The labours of the Baker Institution and of the Clarke Mission were
very different in scope, so much so that if they had been secular bodies
working for profit, there would have been hardly a point of contact
between them. As it was they made one, drawing together in affiliation
for the comfort of mutual support in a heathen country where all the
other Englishmen wrote reports, drilled troops, or played polo, with all
the other Englishwomen in the corresponding female parts. Doubtless
the little communities prayed for each other. One may imagine, not
profanely, their petitions rising on either side of the heedless,
multitudinous, idolatrous city, and meeting at some point in the purer
air above the yellow dust-haze. I am not aware that they held any other
mutual duty or privilege, but this bond was known, and enabled people
whose conscience pricked them in that direction to give little garden
teas to which they invited Clarke Brothers and Baker Sisters, secure
in doing a benevolent thing and at the same time embarrassing nobody
except, possibly, the Archdeacon, who was officially exposed to being
asked as well and had no right to complain. The affiliation was thus a
social convenience, since it is unlikely that without it anybody would
have hit upon so ingenious a way of killing, as it were, a Baker Sister
and a Clarke Brother with one stone. It is not surprising that this
degree of intelligence should fail to see the profound official
difference between Baker Sisters and Baker novices. As the Mother
Superior said, it did not seem to occur to people that there could be
in connection with a religious body, such words as discipline and
subordination, which were certainly made ridiculous for the time being,
when she and Sister Ann Frances were asked to eat ices on the same terms
as Miss Hilda Howe. It must have been more than ever painful to these
ladies, regarded from the official point of view, when it became plain,
as it usually did, that the interest of the afternoon centred in Miss
Howe, whether or not the Archdeacon happened to be present. Their
displeasure was so clear, after the first occasion, that Hilda felt
obliged when the next one came, to fall back on her original talent, and
ate her ice abashed and silent speaking only when she was spoken to, and
then in short words and long hesitations. Thereupon the Sisters were of
opinion that after all poor Miss Howe could not help her unenviable lot,
she was perhaps more to be pitied on account of it than--anything else.
It came to this, that Sister Ann Frances even had an exhibitor's pride
in her, and Hilda knew the sensations of a barbarian female captive in
the bonds of the Christians. But she could not afford to risk being
cut off from those little garden teas. All told, they were few; ladies
disturbed by ideas of social duties toward missionaries being so
uncommon.
She told Stephen so, frankly, one afternoon when he charged her with
being so unlike herself, and he heard her explanation with a gravity
which contained an element of satisfaction. “It is, of course, a
pleasure to us to meet,” he said, “a pleasure to us both.” That was
part of the satisfaction, that he could meet her candour with the same
openness. He was not even afraid to mention to her the stimulus she gave
him always and his difficulty in defining it, and once he told her how,
after a talk with her, he had lain awake until the small hours unable
to stop his excited rush of thought. He added that he was now personally
and selfishly glad she had chosen as she did three months before; it
made a difference to him, her being in Calcutta, a sensible and material
difference. He had better hope and heart in his work. It was the last
luxury he would ever have dreamed of allowing himself, a woman friend;
but since life had brought it in the oddest way the boon should be met
with no grudging of gratitude. A kind of sedate cheerfulness crept into
his manner which was new to him; he went about his duties with the
look of a man to whom life had dictated its terms and who found them
acceptable. His blood might have received some mysterious chemical
complement, so much was his eye clearer, his voice firmer, and the
things he found to say more decisive. Nor did any consideration of their
relations disturb him. He never thought of the oxygen in the air he
breathed, and he seldom thought of Hilda.
They were walking toward the Institution together the day he explained
to her his gratification that she had elected to remain. Sister Ann
Frances and Sister Margaret led; Arnold and Hilda came behind. He had an
errand to the Mother Superior--he would go all the way. It was late in
May and late in the afternoon; all the treetops on the Maidan were bent
under the sweep of the south wind, blowing a caressing coolness from
the sea. It spread fragrances about and shook down blossoms from the
gold-mohur trees. One could see nothing anywhere, so red and yellow as
they were, except the long coat of a Government messenger, a point of
scarlet moving in the perspective of a dusty road. The spreading acres
of turf were baked to every earth-colour; wherever a pine dropped
needles and an old woman swept them up, a trail of dust ran curling
along the ground like smoke. The little party was unusual in walking;
glances of uncomprehending pity were cast at them from victorias and
landaus that rolled past. Even the convalescent British soldiers facing
each other in the clumsy drab cart drawn by humped bullocks, and marked
Garrison Dispensary, stared at the black-skirts so near the powder of
the road. The Sisters in front walked with their heads slightly bent
toward one another; they seemed to be consulting. Hilda reflected,
looking at them, that they always seemed to be consulting; it was the
normal attitude of that long black veil that flowed behind.
Arnold walked beside his companion, his hands loosely clasped behind
him, with the air of semi-detachment that young clergymen sometimes
have with their wives. Whether it was that, or the trace of custom his
satisfaction carried, the casual glance might easily have taken them for
a married pair.
“There is a kind of folly and stupidity in saying it,” he said, “but you
have done--you do--a great deal for me.”
She turned toward him with a wistful, measuring look. It searched his
face for an instant and came back baffled. Arnold spoke with so much
kindness, so much appreciation.
“Very little,” she said mechanically, looking at the fresh footprints of
Sister Ann Frances and Sister Margaret.
“But I know. And can't you tell me--it would make me so very happy--that
I have done something for you too--something that you value?”
Hilda's eyes lightened curiously, reverie came into them, and a smile.
She answered as if she spoke to herself, “I should not know how to tell
you.”
Then scenting wonder in him she added, “You were thinking of
something--in particular?”
“You have sometimes made me believe,” Stephen returned, “that I may
account myself, under God, the accident which induced you to take up
your blessed work. I was thinking of that.”
“Oh,” she said, “of that!” and seemed to take refuge in silence.
“Yes,” Arnold said, with infinite gentleness.
“But you were profoundly the cause! I might say you are, for without you
I doubt whether I should have the--courage--”
“Oh no! Oh no! He who inspired you in the beginning will sustain you to
the end. Think that. Believe that.”
“Will He?” Her voice was neutral, as if it would not betray too much,
but there was a listlessness that spoke louder in the bend of her head,
the droop of her shoulder.
“For you perhaps,” Arnold said thoughtfully, “there is only one
assurance of it--the satisfaction your vocation brings you now. That
will broaden and increase,” he went on, almost with buoyancy, “growing
more and more your supreme good as the years go on.”
“How much you give me credit for!”
“Not nearly enough--not nearly. Who is there like you?” he demanded
simply.
His words seemed a baptism. She lifted up her face after them, and the
trace of them was on her eyes and lips. “I have passed two examinations,
at all events,” she informed him, with sudden gaiety, “and Sister Ann
Frances says that in two or three months I shall probably get through
the others. Sister Ann Frances thinks me more intelligent than might be
expected. And if I do pass those examinations I shall be what they call
a quick-time probationer. I shall have got it over in six months. Do
you think,” she asked, as if to please herself; “that six months will be
long enough?”
“It depends. There is so much to consider.”
“Yes--it depends. Sometimes I think it will be, but oftener I think it
will take longer.”
“I should be inclined to leave it entirely with the Sisters.”
“I am so undisciplined,” murmured Hilda, “I fear I shall cling to my own
opinion. Now we must overtake the others and you must walk the rest of
the way with Sister Ann--no, Sister Margaret, she is senior.”
“I don't at all see the necessity,” Stephen protested. He was wilful
and wayward; he adopted a privileged air, and she scolded him. In their
dispute they laughed so imprudently that Sister Ann Frances turned her
draped head to look back at them. Then they quickened their steps and
joined the elder ladies, and Stephen walked with Sister Margaret to the
door of the Institution. She mentioned to the Mother Superior afterwards
that young Mr. Arnold was really a delightful conversationalist.