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Lance and Vincent, having cantered on ahead, called in for Miss Hammond and left word at Sir Lakshman's house that Arúna had met with a slight accident; and would he and her brother come out to the Residency after dinner? Before the meal was over, they arrived.
Thea saw how, on his approach, all her studied composure fell away; and both, when they joined her, looked so happy, yet so plainly discomposed, that Thea felt ridiculously at a loss for just the right word with which to effect a casual retreat. Responsibility for Sir Lakshman's grand-daughter was no light matter: at least she had done well in warning Roy. These emerging Indian girls...!
As out-of-caste, she had been exempt from kitchen work; debarred from touching any food except the portion set aside for her meals, that were eaten apart in Sir Lakshman's room her haven of refuge.
Roy vividly described his sensations, riding through the City; the culminating incident, and his recognition of the offender. "The queerest thing, running into the beggar again like that! He looks as sulky and shifty as ever. That's how I knew." "Sulky and shifty and wearing English clothes?" Sir Lakshman's brows contracted sharply. "What name did you say?" "Chandranath, we called him."
Having shed the Eastern protection of purdah, she must accept the Western protection of escort. And straightway there sprang an inspiration: he would wear his Indian dress, ready and waiting in every detail, at Sir Lakshman's house.
But what appeal is possible to those who stop their ears? And all the time, by stealthy and open means, the poison of race-hatred is being poured into India's veins " "But, Grandfather what about the War and pulling together and all that?" Sir Lakshman's smile struck Roy as one of the saddest he had ever seen. "Four years ago, my dear Boy, we all had many radiant illusions.
Then with a long sigh, he leaned back again. But Arúna's dream was shattered by sensations too startingly real to be ignored.... Once, driving back, as they passed under an electric globe, she caught his eyes on her face, and they exchanged a smile. Did he know ? Did he ever feel like that? Near Sir Lakshman's house they stopped again and Roy leaned towards her.
It was distinctly one of Roy's great moments when, at last, they four stood together in Sir Lakshman's room: the old man, outwardly impassive as became a Rajput profoundly moved in the deep places of his heart; Arúna, in Oxford gown and sari, radiant one moment; the next in spite of stoic resolves crying softly in Dyán's arms. And Roy understood only too well.
The young simplicity of the question lit a smile in Sir Lakshman's eyes. "Quite possible. All that is most beautiful in life, most real to saints and lovers, must seem delusion to those whose hearts and spirits are merely vassals to the body and the brain. But those who say of the soul, 'It is not, have still to prove it is not to those who have felt and known. Also I grant the other way about.
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