The Sirdar's Oath Part 20

Indeed the station was in a state of siege, its European inhabitants spending each night within the fort, and the bearded, long-haired tribesmen, formerly conspicuous in the streets and bazaar, were now conspicuous by their absence. Meanwhile, reinforcements were anxiously awaited, and it looked as if they might be so for long, for a very large force was in the field further along the border, where, according to the reports that came in, fighting was abundant and brisk.

Tarleton was somewhat subdued since his return, and whereas Haslam was rather fond of expatiating upon their adventures, the Civil Surgeon was more inclined to shelve the subject when it was broached. It wasn't a thing to _bukh_ about, he declared, nor could he understand how that fellow Haslam could _bukh_ about nothing else. They had neither of them cut so great a figure in it for the matter of that, and he for his part didn't seem to care if he never heard it mentioned again. Inwardly he was relieved that so far no harm had come to Raynier through the disclosure wrung from him by Murad Afzul.

"Just fancy, dear," Mrs Tarleton exclaimed, when she had fussed over Hilda enough by way of welcome back. "Who do you think has arrived, just as poor Mr Raynier is away too? Isn't it sad?--and he not here to welcome her?"

"To welcome whom?" said Hilda, tranquilly.

"Why, his _fiancee_, of course."

"I didn't know he'd got one."

"No more did we, no more did any of us," rejoined Mrs Tarleton, glancing curiously at the girl, yet feeling intensely relieved at the nonchalance of her reply, for she too had noticed, in common with Haslam, how Raynier and her guest had been getting, as the Forest Officer put it, uncommonly thick together. "He was remarkably close on the subject, I must say."

"Well, he naturally would be. That trick of gus.h.i.+ng on the subject and running about showing the latest photograph and all that, is idiotic, and I can't imagine Mr Raynier being idiotic. Who is she?"

"A Miss Daintree. Rather a stylish-looking girl, handsome too. She's staying with the Croftons."

"Yes? Well, they'll have a happy reunion and live happy ever after."

Mrs Tarleton felt more relieved than ever. The light laughing badinage of the girl's tone could never have been a.s.sumed, she decided. There was nothing between them, then.

But Hilda Clive was putting two and two together. She remembered Raynier's absence of mind and unwonted depression the day they had set forth on their ride which had ended so tragically. This, then, was the news which had disconcerted him. The impending arrival of the girl to whom he was engaged gave him no pleasure--rather the reverse--and if so, why? The puzzle was no difficult one to piece together; indeed, to her perceptions, it const.i.tuted no puzzle at all.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

AT MAZARAN.

Cynthia Daintree had heard of Raynier's transfer immediately on landing, and had lost no time in proceeding to Mazaran, which move was facilitated by the fact that the friends with whom she had come out had relatives in the frontier station, to whom they duly pa.s.sed her on, and with whom she was now staying.

She had received Raynier's telegram at Aden. Her father had forwarded it, without comment, and although its burden caused her a little temporary annoyance it neither surprised nor disconcerted her, for of it she there and then resolved to take no notice at all. More than ever now she congratulated herself that the angry letter she had been on the point of sending him after he had left her so brutally--as she put it-- had remained unsent; more than ever did she rejoice that no further communication had pa.s.sed between them, and that therefore he could claim no formal release. What had pa.s.sed between them she would choose to regard as a mere tiff, which the magnanimity of her disposition moved her unconditionally to condone, and this she would give out if necessary. For the rest, she reckoned on his easy-going nature, which, by reason of his extraordinary forbearance as regarded herself, she had come to regard as weak, and despised accordingly. There was no other woman in the case, she was sure of that, otherwise he might have turned restive. As it was, she would have things all her own way, and he would yield unconditionally.

Another point in her favour was that she would take him more or less by surprise, for she had carefully arranged that the letter which we have seen him receive, should only reach him a few days before her own arrival. But when she arrived, only to learn that the border war had blazed forth in the very neighbourhood of Mazaran itself, and that the man she had come to find was missing, her wrath and chagrin knew no bounds. The first she was forced to conceal, the second she pa.s.sed off in concern and anxiety on behalf of her _fiance's_ peril. Attempts on all sides were made to rea.s.sure her. The missing official would have thrown himself on the protection of someone or other of the chiefs who had not joined in the _jihad_--Sarbaland Khan, for instance, who would certainly remain loyal--and to whose interest it would be to ensure the safety of so high a representative of the _Sirkar_. But if she allowed herself to be rea.s.sured on that point, there was a new and wholly unlooked-for aspect of the situation, which in her heart of hearts was fraught with possibilities. With the missing man was the Tarletons'

girl guest. Only to think how they would be thrown together, and that day after day, in their wanderings and possible dangers! What was the girl like? She set herself to find out.

It happened that the Tarletons had no portrait of Hilda Clive, but on the subject of the latter's attractions Cynthia was in a great measure rea.s.sured. When, apparently in pursuance of a natural interest in the missing girl, she inquired on the point, the answer was never more enthusiastic than "Oh, so-so," with a sort of covert implication that she was not in it with the inquirer herself. For Hilda had made no impression upon the male side of the station, to whom she conveyed an idea of coldness and reserve even when not, as Haslam put it, one of uncanniness. So Cynthia was rea.s.sured, and managed to get through time fairly contentedly; and while ever manifesting a becoming degree of anxiety on behalf of her _fiance_--as she gave him out to be--on the whole the station regarded her as a decided acquisition. And then Hilda Clive had reappeared, alone.

Among the first to visit her was naturally Cynthia, and the consequent rea.s.surance as to Raynier's temporary safety hardly rejoiced her so much as the first glance at his fellow refugee. Why, the girl was downright plain--if not hideous, she decided. She had green eyes, to begin with; large and well-lashed certainly, but--green; green and uncanny, like a cat's. Then, she was white and haggard looking. As for her dress, Cynthia could not judge, for Hilda had only agreed to see her under protest and had appeared in a tea-gown; for she was suffering from la.s.situde and nervous reaction, following upon physical hards.h.i.+p and the immense mental strain she had undergone. Small wonder indeed if she were not looking her best. Wherefore, Cynthia decided that here was no possibility of rivalry, and having so decided she set to work to make the best of the situation.

Mazaran was practically in a state of siege, yet a matter of twenty-four hours sufficed to accustom its social side to that state of things; and, if it was unsafe to venture beyond the lines, the social side aforesaid took care to amuse itself to the best of its ability within them. And here Cynthia Daintree was in great request. She was a novelty, she was stylish and well dressed, and well looking. She kept up a certain modic.u.m of carefully regulated concern for her missing fiance, but she allowed herself to be drawn, albeit under protest into all that went on.

The general consensus of opinion was--especially among the garrison-- that the missing Raynier was a deuced lucky fellow, but why the mischief had he kept his engagement so dark?

Not quite all, however, were so minded. Haslam, the Forest Officer, for instance, was not so sure on the point; possibly, because Cynthia had not thought it worth while laying herself out to captivate him, possibly not. Anyway, he remarked at the Tarletons' one day,--

"I wonder if Raynier will weep for joy when he gets back or not?"

"Why, what do you mean, Mr Haslam?" said his hostess.

"Nothing. Only that I shouldn't like to be in his shoes."

"Sour grapes, Mr Haslam," laughed Mrs Tarleton, not meaning it, for she happened to be one of those who did not take the new arrival at her own valuation.

Haslam chuckled.

"That's just it. You've hit it, Mrs Tarleton. There will be found a good deal of acidity about that particular bunch, and that's why I don't envy Raynier."

"Well, you can't expect anyone to be perfect, can you?" struck in Tarleton, inconsequently oppositious as usual.

"Never said I could," answered Haslam, lighting another cheroot. "What do you think about her, Miss Clive?"

"How can I give an opinion on a 'brother woman,' Mr Haslam, especially to a man?" laughed Hilda. "If I don't say she's perfect, you'll go away and tell everybody I'm jealous. If I do you won't believe me."

"Hallo. That's rather good," said the Forest Officer, who liked Hilda Clive, and resented the fact of the other coming there to cut her out, as he persisted on looking at it. "But, I say. Talking of--er--who we were talking about--it's my belief she's hedging."

"What the doose do you mean by that Haslam?" said Tarleton. The other cackled.

"Why, she's making running up there in the garrison. Supposing Raynier never came back, poor chap--eh? Or supposing he was hauled over the coals for not foreseeing this _tumasha_, as it's not impossible he may be, and sent back to some beastly Plains station--what then? Young Beecher for instance--they say he has no end of expectations. Eh? They do a good deal together."

"Now, really, Mr Haslam, you are a regular scandalmonger," laughed Mrs Tarleton, who was thoroughly enjoying the Forest Officer's strictures.

"I'm sure Miss Daintree is a very nice, sweet, affectionate girl, and Mr Raynier is to be congratulated."

"Affectionate dev--h'm, h'm. She's got a cold eye."

"A what?"

"A cold eye. Look at it next time. It's the eye of a fish--a shark for choice."

"Well, you couldn't expect her to have a warm one, could you?" drowsed Tarleton, who was half asleep. Whereat they all roared.

Now in all of this there was more than a little, for, apart from her natural inclination to have as good a time as possible, here amid entirely new conditions of life, and forming as they did a marked contrast to those of a country vicarage, Cynthia had kept her ears open as well as her eyes. Even station _gup_ had not as yet linked Raynier's name with that of Hilda Clive. But it had speculated as to the view that would be taken at headquarters of the Political Agent allowing himself to be lulled into a state of absolute blindness on the subject of the ill-affectedness of the Gularzai; the most important and powerful tribe within his jurisdiction. All of which Cynthia had not been slow to take in; and Captain Beecher, who was always on hand with his dogcart, or a very sleek and serviceable Waler--of which she was secretly afraid--if she preferred riding, was very devoted, and substantially sound, and Cynthia was verging on thirty. And a live and frisky dog was very much better than a dead and reduced lion, and Haslam was an abominable cynic who knew his India, and the dominant population thereof, thoroughly.

Hilda Clive, watching this state of things, said nothing, only thought.

So completely did she say nothing in fact, that the station decided that in view of the circ.u.mstances of the case, she was singularly lacking in appreciation, not to say grat.i.tude. She and Raynier had been together through the winnowing of a common danger. She had come out of it safe and sound, he had not. Yet she seemed to give him no further thought.

Did she not?

"All are forgetting him," she said to herself, in the bitterness of her intense self-concentration. "All are forgetting him--even decrying him, and there are those hungrily ready to step into his shoes. All the more reason to show him that here is one who is not."

She thanked Heaven she was well off; indeed, for a single woman, almost rich. Nothing can be done in this world without filthy lucre. She had been endowed with this if not with the art of drawing men round her like flies around a jar of stale marmalade. Money can buy anything within certain limits, even life. Yet how many there would have expended say one thousand rupees to purchase that of Herbert Raynier's?

But she? She shut herself up in her own room a good deal just then, shut herself up with business papers--which, by the way, she thoroughly understood. And running through all her calculations and correspondence were certainly recollections of a time spent in a free _al fresco_ life; and subsequently, in an _al fresco_ life which was anything but free, and hedged round with hards.h.i.+p at every turn, and somehow it seemed that that time was not the least enjoyable period of her existence. Then she would push away all the business matter in front of her, and pa.s.s her hands over her brows, and if anyone had broken in upon her at that time it would have been to see upon Hilda Clive's face a look that rendered it wondrously soft and lovable and attractive.

But through it all there mingled a puzzled and half-distressed state of mind. Her strange powers of foresight seemed to hover around, and yet refuse to be called into definite action. There was something to be done, they told her, and she was the one to do it; yet what, and how?

Ah, now it was clear. Money would purchase anything--even life.

The first thing she had done on her return to Mazaran was to present Mehrab Khan with such a substantial sum in rupees as to cause that faithful Mussulman to stare. Then she had set to work to obtain for him a sort of indefinite furlough, so that he could attach himself wholly and entirely to her service, which he was by no means loth to do. It had not been difficult, because, as it happened, his term of enlistment had all but expired, and Mehrab Khan was far too valuable a jemadar of Levy Sowars to part with at that juncture; wherefore, through Haslam, who, as we have seen, stood her friend, and others, she contrived that the authorities should allow her the use of him _pro tem_. To what she would turn that use we shall see anon.