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Shere Ali spoke again to his courtier, and the courtier stepped forward more bland than ever. "His Highness would like to know if his Excellency is still talking, and if so, why?" he said to the Pathan, who translated it. Linforth gave up the attempt to renew his friendship with Shere Ali. He must go back to Peshawur and tell Ralston that he had failed.
On the steps of the vats natives, wrapped to the eyes in cloths to save themselves from burns, stood emptying the caldrons of boiling ghee. And on every side Linforth heard the name of Shere Ali spoken in praise. "What does it mean?" he asked of his guide, and the Pathan replied: "His Highness the Prince has made an offering.
You will soon get wind of him, and when you do you must never let him shake you off." "Very well," said Linforth, listlessly. "When do I start?" Ralston plunged into the details of the expedition and told him the number of men he was to take with him. "You had better go first into Chinese Turkestan," he said. "There are a number of Hindu merchants settled there we will give you letters to them.
That had been Shere Ali's last question when he had parted from her upon the steps of the courtyard of the Fort. Linforth remembered it now as he looked into Shere Ali's face. "Here is a man who hates me," he said to himself. And thus, for the first time since they had dined together in the mess-room at Chatham, the two friends met.
The sullenness had gone. Now he besought. His English training came to his aid. He had learned reverence for women, acquiring it gradually and almost unconsciously rather than from any direct teaching. He had spent one summer's holidays with Mrs. Linforth for his hostess in the house under the Sussex Downs, and from her and from Dick's manner towards her he had begun to acquire it.
To attend the first productions of plays, to sit in the restaurants, to hear her jewels remarked upon her life had narrowed sleekly down to that, and she was content. But there had been other possibilities for Violet Oliver. Linforth walked back from the theatre to his club. He looked into a room and saw an old gentleman dozing alone amongst his newspapers.
You are mountain-climbing, I suppose. Phyllis," and he turned to the younger of the two ladies, "this is Mr. Linforth of the Royal Engineers. My daughter, Linforth!" He introduced the second lady. "Mrs. Oliver," he said, and Linforth turning, saw that the eyes of Mrs. Oliver were already fixed upon him. He returned the look, and his eyes frankly showed her that he thought her beautiful.
It was so interesting that nobody gave a thought to the time, or remembered the ominous clouds that had been stretching themselves out like long ribbons over the moor. "Why, where's the view gone to?" cried Monica at last. "I thought we could see Linforth and the lake from here, and the tower of Haversleigh Church." She might well exclaim in astonishment.
A bright colour graced her cheeks, where, when she laughed, the dimples played, and the white dress she wore was matched by the whiteness of her throat. She was talking gaily with the youth on whose arm her hand lightly rested. "Who is he?" asked Mrs. Linforth. Sir John raised his shoulders. "I am not concerned," he replied.
"But I counted without the Indian Government. They brought you out to India, at my special request, for a special purpose, and then, when they had got you, they turned you over to work which anyone else could have done. So six months have been wasted. But that's their little way." "You have special work for me?" said Linforth quietly enough, though his heart was beating quickly in his breast.
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