THE PHOTOGRAPH
That same night Amber dined at the Residency, on the invitation of
Raikes, the local representative of Government, seconded by the
insistence of Colonel Farrell. It developed that Sophia's telegram had
somehow been lost in transit, and Farrell's surprise and pleasure at
sight of her were tempered only by his keen appreciation of Amber's
adventitious services, slight though they had been. He was urged to
stay the evening out, before proceeding to his designated quarters, and
the reluctance with which he acceded to this arrangement which worked
so happily with his desires, may be imagined.
Their arrival coincided with the dinner-hour; the meal was held half an
hour to permit them to dress. Raikes put a room at Amber's disposal,
and the Virginian contrived to bathe and get into his evening clothes
within less time than had been allowed him. Sophia, contrary to the
habit of her sex, was little tardier. At thirty minutes past eight they
sat down to dine, at a table in the garden of the Residency.
Ease of anxiety was more than food and drink to Amber; his feeling of
relief, to have convoyed Sophia to the company and protection of
Anglo-Saxons like himself, was intense. Yet he swallowed his
preliminary brandy-peg in a distinctly uncomfortable frame of mind,
strangely troubled by the reflection that round that lone white table
was gathered together the known white population of the State; a census
of which accounted for just five souls.
In the encompassing, exotic gloom of that blue Indian night--the kind
of night that never seems friendly to the Occidental but forever teems
with hints of tragic mystery--the cloth, lighted by shaded candles,
shone as immaculate and lustrous as an island of snow in a sea of
ink--as a good deed in a naughty world. Its punctilious array of
crystal and silver was no more foreign to the setting than were the men
who sat round it, stiff in that black-and-white armour of civilisation,
impregnable against the insidious ease of the East, in which your
expatriate Englishman nightly encases himself wherever he may be, as
loath to forego the ceremony of "dressing for dinner" as he would be to
dispense with letters from Home.
Raikes presided, a heavy man with the flaming red face of one who
constitutionally is unable to tan; of middle-age, good-natured, mellow,
adroit of manner. On his one hand sat Amber, over across from Sophia.
Next to Amber sat Farrell, tall and lean, sad of eye and slow of
speech, his sun-faded hair and moustache streaked with grey setting off
a dark complexion and thin, fine features. He wore the habit of
authority equally with the irascibility of one who temporizes with his
liver. Opposite him was a young, mild-eyed missionary, too new in the
land to have lost his illusions or have blunted the keen edge of his
enthusiasms; a colourless person with a finical way of handling his
knife and fork, who darted continually shy, sidelong glances at Sophia,
or interpolated eager, undigested comments, nervously into the
conversation.
The table-talk was inconsequent; Amber took a courteous and easy part
in it without feeling that any strain was being put upon his
intelligence. His attention was centred upon the woman who faced him,
flushed with gaiety and pleasure, not alone because she was once more
with her father, but also because she unexpectedly was looking her
best. If she had been well suited in her tidy pongee travelling
costume, she found her evening gown no less becoming. It was a black
affair, very simple and individual; her shoulders rose from it with
intensified purity of tone, like fair white ivory gleaming with a
suggestion of the sleek sheen of satin; their strong, clean lines
rounded bewitchingly into the fair, slender neck upholding the young
head with its deftly coiffed crown of bronze and gold....
Tall, well-trained, silent servants moved like white-robed wraiths
behind the guests; the dishes of the many courses disappeared and were
replaced in a twinkling, as if by slight of hand. They were over
plentiful; Amber was relieved when at length the meal was over, and
Miss Farrell having withdrawn in conformance with inviolable custom,
the cloth was deftly whisked away and cigars, cigarettes, liqueurs,
whiskey and soda were served.
Amber took unto himself a cigar and utilised an observation of the
Political's as a lever to swing the conversation to a plane more likely
to inform him. Farrell had grumbled about the exactions of his position
as particularly instanced by the necessity of his attending tedious and
tiresome native ceremonies in connection with the _tamasha_.
"What's, precisely, the nature of this _tamasha_, Colonel Farrell?"
"Why, my dear young man, I thought you knew. Isn't it what you came to
see?"
"No," Amber admitted cautiously; "I merely heard a rumour that there
was something uncommon afoot. Is it really anything worth while?"
"Rather," Raikes interjected drily; "the present ruler's abdicating in
favour of his son, a child of twelve. That puts the business in a class
by itself."
"There's been one precedent, hasn't there?" said the missionary,
pretending to be at ease with a cigarette. "The Holkar of Indore?"
"Yes," agreed Farrell; "a similar case, to be sure."
"But why should a prince hand over the reins of government to a child
of twelve? There must be some reason for it. Isn't it known?" asked
Amber.
"Who can fathom a Hindu's mind?" grunted Farrell. "I daresay there's
some scandalous native intrigue at the bottom of it. Eh, Raikes?"
The Resident shook his head. "Don't come to this shop for information
about what goes on in Khandawar. I doubt if there's another Resident in
India who knows as little of the underhand devilment in his State as I
do. His Majesty the Rana loves me as a cheetah loves his trainer. He's
an intractable rascal."
"They grease the wheels of the independent native States with
intrigue," Farrell explained. "I know from sore experience. And your
Rajput is the deepest of the lot. I don't envy Raikes, here."
"The man who can guess what a Rajput intends to do next is entitled to
give himself a deal of credit," commented the Resident, with a short
laugh.
"I've travelled a bit," continued Farrell, "and have seen something of
the courts of Europe, but I've yet to meet a diplomat who's peer to the
Rajput. You hear a great deal about the astuteness of the Russians and
the yellow races, and a Greek or Turk can lie with a fairly straight
face when he sees a profit in deception, but none of them is to be
classed with these people. If we English ever decide to let India rule
herself, her diplomatic corps will be recruited exclusively from the
flower of Rajputana's chivalry."
"I'll back Salig Singh against the field," said Raikes grimly; "he'll
be dean of the corps, when that time comes. He'd rather conspire than
fight, and the Rajputs--of course you know--are a warrior caste. I've a
notion"--the Resident leaned back and searched the shadows for an
eavesdropper--"I've a notion," he continued, lowering his voice, "that
the Rana has got himself in rather deep in some rascality or other, and
wants to get out before he's put out. There's bazaar gossip.... Hmm! Do
you speak French, Mr. Amber?"
"A little," said Amber in that tongue. "And I," nodded the missionary.
The talk continued in the language of diplomacy.
"Bazaar gossip----?" Farrell repeated enquiringly.
"There have been a number of deaths from cholera in the Palace lately,
the grand vizier's amongst them."
"White arsenic cholera?"
"That, and the hemp poison kind."
"Refractory vizier?" questioned Farrell. "The kind that wants to
retrench and institute reforms--railways and metalled roads and so
forth?"
"No; he was quite suited to his master. But the bazaar says Naraini
took a dislike to him for one reason or another."
"Naraini?" queried Amber.
"The genius of the place." Raikes nodded toward the Raj Mahal, shining
like a pearl through the darkness on the hill-side over against the
Residency. "She's Salig's head queen. At least that's about as near to
her status as one can get. She's not actually his queen, but some sort
of a heritage from the Rutton dynasty--I hardly know what or why. Salig
never married her, but she lives in the Palace, and for several
years--ever since she first began to be talked about--she's ruled from
behind the screen with a high hand and an out-stretched arm. So the
bazaar says."
"I've heard she was beautiful," Farrell observed.
"As beautiful as a peri, according to rumour. You never can tell; very
likely she's a withered old hag; nine out of ten native women are, by
the time they're thirty." Raikes jerked the glowing end of his cigar
into the shrubbery and reverted to English. "Shall we join Miss
Farrell?"
They arose and left the table to the servants, the Resident with Amber
following Farrell and young Clarkson.
"Old women we are, forever talking scandal," said Raikes, with a
chuckle. "Oh, well! it's shop with us, you know."
"Of course.... Then I understand that the _tamasha_ is the reason for
the encampment beyond the walls?"
"Yes; they've been coming in for a week. By to-morrow night, I daresay,
every rajah, prince, thakur, baron, fief, and lord in Rajputana, each
with his 'tail,' horse and foot, will be camped down before the walls
of Kuttarpur. You've chosen an interesting time for your visit. It'll
be a sight worth seeing, when they begin to make a show. My troubles
begin with a State banquet to-morrow that I'd give much to miss;
however, I'll have Farrell for company."
"I'm glad to be here," said Amber thoughtfully. Could it be possible
that the proposed abdication of Salig Singh in favour of his son were
merely a cloak to a conspiracy to restore to power the house of Rutton?
Or had the _tamasha_ been arranged in order to gather together all the
rulers in Rajputana without exciting suspicion, that they might agree
upon a concerted plan of mutiny against the Sirkar? This state affair
of surpassing importance had been arranged for the last day of grace
allotted the Prince of the house of Rutton. What had it to do with the
Gateway of Swords, the Voice, the Mind, the Eye, the Body, the Bell?
"By the way, Mr. Raikes," said the Virginian suddenly, "what do they
call the gate by which we entered the city--the southern gate?"
"The Gateway of Swords, I believe."
Farrell, on the point of entering the house, overheard and turned. "Is
that so? Why, I thought _that_ gateway was in Kathiapur."
"I've heard of a Gateway of Swords in Kathiapur," Raikes admitted.
"Never been there, myself."
"Kathiapur?"
"A dead city, Mr. Amber, not far away--originally the capital of
Khandawar. It's over there in the hills to the north, somewhere. Old
Rao Rutton, founder of the old dynasty, got tired of the place and
caused it to be depopulated, building Kuttarpur in its stead--I
believe, to commemorate some victory or other. That sort of thing used
to be quite the fashion in India, before we came." Raikes fell back,
giving Amber precedence as they entered the Residency. "By the way,
remind me, if you think of it, Colonel Farrell, to get after the
telegraph-clerk to-morrow. There's a new man in charge--a Bengali
babu--and I presume he's about as worthless as the run of his kind."
Amber made a careful note of this information; he was curious about
that babu.
In the drawing-room Raikes and Farrell impressed Clarkson for
three-handed Bridge. Sophia did not care to play and Amber was ignorant
of the game--a defect in his social education which he found no cause
to regret, since it left him in undisputed attendance upon the girl.
She had seated herself at a warped and discouraged piano, for which
Raikes had already apologised; it was, he said, a legacy from a former
Resident. For years its yellow keys had not known a woman's touch such
as that to which they now responded with thin, cracked voices; the
girl's fine, slender fingers wrung from them a plaintive, pathetic
parody of melody. Amber stood over her with his arms folded on the top
of the instrument, comfortably unconscious that his pose was copied
from any number of sentimental photogravures and "art photographs." His
temper was sentimental enough, for that matter; the woman was very
sweet and beautiful in his eyes as she sat with her white, round arms
flashing over the keyboard, her head bowed and her face a little
averted, the long lashes low upon her cheeks and tremulous with a
fathomless emotion. It was his thought that his time was momentarily
becoming shorter, and that just now, more than ever, she was very
distant from his arms, something inaccessible, too rare and delicate
and fine for the rude possession of him who sighed for his own
unworthiness.
Abruptly she brought both hands down upon the keys, educing a jangled,
startled crash from the tortured wires, and swinging round, glanced up
at Amber with quaint mirth trembling behind the veil of moisture in her
misty eyes.
"India!" she cried, with a broken laugh: "India epitomised: a homesick,
exiled woman trying to drag a song of Home from the broken heart of a
crippled piano! That is an Englishwoman's India: it's our life, ever to
strive and struggle and contrive to piece together out of makeshift
odds and ends the atmosphere of Home!... It's suffocating in here.
Come." She rose with a quick shrug of impatience, and led the way back
to the gardens.
The table had been removed together with the chairs and candles;
nothing remained to remind them of the hour just gone. The walks were
clear of servants. Their only light came from the high arch of stars
smitten to its zenith with pale, quivering waves of light from the moon
invisible behind the hills. Below them the city hummed like a disturbed
beehive. Somewhere afar a gentle hand was sweeping the strings of a
_zitar_, sounding weird, sad chords. The perfumed languor of the night
weighed heavily upon the senses, like the woven witchery of some
age-old enchantment....
Pensive, the girl trained her long skirts heedlessly over the
dew-drenched grasses, Amber at her side, himself speechless with an
intangible, ineluctable, unreasoning sense of expectancy. Never, he
told himself, had a lover's hour been more auspiciously timed or
staged; and this was his hour, altogether his!... If only he might find
the words of wooing to which his lips were strange! He dared not delay;
to-morrow it might be too late; in the womb of the morrow a world of
chances stirred--contingencies that might in a breath set them a world
apart.
They found seats in the shadow of a pepul.
"You must be tired, Mr. Amber," she said. "Why don't you smoke?"
"I hadn't thought of it, and hadn't asked permission."
"Please do. I like it."
He found his cigarette-case and struck a match, Sophia watching
intently his face in the rosy glow of the little, flickering flame.
"Are you in the habit of indulging in protracted silences?" she rallied
him gently. "Between friends of old standing they're permissible, I
believe, but----"
"A day's journey by tonga matures acquaintanceships wonderfully," he
observed abstrusely.
"Indeed?" She laughed.
"At least, I hope so."
He felt that he must be making progress; thus far he had been no less
inane than any average lover of the stage or fiction. And he wondered:
was she laughing at him, softly, there in the shadows?
"You see," she said, amused at his relapse into reverie, "you're
incurable and ungrateful. I'm trying my best to be attractive and
interesting, and you won't pay me any attention whatever. There must be
something on your mind. Is it this mysterious errand that brings you so
unexpectedly to India--to Kuttarpur, Mr. Amber?"
"Yes," he answered truthfully.
"And you won't tell me?"
"I think I must," he said, bending forward.
There sounded a stealthy rustling in the shrubbery. The girl drew away
and rose with a startled exclamation. With a bound, a man in native
dress sped from the shadows and paused before them, panting.
Amber jumped up, overturning his chair, and instinctively feeling for
the pistol that was with his travelling things, upstairs in the
Residency.
The native reassured him with a swift, obsequious gesture. "Pardon,
sahib, and yours, sahiba, if I have alarmed you, but I am come on an
errand of haste, seeking him who is known as the Sahib David Amber."
"I am he. What do you want with me?"
"It is only this, that I have been commissioned to bear to you, sahib."
The man fumbled hurriedly in the folds of his surtout, darting quick
glances of apprehension round the garden. Amber looked him over as
closely as he could in the dim light, but found him wholly a
stranger--merely a low-caste Hindu, counterpart of a million others to
be encountered daily in the highways and bazaars of India. The
Virginian's rising hope that he might prove to be Labertouche failed
for want of encouragement; the intruder was of a stature the Englishman
could by no means have counterfeited.
"From whom come you?" he demanded in the vernacular.
"Nay, a name that is unspoken harms none, sahib." The native produced a
small, thin, flat package and thrust it into Amber's hands. "With
permission, I go, sahib; it were unwise to linger----"
"There is no answer?"
"None, sahib." The man salaamed and strode away, seeming to melt
soundlessly into the foliage.
For a minute Amber remained astare. The girl's voice alone roused him.
"I think you are a very interesting person, Mr. Amber," she said,
resuming her chair.
"Well!... _I_ begin to think this a most uncommonly interesting
country." He laughed uncertainly, turning the package over and over.
"Upon my word----! I haven't the least notion what this can be!"
"Why not bring it to the light, and find out?"
He assented meekly, having been perfectly candid in his assertion that
he had no suspicion of what the packet might contain, and a moment
later they stood beneath the window of the Residency, from which a
broad shaft of light streamed out like vaporised gold.
Amber held the packet to the light; it was oblong, thin, stiff, covered
with common paper, guiltless of superscription, and sealed with
mucilage. He tore the covering, withdrew the enclosure, and heard the
girl gasp with surprise. For himself, he was transfixed with
consternation. His look wavered in dismay between the girl and the
photograph in his hand--_her_ photograph, which had been stolen from
him aboard the _Poonah_.
She extended her hand imperiously. "Give that to me, please, Mr.
Amber," she insisted. He surrendered it without a word. "Mr. Amber!"
she cried in a voice that quivered with wonder and resentment.
He faced her with a hang-dog air, feeling that now indeed had his case
been made hopeless by this contretemps. "Confound Labertouche!" he
cried in his ungrateful heart. "Confound his meddling mystery-mongering
and hokus-pokus!"
"Well?" enquired the girl sharply.
"Yes, Miss Farrell." He could invent nothing else to say.
"You--you are going to explain, I presume."
He shook his head in despair. "No-o...."
"What!"
"I've no explanation whatever to make--that'd be adequate, I mean."
He saw that she was shaken by impatience. "I think," said she
evenly--"I think you will find it best to let me judge of that. This is
my photograph. How do you come to have it? What right have you to it?"
"I ... ah...." He stammered and paused, acutely conscious of the voices
of the Englishmen, Farrell, Raikes, and young Clarkson, drifting out
through the open window of the drawing-room. "If you'll be kind enough
to return to our chairs," he said, "I'll try to make a satisfactory
explanation. I'd rather not be overheard."
The girl doubted, was strongly inclined to refuse him; then, perhaps
moved to compassion by his abject attitude, she relented and agreed.
"Very well," she said, and retaining the picture moved swiftly before
him into the shadowed garden. He lagged after her, inventing a hundred
impracticable yarns. She found her chair and sat down with a manner of
hauteur moderated by expectancy. He took his place beside her.
"Who sent you this photograph of me?" she began to cross-examine him.
"A friend."
"His name?"
"I'm sorry I can't tell you just now."
"Oh!... Why did he send it?"
"Because...." In his desperation it occurred to him to tell the
truth--as much of it, at least, as his word to Rutton would permit.
"Because it's mine. My friend knew I had lost it."
"How could it have been yours? It was taken in London a year ago. I
sent copies only to personal friends who, I know, would not give them
away." She thought it over and added: "The Quains had no copy; it's
quite impossible that one should have got to America."
"None the less," he maintained stubbornly, "it's mine, and I got it in
America."
"I can hardly be expected to believe that."
"I'm sorry."
"You persist in saying that you got it in America?"
"I must."
"When?"
"After you left the Quains."
"How?" she propounded triumphantly.
"I can't tell you, except vaguely. If you'll be content with the
substance of the story, lacking details, for the present----"
"For the present? You mean you'll tell me the whole truth--?"
"Sometime, yes. But now, I may not.... A dear friend of mine owned the
photograph. He gave it me at my request. I came to India, and on the
steamer lost it; in spite of my offer of a reward, I was obliged to
leave the boat without it, when we got to Calcutta. My friend here knew
how highly I valued it----"
"Why?"
"Because I'd told him."
"I don't mean that. Why do you value it so highly?"
"Because of its original." He took heart of despair and plunged boldly.
She looked him over calmly. "Do you mean me to understand that you told
this friend you had followed me to India because you were in love with
me?"
"Precisely.... Thank you."
She laughed a little, mockingly. "Are you, Mr. Amber?"
"In love with you?... Yes."
"Oh!" She maintained her impartial and judicial attitude admirably.
"But even were I inclined to believe that, your whole story is
discredited by the simple fact that through no combination of
circumstances could this picture have come into your possession in
America."
"I give you my word of honor, Miss Farrell."
"I wish you wouldn't. If you are perfectly sincere in asserting that,
you force me to think you----"
"Mad? I'm not, really," he argued earnestly. "It's quite true."
"No." She shook her head positively. "You say you obtained it from a
man, which can't be so. There were only a dozen prints made; four I
gave to women friends in England and seven I sent to people out here.
The other one I have."
"I can only repeat what I have already told you. There are gaps in the
story, I know--incredible gaps; they can't be bridged, just now. I beg
you to believe me."
"And how soon will you be free to tell me the whole truth?"
"Only after ... we're married."
She laughed adorably. "Mr. Amber," she protested, "you are
dangerous--you are delightful! Do you really believe I shall ever marry
you?"
"I hope so. I came to India to ask you--to use every means in my power
to make you marry me. You see, I love you."
"And ... and when is this to happen, please--in the name of impudence?"
"As soon as I can persuade you--to-night, if you will."
"Oh!"
He was obliged to laugh with her at the absurdity of the suggestion.
"Or to-morrow morning, at the very latest," he amended seriously. "I
don't think we dare wait longer."
"Why is that?"
"Delays are perilous. There might be another chap."
"How can you be sure there isn't already?"
He fell sober enough at this. "But there isn't, is there, really?"
She delayed her reply provokingly. At length, "I don't see why I should
say," she observed, "but I don't mind telling you--no, there
isn't--yet." And as she spoke, Farrell called "Sophia?" from the window
of the drawing-room. She stood up, answering clearly with the assurance
that she was coming, and began deliberately to move toward the house.
Amber followed, deeply anxious. "I've not offended you?"
"No," she told him gravely, "but you have both puzzled and mystified
me. I shall have to sleep on this before I can make up my mind whether
or not to be offended."
"And ... will you marry me?"
"Oh, dear! How do I know?" she laughed.
"You won't give me a hint as to the complexion of my chances?"
She paused, turning. "The chances, Mr. Amber," she said without
affection or coquetry, "are all in your favour ... _if_ you can prove
your case. I do like you very much, and you have been successful in
rousing my interest in you to an astonishing degree.... But I shall
have to think it over; you must allow me at least twelve hours' grace."
"You'll let me know to-morrow morning?"
"Yes."
"Early?"
"You've already been bidden to breakfast by Mr. Raikes."
"Meanwhile, may I have my photograph?"
"Mine, if you please!... I think not; if my decision is favourable, you
shall have it back--after breakfast."
"Thank you," he said meekly. And as they were entering the Residency he
hung back. "I'm going now," he said; "it's good-night. Will you
remember you've not refused me the privilege of hoping?"
"I've told you I like you, Mr. Amber." Impulsively she extended her
hand. "Good-night."
He bowed and put his lips to it; and she did not resist.