest. For a year
she had seen no larger gathering of her own race than the weekly meetings
at the planters' little club in the jungle, with the one exception of a
_durbar_ at Jalpaiguri.
Yet despite Ida's company she was feeling lonely and a little depressed, a
stranger in a crowd, when she saw Captain Charlesworth enter the rink,
accompanied by another man. Recent as had been their meeting, he seemed
quite an old friend among all these unknown people about her, and she
almost hoped that he would come and speak to her. He sauntered through the
hall, bowing casually to many ladies, some of whom, the girl noticed, made
rather obvious efforts to detain him. But he ignored them and looked
around, as if in search of some particular person. Suddenly his eyes met
Noreen's, and he promptly came straight to her table. He shook hands with
Mrs. Smith and bowed to the other ladies in the group, introduced his
companion, a new arrival to his battalion, and, securing a chair beside
Noreen, plunged into a light and animated conversation with her. The girl
could not help feeling a little pleased when she saw the looks of surprise
and annoyance on the faces of some of the women at the other tables. But
Charlesworth was not allowed to have it all his own way with her. Bain and
an Indian Army officer named Melville also claimed her attention. The
knowledge that we are appreciated tends to make most of us appear at our
best, and Noreen soon forgot her shyness and loneliness and became her
usual natural, bright self. Ida looked on indulgently and smiled at her
patronisingly, as though Noreen's little personal triumph were due to her.
Noreen slept soundly that night, and although she had meant to get up early
and see Kinchinjunga and the snows when the sun rose, it was late when her
hostess came to her room. After breakfast Ida took her out shopping. Only a
woman can realise what a delight it was to the girl, after being divorced
for a whole year from the sight of shops and the possibility of
replenishing her wardrobe, or purchasing the thousand little necessities of
the female toilet, to enter milliners' and dressmakers' shops where the
latest, or very nearly the latest, _modes_ of the day in hats and gowns
were to be seen.
Charlesworth came to lunch in a smart riding-kit, looking particularly
well-groomed and handsome. The girl was quite excited about the gymkhana,
and plied him with innumerable questions as to what she would have to do.
She learned that they were to enter for two affinity events. In one of
these the lady was to tilt with a billiard-cue at three suspended rings,
while the man, carrying a spear and a sword, took a tent-peg with the
former, threw the lance away, cut off a Turk's head in wood with the sword,
and then took another peg with the same weapon. The other competition was
named the Gretna Green Stakes, and in it the pair were to ride hand in hand
over three hurdles, dismount and sign their names in a book, then mount
again and return hand in hand over the jumps to the winning-post.
The polo-ground at Lebong that afternoon presented an animated scene,
filled with colour by the bright-hued garments of the thousands of native
spectators surrounding it, the uniforms of the British soldiers in the
crowd, and the frocks of the English ladies in the reserved enclosure,
where in large white marquees the officers of Charlesworth's regiment acted
as hosts to the European visitors. Down the precipitous road to it from
Darjeeling came swarms of mixed Eastern races in picturesque garb, Gurkha
soldiers in uniform, and British gunners from Jalapahar; and through the
throngs Englishmen on ponies, and _dandies_ and rickshas carrying ladies in
smart summer frocks, could scarcely make their way.
When Mrs. Smith's party reached the enclosure and shook hands with the wife
of the Colonel of the Rifles, who was the senior hostess, Noreen was not
troubled by the feeling of shyness that had assailed her at the Club on the
previous evening. She had the comforting knowledge that her habit and boots
from the best West End makers were beyond cavil. But she was too excited at
the thought of the approaching contests to think much of her appearance.
Charlesworth took her to see the pony that she was to ride, and, as she
passed through the enclosure, she did not hear the admiring remarks of many
of the men and, indeed, of some of the women. For in India even an
ordinarily pretty girl will be thought beautiful, and Noreen was more than
ordinarily pretty. Her mount she found to be a well-shaped, fourteen-two
grey Arab, with the perfect manners of his race; and she instantly lost her
heart to him as he rubbed his velvety muzzle against her cheek.
The gymkhana opened with men's competitions, the first event in which
ladies were to take part, the Tilting and Tent-pegging, not occurring until
nearly half-way down the programme. Noreen was awaiting it too anxiously to
enjoy, as she otherwise would, the novel scene, the gaiety, the band in the
enclosure, the well-dressed throngs of English folk, the gaudy colours of
the crowds squatting round the polo-ground and wondering at the strange
diversions of the sahib-_logue_. Charlesworth did well in the men's event,
securing two first prizes and a third, and Noreen could not help admiring
him in the saddle. He was a graceful as well as a good rider. Indeed, he
was No. 2 in the regimental polo team, which was one of the best in India
at the time.
When the moment for their competition came at last and he swung her
up into her saddle, Noreen's heart beat violently and her bridle-hand
shook. But when, after other couples had ridden the course, their names
were called and a billiard-cue given her, the girl's nerves steadied at
once and she was perfectly cool as she reined back her impatient pony at
the starting-line. The signal was given, and she and her partner dashed
down the course at a gallop. They did well, Charlesworth securing the
two pegs and cutting the Turk's head, while his affinity carried off two
rings and touched the third. No others had been as fortunate, and cheers
from the soldiers and plaudits from the enclosure greeted their success.
Noreen was encouraged, and a becoming colour flushed her face at the
applause. The last couple to ride tied with them, the lady taking all
the rings, her partner getting the Turk's head and one peg and touching
the second. The tie was run off at once. Noreen, to her delight, found
the three rings on her cue when she pulled up at the end of the course,
although she hardly remembered taking them, while Charlesworth had made
no mistake. Daunted by this result, their rivals lost their heads and
missed everything in their second run.
Noreen, on her return to the enclosure, was again loudly cheered by the
men, the applause of the ladies being noticeably fainter, possibly because
they resented a new arrival's success. But the girl was too pleasantly
surprised at her good luck to observe this, and responded gratefully to the
congratulations showered on her. She was no longer too excited to notice
her surroundings, and now was able to enjoy the scenery, the music, the gay
crowds, the frocks, as well as her tea when Charlesworth escorted her to
the Mess Tent.
In the Gretna Green Stakes she and her partner were not so fortunate. Over
the second hurdle in the run home Charlesworth's pony blundered badly and
he was forced to release his hold on the girl's hand. When the event came
for which he had originally requested her to nominate him, she suggested
that he should ask Mrs. Smith to do so instead. He was skilled enough in
the ways of women not to demur, and he did as he was wanted so tactfully
that Ida believed it to be his own idea. So, when the gymkhana ended and
Noreen and her chaperone said good-bye, he felt that he had advanced a good
deal in the girl's favour.
During the afternoon Noreen caught sight of Chunerbutty talking to a fat
and sensual-looking native in white linen garments with a string of
roughly-cut but very large diamonds round his neck and several obsequious
satellites standing behind him. They were covertly watching her, but when,
catching the engineer's eye, she bowed to him, the fat man leant forward
and stared boldly at her. She guessed him to be the Rajah of Lalpuri, who
had been pointed out to her once at the Lieutenant-Governor's _durbar_ at
Jalpaiguri.
That evening a note from Chunerbutty, telling her that his father was
better though still in a precarious state, was left at her hotel. But the
engineer did not call on her.
The ball on the Thursday night at Government House was all that Noreen
anticipated it would be. Among the hundreds of guests there were a few
Indian men of rank and a number of Parsis of both sexes--the women adding
bright colours to the scene by the beautiful hues of their _saris_, as the
silk shawls worn over their heads are called. During the evening Noreen saw
Chunerbutty standing at the door of the ballroom with the fat man, who was
now adorned with jewels and wearing a magnificent diamond _aigrette_ in his
_puggri,_ and gloating with a lustful gaze over the bared necks and bosoms
of the English ladies. The native of India, where the females of all races
veil their faces, looks on white women, who lavishly display their charms
to the eyes of all beholders, as immodest and immoral. And he judges
harshly the freedom--the sometimes extreme freedom--of intercourse between
English wives and men who are not their husbands.
Later in the evening, when Noreen was sitting in the central lounge with
Captain Bain during an interval, Chunerbutty approached her with the fat
man. Coming up to her alone the engineer said:
"Miss Daleham, may I present His Highness the Rajah of Lalpuri to you?"
Noreen felt Captain Bain stiffen, but she replied courteously:
"Certainly, Mr. Chunerbutty."
The Rajah stepped forward, and on being introduced held out a fat and
flabby hand to her, speaking in stiff and stilted English, for he did not
use it with ease. He spoke only a few conventional sentences, but all the
while Noreen felt an inward shiver of disgust. For his bloodshot eyes
seemed to burn her bared flesh, as he devoured her naked shoulders and
breast with a hot and lascivious stare. After replying politely but briefly
to him she turned to the engineer and enquired after his father's health.
The music beginning in the ball-room for the next dance gave her a welcome
excuse for cutting the interview short, as Bain sprang up quickly and
offered her his arm. Bowing she moved away with relief.
"I suppose that fellow in evening dress was the man from your garden, Miss
Daleham?" asked Bain, as they entered the ballroom.
"Yes; that was Mr. Chunerbutty, who escorted me to Darjeeling," she
answered.
"Well, if he's a friend of your brother, he ought to know better than to
introduce that fat brute of a rajah to you."
"Oh, he is staying at the Rajah's house here, as his father, who is ill, is
in His Highness's service."
"I don't care. That beast Lalpuri is a disreputable scoundrel. There are
awful tales of his behaviour up here. It's a wonder that the L.G. doesn't
order him out of the place."
"Really?"
"Yes; he's a disgraceful blackguard. None of the other Rajahs of the
Presidency will have anything to do with him, I believe; and the two or
three of them up here now who are really splendid fellows, refuse to
acknowledge him. Everybody wonders why the Government of India allows him
to remain on the _gadi_."
The Rajah had watched Noreen with a hungry stare as she walked towards the
ballroom. When she was lost to sight in the crowd of dancers he turned to
Chunerbutty and seized his arm with a grip that made the engineer wince.
"She is more beautiful than I thought," he muttered. "O you fools! You
fools, who have failed me! But I shall get her yet."
He licked his dry lips and went on:
"Let us go! Let us go from here! I am parched. I want liquor. I want
women."
And they returned to a night of revolting debauchery in the house that was
honoured by being the temporary residence of His Highness the Rajah of
Lalpuri, wearer of an order bestowed upon him by the Viceroy and ruler of
the fate of millions of people by the grace and under the benign auspices
of the Government of India.