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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Road to Mandalay, by B. M. Croker
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Road to Mandalay
+       A Tale of Burma
+
+
+Author: B. M. Croker
+
+
+
+Release Date: April 23, 2006  [eBook #18239]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROAD TO MANDALAY***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
+
+
+THE ROAD TO MANDALAY
+
+A Tale of Burma
+
+by
+
+B. M. Croker
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Cassell and Company, Ltd
+London, New York, Toronto & Melbourne
+First published October 1917.
+Reprinted December 1917, March and May 1918
+Popular Edition 1919.
+
+
+
+
+
+TO
+
+LT.-COLONEL A. E. CONGDON
+
+LATE ROYAL MUNSTER FUSILIERS
+
+FROM HIS OLD FRIEND
+
+THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+   1.  BLINDS DOWN
+   2.  WHAT HANNAH SAID
+   3.  THE CLOSED HOUSE
+   4.  KICKS AND HALFPENCE
+   5.  CLOUDS
+   6.  AN EMPTY OFFER
+   7.  "THE MONSTER"
+   8.  BOUND FOR BURMA
+   9.  THE "BLANKSHIRE"
+  10.  THE LAND OF PROMISE
+  11.  A BURMESE HOSTESS
+  12.  EAST AND WEST
+  13.  "KEEP AN EYE UPON HER"
+  14.  THE MANTLE OF FERNANDA
+  15.  THE CHUMMERY
+  16.  MR. AND MRS. ABELSALTER
+  17.  AT THE PLAY
+  18.  THE CHINESE SHOP
+  19.  CHAFF
+  20.  THE PONGYE
+  21.  THE COCAINE DEN
+  22.  THE APPROACHING DREAD
+  23.  MYSTERY AND SUSPICION
+  24.  SENTENCE OF DEATH
+  25.  THE LATE RICHARD ROSCOE
+  26.  FITZGERALD IMPARTS INFORMATION
+  27.  A ROPE TRICK
+  28.  MA CHIT
+  29.  MUNG BAW
+  30.  ENLIGHTENMENT
+  31.  SEEING IS BELIEVING
+  32.  ON DUTY
+  33.  SOPHY
+  34.  ALL IS OVER
+  35.  MUNG BAW LIES LOW
+  36.  THE BOMBSHELL
+  37.  THE TUG OF WAR
+  38.  SERGEANT-MAJOR RYAN
+
+
+
+
+THE ROAD TO MANDALAY
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BLINDS DOWN
+
+"What do you think, Mitty?  All the blinds are down at 'Littlecote,'"
+announced Miss Jane Tebbs, bursting open the drawing-room door and
+disturbing her sister in a surreptitious game of patience.  In
+well-ordered households the mistress is understood to have various
+domestic tasks claiming her attention in the morning.  Cards should
+never appear until after sunset.
+
+"Blinds down?" echoed Miss Tebbs, hastily moving a newspaper in the
+hope of concealing her ill-doing.  "Why are you in such a taking, Jane?
+I suppose the family are away."
+
+"Rubbish!" exclaimed her relative, sinking into a chair and dragging
+off her gloves.  "Did you ever know them all away together?  Of course,
+Mrs. Shafto goes gadding, and Douglas is at Sandhurst, but 'he' seldom
+stirs.  It is my opinion that something has happened.  The Shaftos have
+lived at 'Littlecote' for ten years, and I have never seen the blinds
+down before to-day."
+
+"Oh, you are so fussy and ready to imagine things!" grumbled Mitty, who
+meanwhile had collected and pocketed the cards with surpassing
+dexterity.  "I don't forget the time when the curate had a smart lady
+in his lodgings, and you nearly went out of your mind: rampaging up and
+down the village, and telling everyone that the bishop must be
+informed; and after all your outcry she turned out to be the young
+man's mother!"
+
+"That's true.  I confess I was misled; but she made herself up to look
+like a girl of twenty.  You can't deny that she powdered her nose and
+wore white shoes.  But this is different.  Drawn blinds are a sign of
+trouble, and there is trouble at 'Littlecote,' as sure as my name is
+Jane."
+
+"Then, in that case, why don't you go up to the house and
+inquire?"--The query suggested a challenge.
+
+"_Mitty_!  You know perfectly well that I have never been inside the
+door since Mrs. Shafto was so rude to me about the book club, when I
+wrote and protested against the 'loose' novels she put upon her list.
+Why, you saw her letter yourself!"
+
+Here a pause ensued, during which Miss Jane blew into every separate
+finger of her gloves and folded them up with the neatest exactitude.
+Presently she murmured with a meditative air:
+
+"I was thinking of asking Eliza to run over."
+
+"Oh, you may ask!" rejoined her sister, with a sniff of scorn, "but
+Eliza won't stir.  There's a beefsteak pudding for dinner.  And that
+reminds me that this is the egg woman's day, and I must see if she has
+called.  I shall want three dozen."
+
+And without another word the elder Miss Tebbs bustled out of the room
+and abandoned her relative to solitude and speculation.
+
+Matilda and Jane Tebbs were the elderly orphans of a late vicar, and
+still considered the parish and community of Tadpool their special
+charge.  Miss Jane was organist and Sunday school superintendent; Miss
+Tebbs held mothers' meetings and controlled the maternity basket and
+funds.  Subsequent to their retirement from the vicarage the sisters
+had known straitened circumstances; in fact, had experienced the sharp
+nip of real poverty; but, no matter how painful their necessities, they
+contrived to keep up appearances and never withdrew from society, nor
+suffered their little circle to forget that their grandfather had been
+an archdeacon.  In spite of anxious times and scanty funds, they clung
+with loyal tenacity to certain family relics, in the shape of old
+silver, china and prints, many of which were highly marketable.
+
+In those evil days it was whispered that "the Tebbs had only one best
+dress between them"--a certain rich black silk.  As Miss Jane was at
+least six inches taller than dumpy Miss Mitty, difficulties of length
+were cunningly surmounted by an adjustable flounce.  Needless to add
+that on festive occasions, such as high teas, little dinners, and card
+parties, the sisters never appeared together, the one "out of turn"
+invariably excusing herself with toothache or a heavy cold.  Although
+they argued and bickered in private, and had opposing tastes in the
+matter of boiling eggs and drawing tea, the Tebbs were a deeply
+attached pair and presented an unbroken front to the outer world.
+
+After several years of brave struggle, during which the wolf of want
+prowled hungrily round Highfield Cottage, a substantial and unexpected
+fortune, fell to the Tebbs, restored them to comfortable
+independence--and to the notice of such far-sighted parents as happened
+to be in quest of useful and benevolent godmothers.  The sisters made
+but little change in their style of living; they now owned handsome
+furs, a separate wardrobe, and not a few rich silks; they still
+continued to occupy the cottage, and retained in their service a
+certain tyrannical treasure, widely known and feared as "the Tebbs's
+Eliza."  Although an admirable and trustworthy servant, Eliza ruled the
+household, permitted no late hours, no breakfasts in bed, no
+unnecessary fires, no unnecessary guests.  Her mistresses were obliged
+to do a considerable amount of household work; for instance, they made
+their beds and Miss Tebbs dusted the china; she also had the charge of
+the linen and store-room; whilst Miss Jane was responsible for the
+silver, the lamps, and, on Eliza's day out, "the door."
+
+When the door was answered by Eliza in person, her manner was so fierce
+and intimidating that nervous callers complained that the Tebbs' maid
+looked as if she was ready to fly at, and bite them!  Ill-natured
+tongues declared that the tyrant was tolerated merely because she was a
+channel for the most far-reaching, fresh and sensational gossip.  But
+let us hope that this was a malignant libel!
+
+Highfield Cottage was old, two-storied and solid; elsewhere than
+Tadpool it might have ventured to pose as a villa residence, but
+Tadpool, a fine, sixteenth century, self-respecting and historical
+village, tolerated no villas.  If such abodes ventured to arise, they
+sprouted timidly in the fields beyond its boundaries.  Moreover, the
+age and history of Highfield Cottage were too widely known for any
+change of name.  The cottage was connected with the high road by a prim
+little garden and a red-tiled footpath; eight long narrow windows
+commanded a satisfactory outlook--including Littlecote Hall--a square
+white mansion withdrawn in dignified retirement behind elms and
+beeches, in age the contemporary of its humbler _vis-à-vis_.
+
+Here resided Edward Shafto, late Fellow of St. John's, Oxford, his wife
+Lucilla, and his son Douglas.  Ten years previously the family had
+descended on Tadpool as from the skies--or as a heavy stone cast into
+some quiet mill pond.  No one in the neighbourhood could discover
+anything about them--although Jane Tebbs's exertions in the matter were
+admittedly prodigious and unwearied.  The house agent proved
+disappointingly vague, and could only inform her that a gentleman who
+happened to hear of the place had come down from London, inspected the
+house, liked its lofty, spacious rooms with their old mahogany doors
+(it recalled his home), was much taken with the gardens--and promptly
+signed the lease!  Certainly it was an audacious step to invade a
+strange neighbourhood without a social sponsor or reference.  However,
+the community breathed more freely when they beheld the new tenant of
+"Littlecote," a middle-aged, distinguished-looking individual; and Miss
+Jane discovered, or pretended to discover, that he was one of the
+Shaftos of Shafton Court.
+
+Mrs. Shafto (who looked surprisingly young to be the mother of a tall
+lad of ten) had a pretty figure, quantities of lightish red hair, an
+animated manner, and a pair of hard blue eyes.  She was fashionably
+turned out, and her hat of a remarkable shape was discussed in the
+village for weeks.
+
+The arrival of furniture vans, horses, carriages and a number of
+servants, afforded unqualified interest to the Misses Tebbs; and
+moreover advertised the fact that the new-comers were well-to-do; and
+after allowing a reasonable time for the strangers to settle down, the
+neighbours called.
+
+By and by these calls were returned by Mrs. Shafto in a smart victoria
+and a still smarter costume; her husband was merely represented by a
+neatly printed card, which bore the name of "Mr. Edward Shafto,
+Athenaeum Club."  Mr. Edward Shafto was rarely to be met beyond his
+grounds and garden, unless driving through the village to Bricklands
+railway station, en route for London.  He did not sit on the Bench, nor
+was he a churchwarden, the usual grounds of meeting.  When encountered
+he was invariably agreeable and had charming easy manners, but not much
+to say for himself, and his acquaintance, like the farmers and the
+claret, got "no forrarder."  Gradually the painful truth was accepted
+that Shafto did not care to know people.  He never dined out, he did
+not shoot or hunt, but it was mysteriously whispered that "he wrote."
+What, no one precisely knew, but one fact was common property: he was
+fond of horticulture and the once famous gardens of "Littlecote" had
+been delightfully restored.
+
+If Tadpool was held at arm's length by Edward Shafto, the community had
+no difficulty in making acquaintance with his consort, a pretty
+vivacious lady who accepted all invitations, and herself gave tennis
+parties, bridge parties, luncheons and teas.  For some time the
+neighbourhood was disposed to like her, although perhaps she was not
+quite "off the top shelf," a little too demonstrative, loud and
+unreserved; then by degrees Mrs. Shafto fell into disfavour; quiet folk
+were afraid of her, she enjoyed repeating ill-natured remarks, was
+capricious in her likes and dislikes, made a good deal of mischief, and
+separated chief friends.
+
+The lady was not disposed to be reticent respecting her family affairs;
+there was something satisfactory in this!  People learned that her
+husband was really a Shafto of Shafton, and also that his elder
+brother, who actually reigned in the family place, was "a brute."  She
+volubly explained that they had deserted the Border and moved south,
+partly because "the pater" wished to be within easy reach of London,
+his Club and musty old libraries, and also because it was more
+convenient for Douglas, who was at Winchester.
+
+Then gradually it came to pass that the village bored the new-comer;
+bored her to death.  She became restless and quarrelsome, had a
+coolness with the vicarage regarding a pew, with Mrs. Tremenheere at
+the Park about a housemaid, and actually cut Mrs. General Finch "dead"
+in the village post office, owing to a mislaid visiting-card.  At the
+end of three years Lucilla Shafto had embroiled herself with almost
+everyone in her immediate vicinity, and found her true level and most
+congenial companions in the busy bustling town of Bricklands, a rapidly
+growing and prosperous mushroom place, situated thirty miles south of
+London, and within two miles of our ancient and respectable hamlet.
+Here she belonged to several clubs, bridge, tennis and croquet; enjoyed
+being a Triton among minnows; entertained a third-rate set at
+"Littlecote," and joined gay little theatre parties to London to "do a
+play," and return home by the last train.
+
+Housekeeping sat but lightly on Mrs. Shafto's graceful shoulders, for
+the Shaftos also possessed a family treasure named Hannah, an elderly
+woman, who had been in service with "the family" and now managed the
+house, and looked after the comforts and buttons of her master and his
+boy.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Shafto went their separate ways, and were rarely to be
+seen in one another's company.  The lady assured her friends that her
+husband's health was indifferent, and that he did not care for society;
+for her part she liked amusement, excitement, life; whilst he preferred
+to read, write, overlook his garden, and occasionally run up to London.
+She did not trouble herself much about her son--a handsome active boy,
+resembling his father in looks.  Between these there undoubtedly
+existed a deep affection.  During the holidays they were frequently to
+be met walking or riding together, and Shafto _pére_ would so far
+emerge from his retirement as to be a proud spectator at cricket
+matches in Tremenheere Park and elsewhere.  Douglas and two of the
+Tremenheere boys were schoolmates, and he was in continual request at
+their home.  Unfortunately these visits were displeasing to Mrs.
+Shafto, as was also his intimacy with the young people at the vicarage;
+and poor Douglas had an awkward part to play.  He could not avoid or
+drop his friends; yet, on the other hand, there were painful
+difficulties with his mother, who declared that he was a mean fellow to
+run after people who had _insulted_ her, and one day, when in a
+towering passion, she had been overheard to scream "that he was a thorn
+in her side, and a true Shafto!"
+
+But all this time Miss Jane Tebbs remains stationed at the drawing-room
+window, watching the road with unwinking vigilance.  For a long while
+she beheld no object of special interest, but at last, after seeing the
+grocer's cart, a travelling tinker, two cows and a boy go by, her
+patience was handsomely rewarded.  To her delight, she descried Mrs.
+Billing, the doctor's wife, emerge from "Littlecote" and, hammering on
+the window to attract notice, she flew down to open the hall door.
+
+Mrs. Billing, a stout, middle-aged lady, looked unusually hot and
+flustered as she waddled through the little green gate and entered the
+cottage.
+
+"Why, my dear, you seem quite upset!" cried Jane, as she welcomed the
+visitor, "come into the dining-room, and have a glass of milk."
+
+But Mrs. Billing dismissing the proffered refreshment with a dramatic
+wave of her hand, subsided upon the only chair in the narrow hall and
+gasped out:
+
+"I have just come from 'Littlecote.'  Mr. Shafto is gone--he died last
+night!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+WHAT HANNAH SAID
+
+On hearing this announcement, Jane Tebbs gave a little lurch and leant
+against the wall in speechless horror; and yet in her heart she had
+been more than half expecting--we will not say hoping for--some
+tragedy.  Then she made a rush to the store-room, where Miss Mitty,
+invested in a large blue apron, was methodically marking eggs.
+
+"Sister, sister, come out!" she cried.  "Mrs. Billing is here; she says
+Mr. Shafto is dead; I told you that something had happened!"
+
+"Dead!" repeated Mitty, staring blankly at her relative.  Then she cast
+aside her apron and hurried into the hall.  "Let us all go into the
+dining-room," she continued, leading the way.  "What a shocking thing,
+Mrs. Billing!"--turning to her visitor.  "Do tell us the particulars.
+I can hardly believe it!  Why, I saw Mr. Shafto in Bricklands on
+Tuesday, and he looked as well as he ever did in his life."
+
+"That was the day he heard the news," announced Mrs. Billing, selecting
+an arm-chair and casting off her feather boa.
+
+"Bad news?" suggested Miss Jane.
+
+"Very bad indeed--could not be worse.  He heard he'd lost every penny
+he possessed in the wide world."
+
+"Great patience!" ejaculated Miss Tebbs; "you don't say so; but how?"
+
+"Well, you know he was always comfortably off; indeed, one might say
+rich."
+
+"That's true!  They keep five maids indoors, and a charwoman three
+times a week, two men and a boy in the garden, and two men in the
+stables," glibly enumerated Miss Jane.  "All that is not done on small
+means, and I happen to know that Mr. Shafto himself paid everything
+monthly--which is more than we can say for his wife; even her bridge
+losses"; here she halted on the brink of scandal.
+
+After hesitating for a second, Mrs. Billing continued:
+
+"Well, it appears, from what my husband can gather, that Mr. Shafto
+trusted all his money and investments to a man who had managed his
+affairs for years, and in whom he had the most absolute confidence; he
+just drew his income regularly, lived his quiet life, and never
+troubled his head about business.  It seems that for a considerable
+time this agent had been speculating with his clients' capital, and
+paying them the interest to the day.  He staved off the reckoning by
+every possible device, and when he could no longer hide his wickedness,
+when liabilities poured in, and proceedings were instituted, he shot
+himself!  Not much comfort in that for the families he has beggared.  I
+believe he had a splendid establishment at Hampstead; greenhouses,
+pictures, motor-cars, and entertained like a prince.  He squandered the
+handsome fortune that was left to Mr. Shafto, and all that Mr. Shafto
+could be sure of, about a hundred and fifty pounds a year, belongs to
+Douglas."
+
+"Oh, my dear, never mind the money, but do tell us about poor Mr.
+Shafto," urged Jane.  "What was the cause of his death?  Suicide?  This
+morning I thought I heard a shot!"
+
+"No, no, no--heart failure," hastily interposed Mrs. Billing.  "He was
+always troubled with a rickety heart, and on several occasions my
+husband attended him for rather dangerous fainting attacks; no doubt
+that was partly the reason why he lived so quietly, just taken up with
+his books, his garden, and, when he was at home, his boy.  It appears
+that when Mr. Shafto heard of the smash, he went straight up to London,
+interviewed a lawyer, and learnt the worst.  He returned in the
+afternoon, very tired and excited, broke the news to his wife, and had
+a serious fainting attack.  My husband was sent for, but he found Mr.
+Shafto sinking.  He died at midnight.  He himself had wired for
+Douglas, who arrived just in time for the end.  Poor boy!  He feels it
+terribly."
+
+"Yes," assented Miss Mitty, "Douglas and his father were such friends.
+The loss of money will make a sad difference to him.  There will be no
+going into the Army now, no more hunting and cricket; he will have to
+take a clerkship.  Did you see him?"
+
+"Yes.  He and my Freddy are great pals, so I know him pretty well.  I
+declare he gave me a shock, he looked utterly heart-broken; and he
+said: 'It is so sudden, so frightfully sudden--about the pater; the
+money may come back somehow or other, but he is gone for ever; I'll
+never see him again.  If he had only known me--or spoken to me!'  And
+then he just laid his head upon his arms and sobbed like a girl."
+
+"And Mrs. Shafto, how does _she_ bear this double loss?" inquired Miss
+Jane magisterially.
+
+"She had one fit of screaming hysterics after another.  If you ask
+_me_, I believe it's the money that touches her most keenly; my husband
+begged me to go up this morning, and see if I could do anything.  She
+has no intimate friends here, and I have sent to Mrs. Boomer and Mrs.
+Jake; they will be over from Bricklands immediately.  The doctor has
+given a certificate, and has undertaken to see about the funeral, and
+sent the notice to the _Times_ and _Morning Post_.  From what old
+Hannah told me, it seems that Mr. Shafto and his family were not on
+terms; I believe the quarrel had something to do"--she paused and
+glanced from one to the other of her eager listeners--"with Mrs.
+Shafto, and I am not surprised.  They did not approve of the
+marriage--it was a mistake."
+
+"I'm afraid it was," agreed Miss Mitty briskly; "they never appeared a
+well-matched couple; he, so reserved and aristocratic, and she such a
+gabbling, fluffy, restless creature--crazy about bridge and dress.  I
+wonder who she was?"
+
+"I can tell you that!" was Mrs. Billing's unexpected reply.  "Mr.
+Shafto was a Fellow of his College at Oxford, wealthy and
+distinguished--he had taken no end of honours.  He was hooked--there is
+no other word for it--by the niece of a local book-seller!  He was an
+important customer, and the girl always contrived to be there, when he
+came in and out, and was so sympathetic, and bright and lively, as well
+as being uncommonly pretty, that the poor man lost his head and, with
+very little pressure from the uncle, married her.  It was all scrambled
+up in a hurry, before his friends could turn round, or interfere.  Of
+course he had to resign his fellowship and his beautiful rooms
+overlooking the garden, and he took his bride abroad.  His relations
+dropped him and he dropped his Oxford friends; then he went and settled
+in the north.  He must have lived there for years; his next move was
+here."
+
+"And have you always known this?" demanded Miss Mitty, her countenance
+expressing injury and jealousy.  Fancy Mrs. Billing knowing this story
+all that time and keeping it to herself; how sly!
+
+"Oh, only lately," replied the visitor in an apologetic key; "an old
+aunt of mine lives in Oxford, and I met her in town last Easter.
+Somehow the name of Shafto cropped up, and I heard the whole tale.  I
+told my husband and he said I'd better hold my tongue, and so I have,
+until now, when it's of no consequence who knows--as of course
+'Littlecote' must be given up, and the Shaftos will go away."
+
+"Well, we have often wondered who she was? and how Shafto--who looked
+like a duke--came to marry her," said Miss Tebbs; "such an odd,
+flighty, uncertain sort of creature, always for strangers, instead of
+her home.  That poor boy never saw much of his mother; I believe he was
+hustled off to a preparatory school when he was about seven, and when
+he happened to be here for his holidays it was his father who took him
+about.  I am very sorry for Douglas, a handsome, cheery, nice fellow,"
+she continued, "always with a pleasant word, even for an old woman like
+me.  The rectory lads and the Tremenheeres just love him!"
+
+"Luckily there are no girls at the rectory," remarked Miss Mitty.
+
+"Douglas is but nineteen, and really only a boy," protested Mrs.
+Billing.
+
+"Well, this affair will make a man of him, or I'm greatly mistaken."
+
+"More likely it will make him a slave," argued Jane; "he is bound to
+support his mother, and a hundred and fifty pounds a year won't go far
+with her!  And now I dare say she will have her wish and be able to
+live in London.  I suppose there will be an auction at 'Littlecote'?"
+
+"Yes, of course," assented Mrs. Billing, "and that is sure to bring in
+a handsome sum--unless there are liabilities and debts.  I've always
+admired that Crown Derby tea service--dark blue and gold."
+
+"I know," rejoined Miss Tebbs, "a beautiful long set, and there's a
+nice little old Sheffield tea urn that we could do with!  I expect the
+kitchen things will go pretty cheap; we want a new preserving pan."
+
+"Talking of the kitchen, reminds me of food," remarked the visitor
+rising.  "My husband will be back clamouring for his lunch and I must
+run," and in spite of her size, Mrs. Billing was out of the house in
+less than no time, pursued by a volley of questions to the very gate.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+During that afternoon there was an unusual amount of visiting and
+talking; the recent event had stirred the village to its depths, but
+beyond the facts disclosed by Mrs. Billing everything was surmise and
+regret; the personality of the late Edward Shafto, though slightly
+known, was much respected.  "He was a gentleman"--the statement implied
+a left-handed compliment to his wife--"and his purse was ever open to
+the poor; it was said that he was a secret benefactor to various aged
+people, and to the local charities."
+
+As the Misses Tebbs sat at supper the following night--a frugal meal of
+cocoa and bread and butter--Eliza tramped in, still wearing her hat; it
+had been her afternoon out.  She seemed to be a little breathless, and
+was undoubtedly charged with some weighty intelligence.
+
+"Well, Eliza, what is it?" eagerly inquired Miss Tebbs.
+
+"I just thought I'd step over to 'Littlecote' this evening, and see
+Hannah."  Oh, priceless handmaiden!
+
+"Yes--and what did she tell you?"
+
+Eliza placed her hands on her hips--invariable preliminary to an
+important announcement.  "She took me to see the corpse; he looked
+beautiful, just like a marble statue; and there in front of the dead,
+what do you think Hannah told me?  That Mrs. Shafto had _killed_ him!"
+She paused to contemplate the effect of this statement.  "Yes, his
+heart was always weak, he couldn't stand no shocks, and when he come
+back wore out from London, and told her as how he was ruined, the
+screams of that woman was enough to bring the house down!  Hannah ran
+in and there was he, lying back in a chair, and she standing over him
+with a face all worked up, and her hands clenched, shouting at him that
+it was all through his lunacy and laziness they were beggared--and she
+wished he was _dead_.  I couldn't tell you all the awful things she
+said, but he fainted right away and never come to again.  Now, what do
+you say to that?" and she surveyed her audience judicially.
+
+The sisters remained dumb; for once, speech had failed them.
+
+"As for caring," continued Eliza, "Mrs. Shafto doesn't feel no more
+than this table," rapping it with her bony knuckles; "all she minds is
+about _the money_--and already they say she has been routing among his
+papers, searching for his bank book.  Oh! she is an awful woman, her
+heart is just a stone.  As for poor Master Douglas, now there's real
+grief!  He hasn't tasted a bite or sup, and he looks crushed.  Everyone
+in the place will be sorry for him and for his father; but as far as
+Mrs. Shafto is concerned, when she's paid off the money she owes--the
+sooner the place can get shut of her the better!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE CLOSED HOUSE
+
+The break-up of the home at Littlecote Hall was a speedy and complete
+affair; Miss Jane Tebbs, being practically on the spot, volunteered
+invaluable assistance.  Always energetic and anxious to be "up and
+doing," and with a sadly restricted field for her activities, here was
+a grand opportunity absolutely within her reach.  The second Miss Tebbs
+had an immense acquaintance and correspondence, a fairly, good business
+head and, to her late enemy Mrs. Shafto, she ultimately proved a
+veritable tower of strength.  The recent sad catastrophe had melted
+Jane's heart, and she promptly appeared in "Littlecote" drawing-room,
+waving a large olive branch--which her former adversary most thankfully
+accepted.  In such a crisis as the present there was no more helpless,
+hopeless creature than Lucilla Shafto--a woman who was always ready to
+transfer her burdens to others.  Strange to say, she somewhat
+distrusted her intimates in Bricklands; it seemed to her that their
+questions and sympathy were chiefly founded on vulgar curiosity and
+greedy self-interest.  "How was she left?  What had become of all the
+money?  What was the boy going to do?  Where would she settle?  Would
+she not be glad to get rid of some of her smart summer clothes, now
+that she would be in weeds for at least two years?  _What_ about her
+sables?"
+
+Jane Tebbs was totally different; an honest and single-hearted woman,
+she wrote business letters, interviewed the local agent, arranged for
+the auction and,--O wonderful and miraculous achievement!--was even
+instrumental in getting rid of the lease.
+
+It was not surprising in all these circumstances that Mrs. Shafto
+should cling as a limpet to Jane Tebbs, whom she had so often
+apostrophised as a "meddling, mischievous, malignant old cat," but
+Lucilla Shafto was suffering from a violent mental shock.  The sudden
+descent, as it were in one day, from comfortable affluence to a very
+narrow income, had temporarily stunned her, and she had a secret
+conviction that if she were to leave her affairs in the capable hands
+of her nearest neighbour, all would be well.  She therefore remained
+secluded in her own spacious bedroom, whilst busy Jane undertook her
+affairs; helped with the auction list, interviewed the tradespeople,
+and, accompanied by the boy, went up to London to confer with Mr.
+Shafto's lawyers.
+
+Douglas was subdued; he seemed a different creature, so silent and
+pale, but keenly anxious to put his shoulder to the wheel.  He had
+withdrawn from Sandhurst and, in conversations with the Tremenheeres,
+informed them that his idea of going into the Army was knocked on the
+head, and that he now intended to look out for some job in the City.
+
+It must not be supposed that Jane Tebbs, the indefatigable, was the
+only neighbour who had come forward with offers of assistance to the
+widow; the Tremenheeres, the vicarage, and many other acquaintances had
+been sincere in their sympathy and goodwill, but somehow or other Mrs.
+Shafto would have none of them!  She refused to see the vicar or his
+wife, and lay in bed most of the day bewailing her fate, scribbling
+answers to letters of condolence, and occasionally dipping into a
+novel.  "Read she must," she declared, "as it diverted her mind from
+the too dreadful present.  A good novel was the best of anodynes."
+
+The auction at "Littlecote" proved an important local event, and threw
+the annual Church bazaar woefully into the shade.  It lasted three
+summer days and enabled a substantial sum to be placed to the credit of
+Edward Shafto's widow.  Unfortunately Edward Shafto's widow had
+considerable private debts and, when these were settled, five hundred
+pounds was all that remained for investment.
+
+As is proverbial with respect to auctions, good and even valuable lots
+went in some cases for the traditional old song; it is on record that
+Mrs. Shafto's smart victoria was sold to a jobmaster for six pounds,
+Mrs. Billing secured a wonderful bargain in the Crown Derby tea
+service, and the Sheffield tea urn fell to Miss Tebbs for ten shillings
+and sixpence!  On the other hand, rubbish was at a premium.  The
+kitchen utensils were dispersed at an alarmingly high figure, and a
+Turkey carpet, aged twenty years, fetched more than its original cost.
+
+The sale was over.  Needless to say, it had afforded enormous interest
+to the inmates of Highfield Cottage.  Miss Jane could almost tell the
+price and history of each individual lot.
+
+In a short time the great placards of advertisement were torn off the
+gate piers at "Littlecote," the house was closed, and once more the
+blinds were down.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+KICKS AND HALFPENCE
+
+More than four years had elapsed since Mrs. Shafto and her son had
+driven away from "Littlecote" behind a pair of smart bay steppers.
+(The widow was determined to keep up what she was pleased to call "her
+position" to the last.)  Immediately succeeding this dignified exit
+came a woeful change in their circumstances.  Mrs. Shafto was obliged
+to make the best of boarding-house and 'bus, and Douglas, thanks to the
+exertions of his friends the Tremenheeres, found a situation in a
+mercantile house in the City.  There was no time for him to pick and
+choose.  It was imperative that he should begin to earn without delay,
+and not, as his parent frankly remarked, "look to a poor widow for
+support."  This condition of abject poverty was, she declared,
+"entirely due to his father's criminal carelessness respecting his
+affairs.  She had what would barely keep her alive"--170 pounds per
+annum--"and that was all."  As for Douglas, he must work.
+
+Although they were not congenial companions Douglas faithfully
+accompanied his mother in her varied wanderings, supported her in
+action with enraged landladies, helped her out of a libel case, covered
+her reverses and retreats, and lived by command under the same roof.
+
+For the last eighteen months the pair had been established at a
+well-managed private hotel in Lincoln Square, Bayswater, W.  "Malahide"
+was a flourishing concern; two substantial houses had been thrown into
+one; the rooms were spacious, clean, and adequately furnished; the food
+was plain but abundant.  The double drawing-room contained a fine
+piano, one or two sofas, and card tables; also a sufficiency of sound
+and reliable chairs; but not an ornament, save two clocks--not one
+paper fan, nor bunch of coloured grasses, nor a single antimacassar,
+not even a shell!  Such amazing restraint gave the apartments an empty
+but dignified appearance.
+
+Among its various advantages, "Malahide" was within a few minutes' walk
+of "the Grove," and "Underground," a situation which appealed to men in
+business and to women whose chief occupation was shopping.
+
+Mrs. Shafto appreciated her present quarters for several excellent
+reasons.  Here she had no giggling young rivals and was, even at
+forty-five, the best-looking and best-dressed of all the lady boarders.
+Moreover, she had found a friend and admirer in her neighbour at
+meals--a certain Mr. Manasseh Levison, a widower, with a stout figure,
+a somewhat fleshy nose, and a pair of fine piercing black eyes.  He was
+the proprietor of a fashionable and flourishing antiquities and
+furniture business in a well-known thoroughfare, and was considered one
+of the best judges of old silver and china in the trade.
+
+It exasperated Shafto to listen to his mother's "table talk," and he
+made a point of sitting as far as possible from her vicinity.  She
+liked to impress Levison and other with highly-coloured reminiscences
+of her grand acquaintances; even the Tremenheeres--with whom she had
+quarrelled so bitterly--were dragged in and shown off as intimates.
+More than once Shafto had felt his face burn, as exaggerations and
+glorifications were unfolded in his parent's far-carrying and assertive
+treble.
+
+Besides Mr. Manasseh Levison, were the two Misses
+Smith--twins--genteel, middle-aged spinsters, who, until the arrival of
+the sprightly and attractive widow, had alternately cherished high
+hopes of the wealthy Jew.  Their chief energies were devoted to the
+task of blowing one another's trumpets, thereby drawing attention to
+particular virtues and modestly hidden accomplishments.  For example,
+the elder would say:
+
+"Darling Ella is so clever at cooking, as good as any French chef, her
+sauces and savouries are too wonderful."
+
+They were!
+
+And Ella, in repayment, assured her listeners that Jessie had a perfect
+genius for gardening and housekeeping; and yet it was whispered that
+this effusively fond couple, when alone, quarrelled and wrangled as
+cruelly as the notorious Kilkenny cats.
+
+Among other patrons at "Malahide" were two quiet, polite little
+Japanese gentlemen, Mr. Den and Mr. Yabe; Madame Galli, a shrivelled
+old woman in a cheap wig, with sharp rat's eyes that nothing escaped,
+the soul of good nature, rich, miserly and incredibly mischievous.
+There were several boarders who were in business in the City, and Mr.
+Hutton, a careworn man of fifty, who spent his days working in the
+British Museum.  Next to him at table sat Douglas Shafto, now a well
+set-up, self-possessed young fellow, who still retained something of
+the cheery voice and manner of the Public School boy.  Thanks to his
+steadiness and fair knowledge of French and German, he was drawing a
+salary of a hundred and fifty per annum.
+
+His neighbour on the left happened to be his own cousin, Sandy Larcher,
+older by three years, and in the same office, but receiving a lower
+"screw," Sandy was of the "knut" tribe, a confident authority on dress,
+noisy, slangy, and familiar; much given to cigarettes and music-halls,
+a slacker at work, but remarkably active at play and, on the whole,
+rather a good sort.
+
+Sandy's mother, Mrs. Larcher, the widow of a cab proprietor, was Mrs.
+Shafto's only sister, and in the days of that sister's glory had never
+obtruded herself; but now that poor Lucilla had come down in the world,
+she had advanced with open arms, and at "Monte Carlo," the abode of the
+Larcher family, Mrs. Shafto occasionally spent a week end.  The
+"go-as-you-please" atmosphere, late hours, breakfast in bed, and casual
+meals, recalled old, and not unhappy times.  Mrs. Larcher, who had
+never been a beauty, was now a fat woman past fifty, lazy,
+good-natured, and absolutely governed by her children.  Besides Sandy,
+the dandy, she had two daughters, Delia and Cossie.
+
+Delia was on the stage (musical comedy), petite, piquant, and very
+lively; a true grasshopper, living only for the summer; a loud,
+reckless but respectable young woman, who, having but thirty shillings
+a week salary and to find her own "tights," was ever ready to accept
+motor drives, dinners, or a smart hat, or frock, from any of her
+"boys."  Cossie, the stay-at-home, was round-faced and plump; a
+tireless talker and tennis player.  She managed the house, held the
+slender purse, accepted her sister's cast-offs, and always had a "case"
+on with somebody.  Cossie was exceedingly anxious (being the eldest of
+the family) to secure a home of her own, and made this alarmingly
+obvious.
+
+To "Monte Carlo" Douglas, the highly presentable cousin, was frequently
+commanded by both mother and aunt.  At first he had hated this duty,
+but nevertheless went, in order to please and silence his parent, whose
+hand plied the goad and who otherwise "nagged" at him in public and in
+private.  In private she pointed out that the Larcher family were his
+own blood relations, "so different from his father's side of the house,
+which, since his death, had ignored both her and him, and never even
+sent a wreath to the funeral!"  By slow and painful degrees Douglas
+became accustomed to "Monte Carlo"; at first the manners and customs of
+his cousins had a rasping effect, and it was more than a year before he
+really fell into line, and visited his kindred without pressure.  The
+girls were not bad-looking--in a flamboyant style--and effusively
+good-natured; they took his chaff and criticism without offence, and
+accepted with giggles his hints with respect to manners and appearance.
+When Douglas happened to be expected, they did not stroll about
+slip-shod in dressing-gowns, with their hair hanging loose, or bombard
+one another with corks and crusts.
+
+For his part, he brought them books and chocolates, watered the garden,
+mowed the tennis ground, mended the bells, and made himself generally
+useful.  At first this flashy, muddling, free-and-easy household had
+disgusted him; and his cool assured manner and critical air irritated
+his relatives; whilst his attitude of superior comment had proved a
+vexatious restraint.  But week by week Douglas came to see that it was
+to this particular class he now belonged.  These were his nearest
+relatives, and he told himself that he must endeavour to accommodate
+himself to circumstances--and them; otherwise he was a snob, a beastly
+snob!
+
+His first Christmas holidays had been spent at "Tremenheere," where he
+had received a heart-warming welcome.  Other school friends had also
+claimed him, but his time was now mortgaged to the office, and by
+degrees correspondence and intimacy languished--or, rather, changed.
+His contemporaries had gone forth into the wide world; the Army, the
+Diplomatic Service, and India, had summoned them, their paths in life
+lay far apart from that of a mere correspondence clerk, and only the
+old birds remained in the nests.  Those who were in England wrote and
+made arrangements for meetings in town, but Shafto found ready and real
+excuses and generally withdrew from his former circle.  He liked his
+friends--nothing could offer him so much pleasure as their company--but
+he realised that in time they would arrive at the parting of the ways,
+and it was for him to make the first step in that direction; in such
+homes as "Monte Carlo" he must in future find society and entertainment.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+"Monte Carlo" (sixpence return, third class, from town, and eight
+minutes' walk from the station) was a grotesque, little red-faced
+abode, situated among a tangle of villas and roads.  It stood detached
+in a garden, with--O! theme of pride--a full-sized tennis court.  There
+were also several flower beds, and six unhappy gooseberry bushes, but
+_the_ feature was the lawn; here also were seats and a small striped
+awning.  The grounds of "Monte Carlo" were only divided from its
+immediate neighbours by a thin wooden partition--there was no such
+thing as privacy or seclusion.  Conversation was audible, and the
+boisterous jokes of "Chatsworth" and "Travancore" were thoroughly
+enjoyed at "Monte Carlo."  In the same way "Monte Carlo" overheard
+various interesting items of news, some sharp quarrels and, once or
+twice, unpleasant personal truths!  On the last occasion, the remark
+was so unfriendly (it dealt with Cossie's methods) that when
+"Chatsworth," ignorant of offence, sent the same evening an emissary to
+borrow three pints of stout, the reply was a harsh refusal!
+
+Within doors space was naturally more contracted, but the click of the
+opposite gate, the sound of the next door dinner-bell and gramophone
+remained, as it were, common property!  The tiny hall was choked with
+umbrellas, wraps, tennis shoes, and tattered sixpenny books; the
+drawing-room, with its pink casement curtains, gaudy cretonne covers,
+huge signed photographs, jars of dusty artificial flowers, packs of
+dingy cards, and scraps of millinery, looked "lived in"--but tawdry and
+untidy.  The big Chesterfield sofa--a wonderful bargain--had broken
+springs (perhaps it was not such a wonderful bargain?) and many hills
+and hollows.  In the roomiest of these last the mistress of the house
+was more or less a fixture, and the whole apartment, like a _passée_
+beauty, was to be seen at its best by candle-light.
+
+The dining-room was chiefly notable for the heavy atmosphere of
+tobacco, and multitudes of empty black bottles under the sideboard.
+The kitchen, both in sound and smell, absolutely refused to be ignored.
+Such was "Monte Carlo!"
+
+The inmates of "Malahide" have received honourable mention, but nothing
+has been said of Mrs. Malone, the proprietress, who kept the
+establishment running, as it were, on well-oiled wheels.  Joyce Malone
+was an Irishwoman who had met with cruel reverses.  Well born, well
+educated, and an almost penniless widow, she thankfully accepted the
+post of housekeeper in a nobleman's family, and there remained until
+her savings, and a timely legacy, enabled her to set up for herself.
+From the first she had met with success.  Her terms were moderate;
+butter, eggs and poultry came from her native land; there was no
+skimping of coals, or hot water; and clients--who became
+permanent--flocked to "Malahide."  In appearance Mrs. Malone was a tall
+old woman, with a stoop, who shuffled a little as she walked, and
+always wore a black gown, a gold Indian chain, and a white lace cap
+with ribbon bows.  She kept severely aloof from her guests and had her
+own little lair on the second landing.  It was, she said, "her business
+to see to domestic matters, and not to gossip or play bridge."
+Nevertheless, she had her favourites: Mr. Hutton and young Shafto.
+(Envy and malice declared that Mrs. Malone had _no_ favourites among
+her own sex.)  She was drawn to the boy by his air of good breeding and
+admirable manners; also she noticed with secret indignation how
+shamefully his mother neglected and snubbed him.  She took far more
+notice of Jimmy Black, or Sandy Larcher, than of her own son.  No doubt
+she disliked to be so unmistakably dated by his tall, well-grown youth,
+and her hostess mentally agreed with a gossip who declared that "Mrs.
+Shafto didn't care a pin for her boy--rather the other way, and if she
+had kept her figure, she could never keep her word, or a secret--and
+was a hard, selfish, grasping woman."
+
+Although Shafto and his mother lived under the same roof, she,
+figuratively, sat with folded hands as far as he was concerned; it was
+kindly Mrs. Malone who looked after his little comforts, saw that his
+socks were mended, and made him a hot drink when he had a heavy cold.
+Also, as a special honour, she invited him to her "den," gave him a cup
+of coffee, or a glass of port, and talked to him of her Irish home and
+her young days.  Once upon a time she had been a capital horsewoman,
+and it was strange to hear this old lady and the bright-eyed  youth
+comparing notable runs.
+
+One day in the Strand at luncheon hour, Shafto came face to face with
+his old friend Geoffrey Tremenheere, looking bronzed, splendidly fit,
+and independent as a prince.
+
+"Hallo, Douglas!" he exclaimed.  "Well, if this isn't a piece of luck!
+How are you, old man?"
+
+"All right--and you?"
+
+"I arrived from India yesterday and go up to Scotland to-night--the
+family are all on the moors.  I've just been looking for a pair of
+guns.  Come and give your opinion, and then we will lunch.  I'm
+stopping at the Grand."
+
+"I'd like to awfully, I need not tell you, Geoff, but I've got to be
+back at 1.15 sharp--it's mail day."
+
+"Oh, hang mail day!  Come along and lunch--and let us have a good old
+_bukh_!"
+
+"I don't know what that means--but I'll be glad of lunch, and more glad
+of a bit of a jaw!"
+
+"Now, tell me all about yourself, Douglas," said his schoolfellow, as
+they sat _vis-à-vis_ in the marble hall.  "You don't look particularly
+chirpy.  Still in the office?"
+
+"Yes--I expect to live and die there."
+
+"Poor old boy--and doing work you hate!"
+
+"Oh, I'm getting used to it now.  I shall manage to hang on."
+
+"And Mrs. Shafto--how is she?"
+
+"As usual--going strong.  We live in the same boarding-house."
+
+"'Umph!  Well, let me tell you this--you are in the black books at
+home.  I hear you refuse all invitations and make monstrous excuses."
+
+"You know I'd love to go down to 'Tremenheere,' but how can I?  My time
+is not my own, and I only got a week's holiday in August and three days
+at Christmas.  There's nothing to tell about my career--let's hear
+yours?"
+
+Thus invited, Geoffrey, a gay young officer in a crack regiment, broke
+into short and vivid descriptions of Indian quarters, polo matches, and
+capital black-buck shooting in the Central Provinces, and gave a full
+and detailed history of his one tiger.
+
+Shafto,  an eager and enthusiastic listener, exclaimed:
+
+"I say, how splendid!  Do you know, Geoff, I'd give ten years of this
+life to have a good chance of seeing the world--especially the East?"
+
+"Who knows--you might yet!"
+
+"Pigs might fly!  Still I must not grumble.  I'm delighted you have had
+such a glorious time; when one's friends are enjoying themselves, it's
+next best to doing the same oneself.  What leave have you got?"
+
+"Only three months and every hour is priceless.  This time to-morrow I
+shall be blazing away at a grouse drive."
+
+From grouse they fell to talking of shooting, of old scenes, of
+rabbiting and ferreting, of cricket matches, schoolfellows and scrapes.
+
+Suddenly Douglas sprang to his feet and pointed to the clock.
+
+"Half-past one, I must run!  Good-bye and good luck, old boy," wringing
+his friend's hand, "I shan't forget this lunch in a hurry," and he was
+gone.  This little break and talk of old times and warm friends gave
+Shafto something pleasant to think of for many days; it was like a
+gleam of sunshine in his grey and joyless life.
+
+Richard Hutton, hack writer and "ghost," sat next to him at table twice
+a day, and proved a sympathetic neighbour.  Hutton was a clever,
+cultured, and--when he pleased--a wholly delightful companion.
+Occasionally on Sundays the pair made little excursions together,
+visited the City churches and quaint bits of Old London, or ventured a
+dash into the country, or up the river.
+
+"You say Friday is a holiday in your office, Shafto," he remarked one
+evening; "how would you like to come for a prowl, and see what we can
+find in the Caledonian Market?  It's an out-of-the-way place, where
+once a week all manner of rubbish is shot, and now and then you pick up
+a really staggering bargain."
+
+"What's that?" inquired Shafto.
+
+"Well, I'm told that lately a woman bought a rusty steel fender for two
+shillings and, when she went to clean it, it turned out to be solid
+silver--a bit of loot from some old French chateau.  I must confess
+that I've never found any spoil, but I only root among the books.
+Once, I thought I'd got hold of a Coverdale Bible, but it proved to be
+a fake."
+
+"All right," agreed Shafto, "I'd like to try my luck; I'll go with you
+and look for a set of gold fire-irons.  I've nothing special on--only
+tennis in the afternoon."
+
+"And the market is at its best in the morning--we'll start at ten."
+
+Friday morning found the couple roaming aimlessly round that great bare
+enclosure at the end of the Camden Road, known as the Caledonian
+Market.  It was just eleven by the clock tower, and wares were still
+pouring in; arriving in all manner of shabby carts and vans--mostly
+drawn by aged and decrepit horses.  Every variety of goods had its own
+particular pitch.  In one quarter were piles of books, brown, musty
+volumes of all shapes and sizes, also tattered magazines, and of
+theological works a great host.  Farther on the explorers came to a
+vast collection of old iron.  It was as if numbers of travelling
+tinkers had here discharged their stock; fenders, gasoliers,
+stair-rods, tin-cans, officers' swords--yes, at least a dozen--frying
+pans and saucepans.  Old clothes were needless to say, a prominent
+feature.  Here you might suit yourself with a bald-looking sealskin, a
+red flannel petticoat, a soiled evening gown on graceful lines, or a
+widow's bonnet.  Here also were black costumes (dripping beads), broken
+feathers, and hopeless hats.  Old furniture had several stands and was
+an important department.  Grandfather clocks, sideboards, chairs
+(Chippendale or otherwise), chairs in horsehair or upholstered in
+wool-work, and framed family portraits solicited notice.  Should anyone
+marvel as to what becomes of the rubbish and relics belonging to houses
+whose contents have been scattered, after several generations--trifles
+that survived wrecked fortunes, odds and ends which, for sacred
+reasons, people had clung to till the last, let them repair to the
+"Market"--the relics are there, lying on unresponsive cobble stones, a
+pitiful spectacle, handled, despised, and cast aside--the precious
+hoarded treasures of a bygone age.
+
+Delicately worked samplers, faded water-colours, portraits, old seals,
+snuff-boxes, and lockets, attract the curio-hunter.  Here is a Prayer
+Book with massive silver clasps, inscribed, "Dearest Mary, on our
+wedding day, June 4th, 1847, from Gilbert."  There, in a red morocco
+case, is a miniature of a handsome naval officer.  At the back, under
+glass, are two locks of hair, joined by a true lover's knot in seed
+pearls.  Some ruthless hand will pick out those pearls and throw the
+hair away.
+
+For a considerable time Shafto strolled about with his hands in his
+pockets, so far seeing nothing to tempt him.  Meanwhile his companion
+eagerly examined books and bargained over a tattered old volume.
+Shafto noted with surprise the number of well-dressed visitors poking
+among the stalls, in search of treasure trove.  There were a parson
+with a greedy-looking leather bag, an officer in uniform, and various
+smart ladies, hunting in couples.  Among a quantity of jugs and basins,
+soup tureens and coarse crockery, Shafto's idle glance fell upon a
+frightful Chinese figure, the squat presentation of a man, about eight
+inches in height.
+
+"I say, did you ever see such a horror?" he asked, pointing it out to
+his companion; "a curio for ugliness, and just the sort of monster Mrs.
+Malone would love.  I'll try if I can get hold of it.  What's the price
+of the China demon?" he inquired of a wizened old woman, who wore a
+bashed black bonnet and a pair of blue sand shoes.
+
+"Five shillin'," she replied promptly.
+
+"Five shillings!" he exclaimed.  "You're joking."
+
+"No time for jokes here," she retorted, "it's a good piece" (picking up
+the figure), "and come out of a grand house.  If it were in Bond
+Street, they'd ask you five pounds.  I showed it to a man, who said it
+was good, although there was no mark, and it might be worth a lot; but
+I've no time to be raking up things--my trade is a quick sale--and
+cash."
+
+"I'll give you half a crown," said the customer.
+
+"Two half-crowns, and it's yours, and a bargain; you won't know the old
+fellow when he's had a wash!"
+
+"What do you say, Hutton?" inquired Douglas, turning to his friend.
+
+"Well, I think you might risk five shillings; you don't see such
+ugliness every day, and I should not wonder if it was a good piece.
+I've never come across one like it."
+
+"All right then, I'll take the horror."
+
+And in another moment the bargain was effected.  Douglas tendered two
+half-crowns, which the old woman carefully examined and pocketed, then
+she wrapped up the figure in a piece of crumpled newspaper, and
+presently he and his friend departed, each bearing his booty.
+
+"There is little to find now," said Hutton, as they passed through the
+gates; "the Market has become one of the weekly fashionable gatherings
+of the town, and is dredged by dealers from all over England, who look
+on it as a sort of lucky-bag--but the bag is nearly empty."
+
+Mrs. Malone was enchanted with the monster--she had a secret weakness
+for cheap little gifts--that is to say, from her own particular
+friends.  More than once Douglas had brought her some trifling tribute,
+but his mother had felt deeply affronted by such uncalled for
+generosity to a stranger; and when he ventured to exhibit the Chinese
+atrocity, she exclaimed with great bitterness:
+
+"Oh, for Mrs. Malone, Of course!  It's rather strange that you never
+think of bringing me a present."
+
+"But, mother, you wouldn't care for this sort of thing," he protested,
+"and it was awfully cheap."
+
+"Cheap and nasty!" she retorted.  "If you had offered me such hideous
+rubbish, I'd have sent it straight to the dustbin!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CLOUDS
+
+It was an abnormally hot summer; all London lay at the mercy of a
+fierce and fiery sun; grass in the parks was brown, plants drooped in
+window boxes, and there was not even a little breeze to stir the soft
+dust under foot, nor one hopeful cloud in the blue vault overhead.  But
+in the sky of Douglas Shafto's existence dark and threatening clouds
+were gathering; the largest of these was a haunting fear that his
+mother intended to marry her admirer, Manasseh Levison--the prosperous
+dealer in furniture and antiquities, a wealthy man, who owned, besides
+his business, a fine mansion at Tooting; this he had closed after the
+death of Mrs. Levison, when he had repaired to "Malahide" for society
+and distraction--bidden there by his lively old friend, Mrs. Moses
+Galli.  The shrivelled little miserly widow was his confidante, and,
+for the illumination of Mrs. Shafto, she had drawn glowing pictures of
+Khartoum House, and outlined an imposing sketch of the luxuries
+awaiting its future mistress.  It was noticed as a significant fact
+that when Mrs. Shafto and Madame Galli went to Eastbourne for a week
+(at Mrs. Shafto's expense), they had been joined at the Grand Hotel by
+Manasseh Levison, who treated them to a special banquet, enlivened by
+the finest brands of champagne--and had subsequently motored them back
+to town.
+
+The idea that Levison should usurp his father's place overwhelmed
+Douglas with horror and shame; the prospect was intolerable; so were
+other matters; for instance, his monotonous office life, the want of
+variety and fresh air.  For exercise, he belonged to a neighbouring
+gymnasium, but this was not sufficient for a country-bred, energetic
+young man, in his twenty-fourth year.  As for the variety of amusements
+that satisfied and delighted his brother clerks, they left him cold.
+He was sensible of a tormenting thirst for a far-away different
+life--and its chances, sick of this existence, of continually going
+round and round, like a squirrel in a cage.  A change of surroundings
+and scene, or a spice of adventure, was what he longed for--as eagerly
+and as hopelessly as some fallen wayfarer in a desert land.  His
+mother's flinty attitude and hostile nagging had frozen a naturally
+affectionate disposition, and Shafto passed several years of his youth
+without one single ray of woman's love, until generous Mrs. Malone had
+come forward and installed him in her heart.  His usual routine was
+breakfast at eight, office at nine, lunch twelve-thirty, freedom at
+six, dinner at seven-thirty.  On Saturday afternoons he was expected at
+"Monte Carlo"--to join the family at tennis and high tea--and here,
+over the little red villa, brooded yet another cloud!  Cossie, the
+gushing and good-natured, had been given what her brother brutally
+termed "the chuck" by her young man; he had taken on another girl, and
+his repentance and return were hopeless.
+
+Shafto listened to Cossie's hysterical lamentations and outpourings
+with what patience he could assume; until by degrees the dreadful truth
+began to dawn on him, that _he_ was selected to replace the faithless
+Lothario!  Of late Cossie's manner had become jealously possessive, She
+seemed to hold him by a nipping tenacious clutch, and pattered out to
+meet him at the gate, sat next to him at table, and was invariably his
+partner at tennis.  Once, arriving unseen, he had overheard her
+declaiming to another girl:
+
+"No, no, no, I won't have it; Douglas is my boy--and my joy!  Douglas
+belongs to _me_!"
+
+"There will be two opinions about that," he muttered to himself, as he
+flung down his hat and entered the tawdry little drawing-room; but, in
+spite of his stern resolutions, he found himself borne along by a
+strong and irresistible current of family goodwill.  Sandy gave him
+cigars, Delia declared over and over again that he was a "darling," his
+aunt became extra-motherly, and Cossie endowed him with button-holes,
+pairs of ill-knit shapeless socks, and sent him many notes.  She seemed
+to appropriate him as a matter of course, and once when they parted at
+the gate, had held up her face to be kissed--but this undesired favour
+he affected not to see.  He noted, too, that when Cossie accompanied
+him to the same little gate, Delia and Sandy lingered behind with
+alarming significance.  He began to hate Cossie and to revolt against
+the slap-dash untidy _ménage_, Delia and her train of rowdy boys, the
+shouting, the practical jokes, and the slang.  Then suddenly the
+Levison cloud burst!  One night, when he was flying upstairs to his sky
+parlour, his mother waylaid him on the landing and, with an imperative
+gesture, beckoned him into her room.
+
+"Shut the door, Douglas!" she commanded in her usual frigid manner, "I
+have something to tell you.  Come over here and sit down."
+
+"Yes, mother, all right," but nevertheless he remained standing; "what
+is it?"
+
+She cleared her throat and replied in her sharp metallic voice, "Mr.
+Levison and I have at last made up our minds to be married; you see, we
+have no one to consider but ourselves."  This announcement was followed
+by a blank and paralysed silence.
+
+"He is absolutely devoted to me," resumed Mrs. Shafto, "and is a
+wealthy man and, as you know, _I_ was never accustomed to poverty.  The
+wedding will take place in six weeks.  Well, why do you stand glowering
+there?" she demanded impatiently.  "What have you got to say?"
+
+"I have got to say," replied Douglas, then his voice broke a little,
+"that I don't see how you can do it, or put that fat Jew tradesman into
+my father's place!"
+
+"Your father!" she screamed passionately, and a scar on her chin showed
+white against a suffused complexion; "don't talk to me of your father.
+Before we were married, he often came to my uncle's shop, and talked to
+me about books--I got up Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, bits of Browning,
+and Lamb's Essays, and Omar Khayyam.  I had to study them in my own
+room at night, so as to make him think I was well educated and shared
+his tastes; but I did not; no," she cried, with a stamp of her foot, "I
+_hated_ his tastes!  Aristotle and Plato, yes, and Shakespeare--dull to
+the last degree, but I liked him: he was so handsome, so thoughtful,
+such a gentleman.  And I believed that as he was madly in love I could
+easily twist him round to my way of thinking--but I was mistaken!"  She
+paused, momentarily out of breath, then resumed: "He soon found me out
+and was sick of me in three weeks.  He disliked dances, theatres, and
+smart society, and buried me alive in the country.  We had nothing in
+common; he was just a bookworm, with a sarcastic tongue, who left me a
+beggar!  Now I am free, I am going to be a rich woman, marry a man who
+understands me--and lead a new life."
+
+"I see you are easily satisfied," remarked her son.
+
+"I am; and although Mr. Levison is a Jew tradesman, as you have
+remarked in your nasty sneering way, he has been generous enough to
+offer you an opening as his assistant.  He will take you into the shop
+and pay you two hundred a year."
+
+"No, thank you," replied Douglas stiffly; "I know nothing about old
+furniture."
+
+"Only old family, I suppose!  Well, you might do worse; and when you
+marry Cossie, as is probable, I will make you a small allowance."
+
+(Shafto had relinquished his income of a hundred and fifty a year, and
+made it over to his mother legally, immediately he had come of age.)
+
+"I haven't the smallest idea of marrying Cossie, or anyone else," he
+answered, with white-faced decision.
+
+"Well, she, and indeed they _all_, expect it."
+
+"I've never given them any reason to do so."
+
+"Yes, you have," she contradicted sharply; "you go there, sit by her,
+and take her into the garden."
+
+"There is nothing in that," he rejoined, too chivalrous to add that it
+was his cousin who sat by, escorted him, and clung to him like the
+traditional limpet.
+
+"She is five years older than you, I know, but very sweet-tempered, and
+not a bad manager--she runs 'Monte Carlo'!"
+
+"Cossie is absolutely nothing to me beyond a cousin; nor have I ever
+given her reason to think otherwise--or ever shall."
+
+"Oh, you are wonderfully bold and courageous here with _me_; I should
+like to hear you telling them this at 'Monte Carlo'!  I know my sister
+has set her heart on the match; she has been talking to me about the
+trousseau, and intends to give you table linen, and a silver
+tea-pot--she has two."
+
+"Even the silver tea-pot would not bribe me!" declared Douglas with an
+angry laugh.
+
+"Well, I can assure you that it's an understood thing," persisted his
+parent, with spiteful emphasis.
+
+"How can it be understood, when I have never asked the girl to marry me
+and never shall?  Cossie is straight enough and can tell you that
+herself."
+
+"Oh, she has told me lots of things!" said her aunt mysteriously.
+"Well, to turn to another subject, am I to inform Mr. Levison that you
+refuse his offer of two hundred a year?  You may come to us for
+week-ends if you like; he is doing up the house at Tooting and giving
+me a fine car."
+
+"No, thank you, I prefer to remain where I am; and now if you've told
+me everything you wished to say, I think I'll go to bed," and with a
+brief "Good night" he departed.
+
+But he did not go to bed when he found himself in his bare fourth-floor
+room, but sat on the side of his lumpy mattress, and smoked cigarettes
+for a couple of hours.  He must squash this Cossie question at all
+costs; even if it led to a disagreeable interview with his relations
+and made a complete breach between them.  In one sense this breach
+would mean freedom and relief, and yet he was rather fond of his dowdy
+old Aunt Emma, and he also liked that slangy slacker Sandy; he could
+not bear to give anyone pain, or to appear shabby or ungrateful.  Of
+course he ought to have taken a firm stand weeks ago, and repelled
+advances that had stolen upon him so insidiously.  He saw this now; yet
+how can you refuse to accept a flower from a girl, or be such a brute
+as to leave her notes and telephones unanswered, or rise and desert her
+when she nestles down beside you on the sofa?  He felt as if he was on
+the edge of a precipice; and must make a desperate, a life or death
+struggle; be firm and show no weakness.  To be weak would establish him
+with a wife, house-linen, and the tea-pot, in some dingy little flat
+near his office, where, plodding monotonous round like a horse in a
+mill, he would probably end his days.  Always too anxious to please and
+to be liked, he had enjoyed lounging about at "Monte Carlo" and
+chaffing his cousin, but the price now demanded was exorbitant.  He
+recalled Cossie, stout and smiling, with rather pretty eyes and a
+ceaseless flow of chatter.  She had ugly hands and thick red lips, her
+hair was coarse, but abundant, and she frequently borrowed her sister's
+rouge.  Cossie was immensely good-natured and affectionate, and he
+would be sorry to hurt her feelings, poor little thing.
+
+Then as to his mother and her marriage to Levison, he hated to think of
+it.  He could not endure his future stepfather; between them there
+existed a bottomless chasm of dislike and distrust.  Levison considered
+Shafto a conceited young cub, "but a clever cub"; and Shafto looked on
+Levison as a purse-proud tradesman, ever bragging of his "finds," his
+sales, and his titled customers.
+
+Douglas had never felt so abjectly miserable since the time of his
+father's death; his depression was such that he wished he was dead too;
+but fate was in a kindly mood and, although he was unconscious of the
+fact, the clouds were lifting.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER  VI
+
+AN EMPTY OFFER
+
+The night that Shafto subsequently spent was wakeful and seemed
+endless; he tossed about on his hard bed and thumped the irresponsive
+pillow, paced his room from end to end, drank all the water in the
+carafe--and even encroached on the ewer; he felt as if his vitality had
+been sapped, that he had no energy with which to face his new position,
+nothing to which he could look forward, no gleam of hope and, as it
+turned out, no appetite for breakfast.  Seated at table, he proved
+infectiously depressing and gloomily silent.  On the way to the
+Underground, Sandy Larcher, who happened to be in exuberant spirits,
+noticed his cousin's grave face and chaffed him about Cossie.  (Sandy,
+a coarse-grained creature, knew no reserves, did not profess to be a
+gentleman, and had never heard of the word "tact.")
+
+"And so you couldn't sleep for thinking of her, eh?  Ate no breakfast,
+only a bit of toast, and half a kipper; quite in a bad way, poor old
+chap."
+
+"Come now, Sandy, none of that!" angrily protested the victim.  "You
+are a sensible fellow, though you do play the ass; and must know as
+well as I do myself that you are talking through your hat.  I swear on
+my word of honour, I have never made love to Cossie, I'd as soon think
+of making love to the parrot next door, and I have not the remotest
+idea of marrying her.  Imagine marrying on a hundred and fifty pounds a
+year!"
+
+"Oh well, I couldn't face it myself, old man," generously conceded his
+companion, "but the mater and the girls are dead nuts on the idea; they
+are awfully fond of you, and say you are so mortal clever, so well-bred
+and such top-hole style, that you are bound to rise in the world; and
+Cossie is getting rather long in the tooth.  Of course, I know as well
+as if you told me, how she rushes a chap, and writes silly notes,
+manicures his nails, and gives him flowers and cigarettes.  She overdid
+it with Freddy Soames and got the knock; and now he is formally
+engaged, I expect she is mad keen to show that two can play at that
+game!"
+
+"I'm not for it, and that's certain," declared the other, with an
+emphasis that was almost violent.  "I like Cossie right enough as a
+cousin, but I'm not a scrap in love.  Why, we've not one single taste
+in common--bar tennis and walnut pickles!  I hate saying all this to
+you, old man--it seems monstrously caddish, and really----"
+
+"Oh, don't apologise," interrupted Sandy; "I know Cossie and her little
+ways--you are not the first by a long way that she's tried it on with."
+
+"Couldn't you drop her some sort of gentle hint?  Do, like a good chap
+and say a word to my aunt?  I'd stay away from 'Monte Carlo,' only that
+I'm drawn to play in this confounded tournament."
+
+"No good!  They wouldn't listen to _me_; you must do the business
+yourself, Douglas, old man.  Come on, hurry up, or we'll miss our
+train!" and Sandy began to run.
+
+Shafto had not long been perched on his office stool and invested in
+his office coat and paper cuffs, when he received a message that Mr.
+Martin--the head of the firm--wished to see him in his private room.
+
+"This is the limit!" he said to himself, as he followed the messenger
+into a cool, luxurious apartment.  "Now I'm going to get a
+slating--over that French correspondence--and it was Fraser's job.
+Well, if that's the case, I'll enlist; I'm sick of this life!"
+
+He found Mr. Martin temporarily idle, seated in front of his large
+writing-table, scanning the _Financial News_.  He raised his eyes as
+Douglas entered, and said:
+
+"Hullo, that you, Shafto?  I have something to say to you.  How would
+you like a little promotion?"
+
+"Very much indeed, sir," he replied after a moment's hesitation due to
+amazement.
+
+"You've been over four years with us as correspondence clerk?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I believe you know Mr. Tremenheere?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"So do I.  He has called here to see me about you.  What would you
+think of going abroad for a change--say, to Burma?"
+
+"Burma--yes, sir, all right," assented Shafto, with a glowing face.
+Something within him had always craved for the East.
+
+"It's like this," continued the other, leaning back and placing his
+fingers together, tent fashion.  "Our house in Rangoon wants a smart,
+healthy, young fellow, quick at figures, and able to manage bills of
+lading.  You would soon pick up that; it will be chiefly an out-of-door
+job on the wharves."
+
+"I'd like that."
+
+"The pay offered is four hundred rupees a month, and house rent; not
+much, I admit, considering the fall of the rupee and Rangoon prices;
+but we have been compelled to modify expenses, our profits are run so
+fine, thanks to an active German mercantile element.  Well, what do you
+think, Shafto?"
+
+Shafto thought Mr. Martin a species of genie, who was offering him a
+magic carpet that would transport him into the great, hurrying, active
+world; into the land of sunshine he had longed to see; he would have
+jumped at the proposal if the salary had been half, and he replied:
+
+"I shall be glad to accept."
+
+"Then that's all right!  I was afraid you might have some ties in this
+country.  Of course, in time you are bound to get a rise, and I believe
+there are boarding-houses in Rangoon where they make you fairly
+comfortable."
+
+"When do you wish me to start?"
+
+"As soon as you can get under way," was the unexpected reply.  "One of
+the Bibby Line sails on Saturday week, and that brings me to another
+matter.  You have to pay for your own passage and outfit.  The passage
+money is six hundred rupees; the outfit, good English boots, cool
+clothes, a solar topee, and a revolver--and a medicine-chest might come
+in handy.  No doubt some of your relations will help, or give you a
+loan.  You see, you are getting a big rise and a capital opening in a
+new line."
+
+"That is true, sir," replied Douglas, whose face had considerably
+lengthened, "but I'm afraid I cannot manage the ready money--near a
+hundred pounds.  Is my salary paid in advance?"
+
+"No, that is out of the question in a province where cholera carries a
+man off in a couple of hours.  I am sorry about the passage; at one
+time we did pay, but now we have to pinch and consider our expenses.
+No doubt you would like to talk over the matter with your people?"
+
+"Well, yes, I should, thank you," he answered, staring fixedly at the
+floor.
+
+"Then let me have your decision before mail day.  I may tell you,
+Shafto, that, irrespective of Mr. Tremenheere's interest, you have
+given us entire satisfaction, and for this chance, and it _is_ a
+chance, you have only yourself to thank.  You can take a couple of
+days' leave and let me hear from you definitely on Friday morning."
+
+It was only eleven o'clock, an oppressively warm July day, and Douglas
+walked up to Lincoln's Inn Fields, took a seat in the cool shade of the
+finest trees in the largest square in London, and there endeavoured to
+think out some plan.
+
+"I say, what a chance!" he muttered to himself.  "What a stroke of
+luck!  A new start in life, offering change and freedom."  Yet he must
+lose it--and all for a paltry hundred pounds.  Paltry--no; to him it
+represented a huge and unattainable fortune; there wasn't a soul from
+whom he could borrow; not from the Tebbs, nor the Tremenheeres, and his
+associates at "Malahide" were, with one detestable exception, as poor
+as himself.  After long meditation, entirely barren of inspiration, he
+went down to the Strand and lunched at Slater's, and then took the Tube
+to Bayswater Public Library, where he got hold of some books on
+Burma--Burma, the land of the Pagoda and Golden Umbrella.  Somehow the
+very name fired his imagination and thrilled his blood.
+
+After sitting in the library, greedily devouring information, he
+strolled back to Lincoln Square, in time for dinner, and all that
+evening he kept his great news to himself.  It would have seemed
+natural for an only son to carry such important tidings to his mother;
+but Mrs. Shafto was the last woman to welcome his confidences.  She was
+entirely without the maternal instinct and, armed with a certain fierce
+reserve, held her son inflexibly at arm's length.  A stranger would
+scarcely have discovered the relationship--unless they happened to note
+that the pair walked to church together on Sunday, and that she pecked
+his cheek of a night before retiring.  As a matter of course, she made
+use of Douglas and, insisting on maternal claims, thrust on him
+disagreeable interviews, sent him messages, borrowed his money--when
+short of change--and allowed him to pay her taxis.  Honestly, she did
+not care for the boy.  He was too detached and self-contained; he had
+such odd ideas and resembled his father in many respects--especially in
+appearance--though Douglas's expression was keener and more animated,
+he had the same well-cut features, fine head, and expressive dark grey
+eyes.
+
+Yes, he recalled too forcibly a dead man whom she had neglected,
+detested and deceived.  And as for Douglas, for years he had been
+sensible of the smart of a baffled instinct, a hunger for a mother's
+love and affection, which had never been his--and never would be his.
+
+In the drawing-room, after dinner, the boarders were amusing themselves
+as usual and making a good deal of noise, yet somehow the circle
+presented an air of rather spurious gaiety.  Mrs. Shafto, in a smart
+black-and-gold evening frock, was smoking a cigarette and playing
+auction-bridge with Mr. Levison and the two Japanese; the Misses Smith
+and various casual boarders were engrossed at coon-can.  Another group
+was assembled about the piano.  Douglas Shafto sat aloof in the window
+seat absorbed in the book on Burma and acquiring information; for even
+if he were never to see the country, it was as well to learn something
+about it.  Rangoon, the capital (that fact he already knew), once a
+mere collection of monasteries around the Great Pagoda, was now assumed
+to be the Liverpool of the East, the resting-place of Buddha's relics,
+and an important industrial centre.  As his reading was disturbed by
+the boisterous chorus at the piano, and the shrieks of laughter from
+the coon-can set, he tucked the volume under his arm and slipped out of
+the room as noiselessly as possible.  He could rest at peace up in his
+"cock loft" and endeavour to puzzle out some means of reaching the land
+of the Golden Umbrella--even if he worked his passage as a cabin
+steward.  In passing the door of Mrs. Malone's den, some strange,
+unaccountable impulse constrained him to knock.  Yes; he suddenly made
+up his mind that he would confide in _her_--and why not?  She was
+always so understanding, sympathetic and wise.
+
+In reply to a shrill "Come in," he entered and found the old lady
+sitting by the open window with a black cat on her lap.  The room was
+small and homelike; there were some shabby rugs, a few fine prints, a
+case of miniatures, and, in a cabinet, a variety of odd "bits" which
+Mrs. Malone had picked up from time to time.
+
+"So it's you, Douglas," she exclaimed; "come over and sit down.  I'm
+always glad to see you; you know you have the private entrée!" and she
+laughed.  "What have you been doing with yourself to-day?"
+
+As he muttered something indefinite, she added, "What's your book?"
+holding out her hand.  "Burma, I declare!  One does not hear much of
+that part of the world; it's always connected in my mind with rice and
+rain.  Douglas," suddenly raising her eyes, "I believe you have
+something on your mind.  What is it?  Come now--speak out--is it a love
+affair, or money?  You know I'm _safe_."
+
+Thus invited, in a few halting sentences, he told her of his friend's
+good offices, the offer, his supreme delight--and subsequent despair.
+
+"A hundred pounds--yes, well, it's a tidy sum," she admitted, "and you
+will want all that.  I think Gregory and Co. might pay your passage, as
+the salary is not large."
+
+"No," agreed Shafto, "but I'll be only too glad to earn it.  It's this
+blessed ready money that stumps me."
+
+He began to pace about the room with his hands in his pockets, then
+suddenly broke out:
+
+"Mrs. Malone, I'd give one of my eyes to go; to be up and doing, and
+get out into the world--especially to the East.  Isn't it hard
+lines--one moment to be offered a splendid chance, and the next to have
+it snatched away."
+
+"I suppose you couldn't borrow?" she suggested, looking at him over her
+spectacles.
+
+"No, who would lend _me_ money?  I have no security and no wealthy
+friends."
+
+"Well, I am not a wealthy friend, Douglas, but I will lend you a
+hundred pounds--I've saved a good bit--and I can."
+
+"No, no, Mrs. Malone," he interrupted.  "I couldn't accept it.  I know
+how hardly your money has been earned; I know all your hateful worries;
+your bothers with servants and coal; your trampings into 'the Grove,'
+and up and down these confounded stairs."
+
+"But, Douglas, you can pay me back by degrees."
+
+"No; you'd run a poor chance of seeing your hundred pounds again.  Mr.
+Martin informed me the firm never paid in advance, as cholera carried
+off people in a few hours--cheerful, wasn't it?  And if I were carried
+off, where would _you_ be?"
+
+"Here, my boy, and in the deepest grief."
+
+"Well, thanking you all the same, I will not touch a penny of your
+money; but I know you are long-headed and may think of some scheme for
+me.  I've got nothing to sell of any value; I parted with my father's
+watch--and it's still at the pawnbroker's; worse luck!"  (His
+pitilessly selfish mother had borrowed ten pounds and forgotten the
+debt, and he had been compelled to apply to his "Uncle.")  Shafto found
+his salary a very tight fight; eleven pounds a month seemed to melt
+away in board, clothes, washing and those innumerable little expenses
+that crop up in London.
+
+"Anyhow, you have till Friday, you proud, obstinate boy, and before
+that, I may be able to thrash out something.  I have noticed that you
+don't look yourself the last few weeks, not my dear lively Douglas,
+tearing up and down stairs, whistling like a blackbird.  Tell me the
+reason," and she laid a well-shaped wrinkled hand upon his arm.
+
+Then, walking up and down the room, he frankly unfolded his
+troubles--the approaching marriage of his mother (this was no news),
+and, in an agitated and incoherent manner, his desperate predicament
+with regard to Cossie Larcher.
+
+"The poor boy," said his listener to herself.  "That man-hunting,
+determined little cat has got her claws into him.  I have seen the
+vulgar, made-up minx, without education, fortune, or modesty, trying to
+carry off her gentleman cousin!  But she shan't have him.  No! by hook
+or by crook, he must be got out of the country, as sure as my name is
+Joyce Malone!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+"THE MONSTER"
+
+For a considerable time Mrs. Malone sat, stroking her long nose with
+her long forefinger and thinking profoundly; there fell, in
+consequence, an unusual silence.  At last this was broken by the old
+lady, who exclaimed with an air of triumph:
+
+"Douglas, my boy, I do believe I have got hold of a bright idea!"
+
+"That's nothing new," he rejoined with a smile.
+
+"Come now, none of your blarney!  You know the queer little monster you
+brought me some time ago.  You see him there grinning at us out of the
+cabinet?  Well, a friend of mine noticed him yesterday--she is a bit of
+a connoisseur, and she said that, if genuine, that diabolical object
+had considerable value!  To-morrow, I will take it round to a shop in
+'the Grove,' and get an opinion; let us hear what the expert says, and
+if the object is good and marketable, I'll sell him--and you shall have
+the money.  Now," raising a hand authoritatively, "I warn you not to
+say 'No' to me again, for if you do, I'll just take the poker and smash
+the deformity into a thousand atoms!"
+
+"Oh, well, I suppose that puts the lid on," said Douglas, "but I ask
+you, if anything in the whole world can be meaner than to give a
+present and to take it back?  However, I'll consent to commit that
+outrage to save the monster.  I don't believe he is worth a sovereign!"
+
+"Stop!  I hear them moving in the drawing-room, so, my dear boy, fly up
+to your roost at once.  You know how it vexes your mother to see you
+spending your time with me.  Good night, my dear child," and rising,
+she laid her hands on his shoulders and kissed him on the cheek.
+
+The very next evening, shortly before dinner, Mrs. Malone sent for her
+favourite boarder.
+
+"I've grand news for you!" she announced.  "I've had the ugly figure
+valued and a man has offered me a hundred and ten pounds."
+
+"A hundred and ten pounds!" repeated Shafto.  "Come, this is one of
+your good old Irish jokes!"
+
+Alas! it must be here recorded that warm-hearted Mrs. Malone was not
+joking--but lying.  She had never been to any expert.  The hundred and
+ten pounds were to come out of her own lean pocket; this had been her
+"bright idea," when she contemplated the monster in the cabinet.  She
+was sincerely fond of Shafto; during the time he had been under her
+roof she had never known him to do a mean or ungentlemanly action; he
+was considerate, unselfish, and generous--poor as he was; also he
+opened doors, handed chairs, treated age with deference, and in short
+conducted himself like the people among whom she had lived most of her
+life.
+
+Richard Hutton was of the same type, so were the two Japanese; but
+Levison, her most valuable guest, Larcher, and other young boarders
+had, in her opinion, no manners at all.  They smoked where and how they
+pleased (barring the drawing-room), left cigarette stumps all over the
+house, kicked off their boots in the hall, were late for meals, loud in
+talk, arguments and complaints, and supremely indifferent to the
+comfort of their companions.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+In some extraordinary and inexplicable manner the story of the monster
+had leaked out--at any rate, it was in the air.  Perhaps the monster
+himself had blazoned forth the fact of his own value, or Michael, the
+handy man, had caught a whisper from Maggie (Mrs. Malone's right hand)?
+However it was, Mrs. Malone was not a little startled when Mr. Levison,
+in his loud resonant voice, shouted at her down the dinner table:
+
+"So I hear you've come in for a wonderful find, ma'am--a Chinese figure
+valued at a handsome sum!  Do you know I'm something of a judge of such
+stuff--old porcelain is rather in my line--and I'd like to have a look
+at the prize after dinner, if you don't object, and if the bargain is
+not clinched perhaps I might go one better."
+
+Mrs. Malone coloured like a young girl--or was it the blush of guilt?
+Would her sin find her out?  No; no matter what the dealer said, she
+determined to stick to her story; she would not allow him to see the
+figure.  She knew Manasseh Levison to be a persistent, over-bearing
+sort of man; nevertheless, she was resolved to defeat him.  If the
+worst came to the worst, she would go to bed, and either take the
+figure with her, or hide it up the chimney.  But alas for her plans!
+Manasseh, scenting a good thing, immediately after his cigar was
+finished, boldly followed the old lady into forbidden ground--her
+sitting-room--and did not even knock, but just turned the handle of the
+door and walked in.  He discovered his hostess and young Shafto,
+evidently holding a weighty conference--with the figure on the table
+between them.
+
+"Mr. Levison," she exclaimed, "are you aware that this is my private
+apartment, and that such an intrusion is unwelcome?"
+
+Levison, not the least abashed, had snatched up the figure and
+critically examined it, glass in eye.  For an appreciable time he stood
+silent and transfixed, obviously gloating over the article in his
+grasp--yes, gloating, with the absorbed expression of a devotee!  At
+last he spoke, raising his voice almost to a shout:
+
+"And are _you_ aware, madam; that this--this piece in my hand, is a
+most glorious specimen of old 'Kang He'?  An altar vessel, too; a most
+perfect, complete, and unique specimen of Chinese enamelled porcelain,
+dating from the Kang dynasty?  By George!" handling it and turning it
+about with tender loving care, "what an astonishing find!  I've never
+come across such a piece, and I've seen a good few in my time.  How did
+you get hold of it?"
+
+"Mr. Shafto gave it to me," replied Mrs. Malone, in her stiffest manner.
+
+"And I picked it off a stall in the Caledonian Market," supplemented
+Shafto.
+
+"What luck; what incredible luck!" exclaimed the dealer, nodding his
+big head; "well, Mrs. Malone, will you please inform your other
+customer that I will pay you three hundred pounds down for this
+piece--that rather snuffs him out, eh?  I'll give you a cheque in the
+morning," and carrying the monster as reverently as if it were some
+holy relic, Manasseh Levison, expert and connoisseur, marched out of
+the room in triumph.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+BOUND FOR BURMA
+
+It was some minutes before Mrs. Malone recovered her breath and
+composure, the invasion and purchase had been so startlingly abrupt.
+At last she found her tongue and her wits, and after a lengthy and
+animated discussion, it was ultimately decided that she and Douglas
+would each take a hundred pounds (privately she determined to invest
+her share for his benefit) and hand the remaining hundred to the old
+woman in the black bonnet at her stand in the Caledonian Market.
+
+The journey to Rangoon was now likely to be accomplished, thanks to the
+Chinese Monster.  When Douglas picked it off the cobble stones, from
+among coarse common crockery, how little he dreamed what a factor this
+figure would prove in his future--it had been the means of shaping his
+destiny!
+
+On Friday morning he sent in a formal acceptance of Mr. Martin's offer
+and, having obtained leave, hurried away to the Caledonian Market, in
+search of the old rag and bottle female.  It was half-past twelve
+o'clock when he arrived, he was late, and her pitch was empty.  Had she
+departed already?  On inquiry he was informed that old Mother Doake had
+departed for good--was, in fact, dead!
+
+"Yes, she were run over by a motor-trolley ten days ago," announced the
+woman in the next stall; "she was terribly old and blind and a real
+wicked miser.  There was no one belonging to her.  Her clothes were
+just lined with bank-notes, and there was a whole lot of papers and
+bonds in her mattress, and a lovely silver tea-set up the chimney.  She
+grudged herself a penn-'orth o' milk, or a drop o' brandy, and she
+worth thousands o' pounds!  Being no heirs, the Crown takes the lot!
+Thank you, sir," accepting a tip, "I suppose I could not tempt you with
+a splendid fur-lined overcoat?  Cost a hundred--but you can have it for
+six.  It belonged to a lord--I got it off his man.  Well, maybe it's a
+bit warmish, but it's dirt cheap and would come in next winter."
+
+Since Mother Doake was now defunct, her share divided gave Douglas
+another fifty pounds, and he felt quite a wealthy man.  The first use
+he made of the monster's money was to take his father's watch and chain
+out of pawn; the next, to secure his passage in the Bibby Line to
+Rangoon.  Then he spent a long morning at the Stores and bought a new
+outfit, saddle and bridle, steamer trunks, and a steamer chair.
+
+The purchase of the "Kang He" piece and its price were naturally not
+withheld from Mrs. Shafto.  She pounced upon Douglas in the hall and
+drove him before her into the empty dining-room.
+
+"Well, I've heard all about your wonderful luck!" she began excitedly,
+"and how Mr. Levison has actually paid you three hundred pounds for
+that frightful figure."
+
+"Yes, so he did; it's a true bill."
+
+"And now, my dear boy; you will be able to help me with my trousseau,"
+said this daughter of a horse-leech, "I must really get good frocks.
+Mr. L. is so sharp, and notices everything, and can tell the price of a
+gown to a sixpence; he has wonderful taste, and is very particular.
+You must let me have fifty or sixty to begin with--it's not much out of
+three hundred pounds.  What a windfall!"
+
+"Oh, but I have already divided it with Mrs. Malone," replied Douglas;
+"she insisted upon my taking half--you see, the figure was hers."
+
+"Divided it with Mrs. Malone!" screamed his mother.  "What a mean,
+grasping, greedy old hag!  I shall speak to her about it and make her
+disgorge.  She has no right to your money; whilst I am your mother!"
+
+"I do beg you won't interfere.  Mrs. Malone is the most generous woman
+I know."
+
+"Generous!" echoed Mrs. Shafto.  "The greatest old skinflint in
+London--she charges me sixpence a day for having my breakfast in bed,
+and----"
+
+"Well, you will soon be out of it," interrupted her son impetuously,
+"and so shall I!  And I am glad to have an opportunity now of telling
+you that I have got promotion in the office and am going to Burma."
+
+"Oh! are you?  Burma--Burma!  Why, that's abroad--some place near
+India--or is it the West Indies?"
+
+"You are thinking of Bermuda.  Burma is east of India.  I have to pay
+for my passage and outfit, and this unexpected windfall is a wonderful
+bit of luck.  If I hadn't got it, I never could have accepted the post,
+or made a new start."
+
+"And when do you leave?"'
+
+"In a week."
+
+"So soon," she exclaimed cheerfully; "I wonder what Cossie will say?"
+
+"It is not of the slightest consequence what Cossie says; she has
+nothing to do with my plans."
+
+"Cossie won't think so, and when she hears you have been promoted and
+are off to Burma, she will stick to you like a burr."
+
+"But, my dear mother, what is the use of her sticking to me?" protested
+Douglas.  "I haven't the faintest intention of being engaged to Cossie.
+If she imagines that I am in love with her, she is making the greatest
+mistake in her life."
+
+"Cossie is a foolish girl," admitted her aunt, "and has made heaps of
+mistakes; but if she sees her way to bettering herself, she can be as
+determined as anyone.  Of course you will have to run down and say
+'good-bye.'"
+
+"Yes, I shall go to-morrow."
+
+"I must say I don't envy you the visit!" declared his mother with a
+malicious smile.
+
+"No, I daresay it will be disagreeable--but Aunt Emma will see me
+through.  In Cossie's case it is not a matter of deep attachment; she
+only wants to play me off against that fellow Soames.  Ah, here is
+Michael jingling his tray outside; he wants to lay the cloth and we had
+better clear."
+
+In some respects the dreaded farewell at "Monte Carlo" was even more
+trying than Douglas had anticipated.  His relatives had learned and
+digested his news; to them, it seemed an uplifting of the entire
+connection.  After pushing congratulations and some high-flown talk
+respecting the delights of his future career and "position," the girls,
+as if by mutual agreement, rose and left him alone with their mother.
+
+Thus abandoned to a _tete-à-tete_, after a lengthy silence, Mrs.
+Larcher, sitting among the collapsible spring's, began to speak in a
+shaky voice.
+
+"Ahem!  We have _all_ seen, Douglas, how devotedly attached you are to
+Cossie, and the marked attentions you have paid her.  Of course, on
+such a small salary you were too honourable to say anything definite.
+Ahem!  But now that you are in a better position, with splendid
+prospects, I have no objection to an engagement, and as soon as you are
+comfortably settled in Rangoon, Cossie will join you."
+
+Douglas instantly lifted himself out of his chair and confronted the
+unfortunate catspaw; standing erect before her, he said:
+
+"My dear Aunt Emma, kindly understand once for all that I am not in
+love with Cossie.  I have never made love to her, or ever shall.  I
+like her as a cousin--but no more.  Even if I were madly in love, I
+could not marry; my screw will barely keep myself."
+
+"Oh, but you'll get on!" interposed his aunt eagerly.  "They all do out
+there, and you who are so well educated and gentlemanly will soon be
+drawing high pay, and keeping dozens of black servants, and a
+motor--and you know poor Cossie is _so_ fond of you."
+
+"I am truly sorry to hear you say so; I cannot imagine _why_ she should
+be fond of me; or why, quite lately, she has got this preposterous idea
+into her head.  Naturally it is a delicate subject to discuss with you,
+Aunt Emma; but I declare on my honour that I have never thought of
+Cossie but just as a jolly sort of girl and a cousin."
+
+"But you have given her presents, my darling boy; yes, and written to
+her," urged the poor lady, clinging to the last straw.
+
+"I have given her chocolates, and a couple of pairs of gloves, and
+answered her notes; and if Cossie imagines that every man who gives her
+chocolates, and answers notes about tea and tennis, is seriously in
+love with her, she must be incredibly foolish.  Cossie knows in her
+heart that I have never cast her a thought, except as a relation; and,
+as a matter of fact, of the two girls I like Delia the best!  I don't
+want to say unpleasant things when I'm on the point of going
+away--probably for years.  I hoped to have spent a jolly long day among
+you, but from what you have just told me I really could not face it,
+and I must ask you to say good-bye to my cousins for me.  I will write
+to you, Aunt Emma, as soon as I get out to Rangoon.  You have always
+been very kind, and made me feel at home here; you may be sure I won't
+forget it."  And he stooped down suddenly and gave her a hearty kiss.
+Then before the poor stout lady could struggle out of the cavity which
+her weight had made in the Chesterfield Douglas had departed.  She
+heard the close of the hall door, immediately followed by the click of
+the garden gate.  Yes, he was _gone_!  And Cossie, who all the time had
+been listening on the top of the stairs, instantly descended like a
+wolf on the fold.  She would have run out bareheaded after Douglas, but
+that her more prudent sister actually restrained her by violent
+physical force; and then, what a scene she made!  Oh, what
+recriminations and angry speeches and reproaches she showered upon her
+unhappy parent!
+
+"You told me to sound him about an engagement, and I did.  Oh, but it
+was a hateful job, and here's my thanks!" whimpered Mrs. Larcher.  "He
+looked awfully white and stern, and said he only likes you as a cousin,
+and that he had no intention of anything--and I believe him.  It was
+only in the last two months, since Freddy Soames broke it off, that
+you've gone out of your way to hang on to Douglas.  I'm sure I wish
+there had been something in it--he's a dear good boy, and I could love
+him like a son," and the poor lady sobbed aloud.
+
+"You bungled the whole thing, of course!" cried her ungrateful
+offspring, "I might have known you would put your foot in it; you've
+let him slip through your fingers and just ruined my last chance.  Oh,
+if I'd only talked to him myself, I'd have been on my way to Burma in
+six months!"
+
+Then Cossie broke down, buried her head in a musty cushion, and wept
+sore.
+
+However, after a little time, the broken-hearted damsel recovered; her
+feelings were elastic, and she allowed herself to be revived with a
+stiff whisky and soda and a De Reské cigarette.  On the following day
+she had so far recovered as to be able to make a careful toilet and
+walk out, to call upon her two most intimate pals, in order to inform
+them--in the very strictest confidence--that she was engaged to her
+cousin, Douglas Shafto, who had just got a splendid appointment in
+Burma and would come home in two years!  Then she added impressively,
+"I don't want this given out--mother would be _furious_; but the first
+time you come across him I don't mind if you whisper the news to Freddy
+Soames."
+
+Cossie sent her cousin a heart-broken letter of farewell, full of
+underlined words and vague expressions of despair--a portion of which
+she had copied from a dramatic love scene in a novel.  She implored him
+to write to her, and remained "his devoted till death, Cossie."
+
+Shafto thrust his devoted-till-death Cossie's letter into the
+waste-paper basket, with a gesture of excommunication, and barred the
+doors of his memory upon her round fat face.
+
+Preparations for departure proceeded satisfactorily.  He received a
+number of good wishes and not a few gifts.  The Tremenheeres sent him
+an express rifle, the Tebbs a dispatch box, Mrs. Malone gave him a
+silver cigarette case and a warm rug, Mrs. Galli gave him her blessing,
+and his mother gave him advice.
+
+On the appointed day a band of friends travelled down to Tilbury to
+take leave of Douglas Shafto.  These included Mrs. Malone, Mr. Hutton,
+the two Japanese gentlemen, and several of his fellow clerks.--Mrs.
+Shafto had excused herself, declaring that "her feelings would not
+endure the strain of a public leave-taking."--Shortly before the
+_Blankshire_ (Bibby Line) sailed, Sandy--alas! accompanied by
+Cossie--hurried down the gangway (for Cossie was allied to the stamp of
+the British soldier, who never knows when he is beaten and entirely
+refuses to accept defeat!).  She wore her best hat--a conspicuous
+affair with enormous green wings--a somewhat murky white fur, and
+carried a presentation bunch of wilted flowers.  The new arrival,
+chattering like a magpie, took immediate possession of her cousin,
+snatched her away from poor Mrs. Malone, who was looking very old and
+sad, and insisted on inspecting his cabin and as much as was possible
+of the ship.  When the bell rang and the moment of parting arrived, she
+burst into wild unrestrained sobs, and clung, in the best melodramatic
+style, to her unresisting kinsman, who was compelled to accept her
+kisses and tears.  In fact, as her brother rudely stated, "she made a
+shameless show of herself, slobbering over Douglas before all the
+passengers, and he was sorry for the poor chap, who was covered with
+blushes; and not for her at all--as anyone could see with half an eye!"
+
+However, Cossie returned home by the Underground, fortified with the
+conviction that the party who had witnessed her farewell were bound to
+realise that Douglas Shafto was her affianced lover.
+
+The last signal Shafto received, ere the group of friends had dissolved
+into a blur, was a frantic waving of Cossie's damp handkerchief, and he
+turned his face towards the bows of the _Blankshire_, now heading down
+the river, with the happy exaltation of freedom and a grateful sense of
+escape.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE "BLANKSHIRE"
+
+The _Blankshire_ was a full and well-known ship.  Not a few of the
+passengers had made several trips in her and some, as they met in saloon
+and corridors, exchanged loud hearty greetings and hailed one another as
+old friends.  These were chiefly planters and officials from Ceylon,
+Southern India and Burma, who herded in parties both at meals and on deck.
+
+It was not to be expected that Shafto would see one familiar face, and he
+felt completely "out of it," as he took a seat at a draughty table
+between two elderly people, whose interest was entirely concentrated upon
+their meals and the weather.
+
+The second day proved rough and wet and the smoking-room was crowded.
+Here Shafto made an acquaintance with a well-set-up, weather-beaten young
+man, his neighbour.  Finding they had similar tastes with regard to
+cigars and boots, they proceeded to cement an acquaintance.  Hoskins was
+the name of Shafto's companion, and after half an hour's lively talk, he
+exclaimed:
+
+"I say, look here, we must dig you out of 'the Potter's Field,' and bring
+you to our table."
+
+"What do you mean by 'the Potter's Field'?"
+
+"Why, to bury strangers in!  We bury dull folk and such-like in the table
+near the door; but I'll speak to the head steward and get you moved."
+
+And before the next meal Shafto's transition was an accomplished fact,
+and he found himself one of a merry and congenial circle.  In his novel
+and detached position he realised a sense of independence; he was
+breathing a new existence, an exhilarating atmosphere, and enjoying every
+hour of the day.
+
+At table and in the smoke-room he picked up a certain amount of useful
+information respecting Burma, listened to many a "Don't" with polite
+attention, and was offered the address of a fairly good chummery in
+Rangoon.  As he could play bridge without letting down his partners, was
+active at deck sports, and invariably cheery and obliging, he soon gained
+that effervescent prize, "board-ship popularity."
+
+Here was a different fellow from Douglas Shafto of "Malahide."  He seemed
+to have cast off a load of care; the cramped, monotonous life, his
+mother's hard indifference, the octopus-like Cossie, all had slipped from
+his shoulders and were figuratively buried in the heaving, dark blue sea.
+What delicious hours of tranquil ease were enjoyed in a steamer chair;
+hours when he looked on the past five years as a distant and fading dream!
+
+As he paced the deck with a companion he learnt many strange things.  Odd
+bits of half-told stories, confidences respecting some girl, or some
+ambition--and now and then a warning.
+
+"You are so new and green to the East," said Hoskins, his first friend, a
+police officer returning from short leave.  "You had better keep your
+eyes skinned!  Rangoon is not like India, but a roaring busy seaport,
+where every soul is on the make.  You will find various elements there,
+besides British and Burmese.  Tribes from Upper Burma, Tibetans, Hindoos,
+Malays, Chinese and, above all, Germans.  They do an enormous trade, and
+have many substantial firms and houses, and put through as much business
+as, or more than, we do ourselves.  No job is too small, no order too
+insignificant for their prompt attention.  They have agents all over the
+country, who pull strings in wolfram and the ruby mines, and have a
+finger in every mortal thing.  I'll say this for them, they're most
+awfully keen and industrious, and stick at nothing to earn the nimble
+rupee, underselling when they can, and grabbing contracts and trade
+secrets.  Some of these days they will mine us out of Burma!"
+
+"So I see they needn't go to you for a character," remarked Shafto.
+
+"Oh, they are not all tarred with the same brush!  I have some good pals
+in the German Club--fellows that are as straight as a die.  Is this your
+first journey out of England?"
+
+"Yes, bar winter sports in Switzerland, when I was a kid."
+
+"Well, you will see a small bit of the world this trip; as soon as we
+collect the passengers at Marseilles, and once the awnings and the moon
+are up, things will begin to hum!"
+
+"How do you mean hum?"
+
+"We shall have sports, dances, concerts--this has always been a gay ship,
+and the purser is a rare hustler.  We are due at Marseilles to-morrow
+morning, and we take in a cargo of the lazy luxurious folk who abhor 'the
+Bay,' and have travelled overland.  I'd have done the same, only I'm
+frightfully hard up; three months at home, having a 'good time,' comes
+pretty expensive!"
+
+"I hope you will be a fixture in Rangoon?"
+
+"I'm afraid not; I'm going straight up to Mandalay, but I shall be down
+later, and meanwhile I'll do my best to settle you in that chummery.
+I'll send a line to FitzGerald of my service; he lives there; a rattling
+Irishman, with lots of brains in his handsome head, and a good sort;
+there's also Roscoe, a clever oddity, and MacNab of the Irrawaddy
+Flotilla--a wonderful golfer.  Most of the fellows in business in Rangoon
+are Scotch.  Murray was in the same chummery; there were four chums till
+May."
+
+"And Number Four has gone home?"
+
+"He has--to his long home, worse luck; he broke his neck fooling over a
+log jump."
+
+On this fresh October morning the _Blankshire_ lay moored at her usual
+berth in Marseilles harbour, and the overland passengers were streaming
+aboard in great numbers.
+
+Hoskins and Shafto, leaning over the bulwarks, watched the long
+procession of travellers, followed by porters, bearing their light
+baggage.
+
+"There are a good few, you see," remarked Hoskins; "this is a popular
+ship and date.  We won't have an empty berth--anyway as far as the Canal.
+Most of this crowd," waving a hand, "these with maids and valets, are
+bound for Egypt; there will be a big contingent for Colombo and Southern
+India.  I'm a bit curious to see our own little lot.--Ah! here comes one
+of them!"
+
+He indicated a stout imposing person, who was majestically ascending the
+gangway.
+
+"That's Lady Puffle, the consort of one of our big wigs; very official
+and dignified, keeps old Fluffy in grand order.  The next, the tall
+handsome woman, is Mrs. Pomeroy, wife of the Judicial Commissioner, a
+real lady, and--hullo! she has brought out a daughter!  Not, as far as I
+can see, up to her mother's sample; too much nose and too much bone.  And
+next, we have Mrs. Flint, of Flint and Co., a big house.  She gives the
+best dinners in Rangoon.  The little fair lady with the small dog is Mrs.
+Maitland, wife of the General Commanding in Burma, and the one with her
+must be her sister, or sister-in-law.  Here comes the great Otto
+Bernhard, junior partner in the house of Bernhard Brothers; as you see, a
+fine, handsome man, with the most All Highest moustache; and also owns a
+heavenly tenor voice--but I would not trust him farther than I could
+throw him!"
+
+"And that would not be far," said Shafto; "he weighs every ounce of
+fourteen stone."
+
+"Yes, a big man in every way, trades on his voice and his good looks, as
+well as in teak and paddy--an unscrupulous devil where women are
+concerned; the lady he is escorting is Mrs. Lacy; you would not think to
+look at her, so slim, gracious and smiling, that she is a noted
+man-eater."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Well, perhaps the expression is a bit too strong.  She has a subtle way
+of attracting mankind.  It amuses her and, in the long run, does no harm.
+Wait till you see how they will collect about her on board--like flies
+round a pot of honey."
+
+"Shall you be one of the flies?"
+
+"Possibly.  I enjoy being fascinated and I like honey!  She is very
+amusing and dances like a moonbeam.  Those are two coffee planters,
+wonderful pals and bridge players, and here comes a strange lady,
+probably a tourist--rich too."
+
+Shafto looked and saw a handsome grey-haired woman, with a round smiling
+face, wearing a long sable coat and an air of complacent prosperity.
+
+"Why, for a wonder I know her!" he declared.  "It's Mrs. Milward.  Her
+sister was our neighbour at home; I've met her often."
+
+"Who is she?"
+
+"A widow--very rich, I believe.  I think her daughter is married to a man
+in India--or Burma."
+
+"Is this the daughter following up the gangway?"
+
+"No; I've never seen her before."
+
+"I say, what a pretty girl--and a ripping figure!  Once seen, never
+forgotten, eh?  When you have claimed the chaperon you must present me to
+the young lady--especially as you are out of the running yourself."
+
+"Out of the running--what do you mean?"
+
+"Merely that I happened to witness that tender parting at Tilbury--the
+little girl in the green hat, who was crying her eyes out!"
+
+"She was my cousin," protested Shafto; "nothing more."
+
+"Oh, come!" rejoined Hoskins, with a knowing sidelong glance.
+
+"Upon my honour! nothing whatever to me but that."
+
+"Well, I suppose I'm bound to take your word for it, but it looked
+uncommonly touching--so like the real thing, and yet merely a case of
+strong family affection!"
+
+"Yes, that's all."
+
+"Well, let us descend and make ourselves presentable for lunch; nothing
+like first impressions."
+
+After lunch, when the new-comers had found their places and scattered
+about, watching the shores of France recede, Shafto approached Mrs.
+Milward and bowed himself before her.
+
+"Why, Douglas!" she exclaimed, "this _is_ a surprise, a delightful
+surprise.  What on earth are _you_ doing here?"
+
+"Making a voyage to Rangoon."
+
+"Rangoon!  So am I.  An amazing coincidence.  Now come and sit down at
+once and tell me all about yourself."
+
+"I think you have heard all there is to know."
+
+"Yes; that you had become so distant and reserved and so like an oyster
+in its shell, and there was no getting you to 'Tremenheere.'"
+
+"But I was not my own master--I was in an office."
+
+"My dear boy, where there's a will there's a way."
+
+"There is no way of taking leave--unless you wish to get the key of the
+street," he retorted with a laugh.
+
+"And what takes you to Rangoon?"
+
+"A post in a big mercantile house.  I've to thank Mr. Tremenheere: I owe
+it to his interest--it's a splendid chance for me."
+
+"Well, I'm sure you deserve it, my dear boy, if ever anyone did.  You
+don't ask why I am on the high seas.  I am en route, to Mandalay--Ella is
+there.  After I've paid her a visit, I'm going on to India, to stay with
+your old friend Geoffrey.  He and you are about the same age, are you
+not?"
+
+"Yes; where is he now?"
+
+"He is in the White Hussars at Lucknow--he was at Sandhurst with you,
+wasn't he?"
+
+Shafto nodded, and the lady continued:
+
+"I'm bringing out a girl, such a darling!--She's down unpacking in our
+cabin; a dear child.  Her mother is an old friend of mine; her father was
+rector of our parish.  I drop her in Rangoon."
+
+"Oh, do you?"
+
+"Her name is Sophy Leigh, and she is going out to stay with an aunt, who
+is something of an invalid.  Her husband is in business, a German--said
+to be rolling in money."
+
+"That sounds all right."
+
+"And Sophy can't speak a word of German, though French like a native, and
+she plays the piano delightfully.  Her father died some years ago, and
+Mrs. Leigh and the girls live in town--Chelsea; not rich, but have enough
+to go on with and are a very happy trio.  One day a letter came from the
+German uncle asking for a niece--and if possible a musical niece--so
+Sophy was sent; anyway, her sister is engaged to be married and was not
+available.  My friend, Mrs. Leigh, was very sorry to lose her girl--even
+for a year or so, but it seemed such a chance for Sophy to see the world,
+and make friends with her rich and childless relatives."
+
+"I expect she will have a good time in Burma?"
+
+"Bound to, for she is one of those fortunate people who make their own
+happiness.  Here she comes!"
+
+As she concluded, a tall, slim girl, with a face of morning freshness,
+wearing a rose silk sports coat and fluttering white skirt, approached,
+and Shafto instantly realised that such a personality was likely to have
+a good time anywhere!  Miss Leigh's dark eyes were lovely, and she had a
+radiant smile; she smiled on Shafto when he was presented by her chaperon:
+
+"Sophy, this is a most particular friend of mine; I've known him since he
+was in blouses--a boy with sticky fingers, who refused to be kissed.  Mr.
+Shafto--Miss Leigh."
+
+Mrs. Milward was a handsome, impulsive, kind-hearted woman of forty five;
+her arched, dark eye-brows and a wonderful natural complexion gave her a
+fictitious air of youth--slightly discounted by a comfortable and
+matronly figure.  Some declared that her round face, short nose, and
+large eyes produced a resemblance to a well-to-do pussy cat, but this was
+the voice of envy.  She had a clever maid, dressed well, and with the
+exception of the loss of her husband, had never known a care; there was
+scarcely a line or wrinkle on her charming soft face.  Now, with her girl
+happily married, and her boy in the Army, she felt a free woman, and was
+anxious to try her wings--and her liberty!  Though popular with rich and
+poor, she was by no means a perfect character; extraordinarily indiscreet
+and rash in her confidences--there was no secret cupboard in her
+composition--she threw open all her mental stores and also those of her
+intimates.  Aware of this failing, she would deplore it and say:
+
+"Don't tell me any important secrets, my dear--for I can never keep them,
+in spite of my good resolutions.  They will jump out and play about among
+my latest news and good stories."
+
+That night in their cabin, as she and her charge talked and discussed
+their fellow passengers, the life history of Douglas was her principal
+topic.  With considerable detail, she related his happy prospects and the
+shattering of these; told of his cultured father and odious, underbred
+mother, whom she particularly detested; spoke of his withdrawal from old
+friends, lest he might seem to sponge, and how, instead of being in the
+Army serving his country like her own boy, enjoying his youth and a
+comfortable allowance, he was stuck in a gloomy City office, drawing a
+miserable salary, and enduring the whims and temper of an empty-headed,
+selfish parent.
+
+"She married again the other day," added Mrs. Milward, "a rich Jew.  I've
+not a word to say against the Jews--a marvellously clever race; in fact,
+I think a little Jew blood gives brains; and as to riches, of course
+there's no harm in _them_; but this Manasseh Levison is so common and
+fat, and seems to reek of furniture polish and money.  I've seen him at
+'the Mulberry' at tea, gobbling cakes like a glutton and making such a
+noise.  Oh, what a contrast to Mr. Shafto, so aristocratic and so
+courteous--a man whom it seemed almost a privilege to know!"
+
+And in this strain, Mrs. Milward, reclining in her berth, chattered on,
+whilst her companion brushed her heavy, dark hair, and imbibed a strong
+feeling of interest and pity for the good-looking hero of her chaperon's
+impressive sketch.
+
+Quite unintentionally this voluble lady had enlisted the mutual sympathy
+of these young people; she had laid, so to speak, a match; whether a
+mutual liking would ignite it or not was uncertain--but the prospect was
+favourable.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LAND OF PROMISE
+
+As the voyage progressed various groups thawed and amalgamated, even
+"the Potter's Field" experiencing a temporary resurrection.
+Theatricals, bridge tournaments and concerts brought the passengers
+into touch with one another, the sole member who held herself augustly
+aloof being Lady Puffle.  She remained secluded in her cabin, or
+occupied an isolated position on deck, appearing at dinner with a brave
+show of appetite, diamonds and airs, paralysing her neighbours with a
+petrifying stare.  Occasionally she accorded a bow or "Good morning" to
+her sole and necessary acquaintance, the ship's doctor, whom she
+informed that in her position she was debarred from mixing with the
+crowd--as later, in Rangoon, these people might presume on the
+acquaintance.
+
+One of the special events of the voyage was the two days' sports, and
+here Shafto distinguished himself by winning a severe obstacle race; he
+was a nimble, muscular youth, who, thanks to school games and the
+gymnasium, climbed, ran, and leapt with inspirited agility, and when at
+last he touched the winning tape, breathless but exultant, there was a
+spontaneous outburst of clapping and cheers.
+
+Prize-giving was the occasion of his triumph.  This was his five
+minutes, when he advanced to receive from Lady Puffle a clock, set of
+studs and a thermos flask--all carefully laid in at Malta by the
+provident "Amusements Committee."  Shafto bore his honours modestly,
+and was glared on by Bernhard who, drawn up beside her ladyship like an
+Imperial Guardsman, presented an alarmingly militant and stern
+appearance.
+
+Between him and this particular "Englander" no love was wasted.  Once,
+when they had collided on the companion ladder, Shafto's agility alone
+had saved him from a heavy fall, and the obstructor had neither looked
+back nor offered apology.  Probably he concluded that charming Miss
+Leigh, who accompanied his songs with such delicate sympathy, accorded
+too much of her society to this young man; and, after all, what was he?
+A London clerk, going out to begin at the bottom of the ladder, as one
+of Gregory's assistants.  Naturally he disliked Gregory's, a rival and
+substantial house, which, like his own, dealt largely in paddy--and
+this casual, outspoken, clear-eyed youngster was just the type of
+person specially abhorred by the Prussian Junker.  Now that the
+music-room had two such efficient performers as Bernhard and Miss
+Leigh, Shafto and others abandoned the bridge tables and enjoyed a rare
+treat.  Miss Leigh presided at the piano and appeared to have complete
+command of the instrument; she could read anything at sight, no matter
+how it bristled with sharps and accidentals; her repertoire ranged from
+Beethoven, Bach, Grieg, Chopin, to the latest ragtime, and her playing
+had a crisp ringing touch that was delightful.
+
+Hoskins, who was endowed with a good baritone, sang quaint Burmese
+songs with gratifying effect.  There was something weird and yet
+musical in the solemn and majestic "Toung Soboo Byne," or "Yama Kyo,"
+from a native opera, and the Royal boat song as sung by the King's
+boatmen when rowing His Majesty on State occasions.
+
+Mrs. Maitland's contribution was a beautifully trained light soprano,
+but the Caruso of the company was Herr Otto Bernhard; amazing that a
+man of his sensual nature and proclivities should be gifted with a
+voice fit to swell heaven's choir.  He sang Wagner, Gounod, Schubert
+with absolute impartiality, as well as numbers of melting German
+_lieder_ and touching English ballads.  He brought smarting tears to
+the eyes of comfortable matrons, and swept their thoughts back to
+poignant moments of long ago--to youth and first love, to moonlight
+nights, entrancing meetings and heart-rending farewells!  As for the
+younger and less emotional generation, even they were moved out of
+their everyday composure and hung upon the singer's words with
+breathless appreciation.
+
+There was a number of young people on board the _Blankshire_, and since
+the good old days of Tadpool Shafto had never enjoyed himself so
+thoroughly.  It was the first time since he had arrived at man's estate
+that he had been associated with girls of his own class.  There were no
+fewer than thirty on board--of these, eleven were brides elect--but the
+prettiest of all, and to him the most attractive, was Miss Leigh.  He
+looked for her the first thing when he stepped on deck in the mornings,
+and in the evenings watched her departure with wistful regret.
+Meanwhile, between morning and evening he contrived to see as much of
+the young lady as possible--though when out of sight she was never
+absent from his mind.
+
+"Was he about to fall in love?"  He was conscious of a vague wonder and
+sense of alarm.  A hopeless attachment would be a fatal misfortune to a
+fellow beginning a new life; a life that required the whole of his mind
+and the best of his energies; but, like the moth and the candle, he
+still continued to hover round Miss Leigh--and Miss Leigh was not
+averse to his society.  Together they talked and argued, played quoits
+and danced.  A stern, inward voice assured Shafto that, luckily for
+him, there was a fixed date for the terminating of his enchantment--the
+day when the _Blankshire_ entered the Irrawaddy river and was moored to
+her berth.  Then Miss Leigh would go her way to be the joy and the
+light of wealthy relatives--he, to begin his new work at the very
+bottom of the ladder.
+
+Another voice also made itself heard, which said: "One is young but
+once!  Make the most of these shining hours; sufficient unto the day is
+the evil thereof."
+
+When in a placid temper, the Red Sea is favourable for dances and
+theatricals and, much against his will, Shafto was dragged into "the
+Neptune" company by Hoskins, a resolute, determined individual, who
+filled the thankless office of stage manager.  Shafto was cast for the
+part of an old gentleman, the role being softened and alleviated by the
+fact that he was to undertake to play uncle to Miss Leigh.  Although
+Bernhard had no part in the piece itself, being an authority, he
+superintended its production, and on several occasions addressed Miss
+Leigh's temporary "uncle" in a manner that increased Shafto's natural
+aversion to what Hoskins termed "The great blond brute!"  The play
+proved to be a success and there was little or no jealousy or friction.
+Amazing to record, Miss Pomeroy and Miss Leigh--the two principal
+ladies--still remained the very best of friends.  During rehearsals
+Shafto and his "niece" exchanged a good deal of dialogue that was not
+in the piece--thanks partly to Mrs. Milward's introductions and
+revelations, and partly to a mutual attraction, they now knew one
+another rather well.  They sat with their chaperon and listened to her
+incessant flow of talk with appreciative sympathy, played deck quoits,
+walked and danced together, and were for looks and accomplishments the
+most prominent couple on the _Blankshire_.
+
+"Tell me, dear lady," said Mrs. Maitland, sinking into a deck-chair
+beside Sophy's chaperon, "do you intend anything to come of _that_?"
+and she nodded at a pair who, with heads fairly near, were leaning over
+the side, engrossed in watching the divers at Aden.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"It's rather a case, is it not?  First love and an early marriage!"
+
+"If you mean Sophy and young Shafto, why, they haven't a bad sixpence
+between them!"
+
+"No?" and Mrs. Maitland looked gravely interrogative.
+
+"Well, perhaps I've been incautious--indiscreet--now that I look back."
+(Yes, and with a sense of guilt she recalled her talks to both; her
+praise and her explanations.)  "But the fact is that though they have
+never met till now, I've known them both as children, and I could not
+well avoid bringing them together, but I don't think there's any harm
+done; they are as simple and open as the day.  There's no
+flirting--they are just enjoying the new surroundings and these golden
+hours--but I'll be more careful and put a stop to their after-dinner
+promenades.  I'll take your hint."
+
+"I hope it won't be a case of locking the stable-door when the steed
+has been stolen."
+
+"No; but whoever steals Sophy will get a prize--and she does thoroughly
+enjoy every hour of the day.  She is so pretty and transparent and
+sweet; she makes me think of a lovely flower, floating serenely on a
+summer river.  I expect she will be a great success in Rangoon."
+
+As there was no immediate answer on the part of Mrs. Maitland, she
+added quickly:
+
+"Don't you think so?"
+
+"Well, yes--I hope so; but, you see, Miss Leigh is going to live in
+rather an odd home."
+
+"Odd?"
+
+"Oh, it's absolutely respectable--but--out of the world--our world.
+Mr. Krauss is a German and said to be rich; he does not belong to a
+firm or house, but is on his own.  Of course, he is a member of the
+Gymkhana and all that; but he keeps to the German set and lives among
+them over in Kokine; then his English wife, once a celebrated beauty,
+is a semi-invalid.  As he never--they say--does anything without some
+well-considered reason, and is always on the make, I hope to goodness
+he has not decoyed this charming girl to Rangoon merely to be her
+aunt's nurse--and his housekeeper."
+
+"I should hope not, indeed!" exclaimed Mrs. Milward.  "My cousin Mary
+Gregory must have an eye on my young friend--I'll see to that.  I shall
+be stopping with Mary for a few days before going up the river; but I
+think Sophy will be all right.  After all, Mrs. Krauss is her own aunt."
+
+If Shafto and Sophy had become friendly over games, discussions and
+little special teas with Mrs. Milward, Bernhard cemented his
+acquaintance by means of their mutual love of music; but it seemed to
+the girl that, after he had heard her destination, Herr Bernhard's
+manner had undergone a subtle change.  The protégée of a wealthy
+woman--who wore wonderful rings and priceless pearls and carried
+herself as a high-born dame--was another person from the mere
+transitory companion who, once at Rangoon, would be handed over to Karl
+Krauss, her uncle--incredible!  Uncle by marriage--yes, but still an
+inmate of his home.
+
+"And so I hear you are niece to Herr Krauss," he began abruptly, as he
+lounged against the bulwarks; "I know him well."
+
+"And my aunt?"
+
+"Yes, I've met her two or three times; she must have been splendidly
+handsome once; now she looks broken up--it's the climate.  No woman
+should remain in Lower Burma for eight years without a change."
+
+"I did not know the climate was so bad; I'm afraid I know very little
+about Burma; it seems so far away--much farther off than India."
+
+"Yes, and a far more beautiful country--a land flowing with rivers and
+riches, and full of charming people, who live for the day, like so many
+butterflies, and do no work."
+
+"Then who does work?"
+
+"The Madrassi, the Sikh, the Chinese, and, above all, the European.
+Rangoon has an enormous trade; I wonder what you will think of it?"
+
+"I feel sure that I shall like it; I have always longed to see the
+East."
+
+"Ah, that is a common wish--the _sun_ rises in the East!  We Germans
+like the East--the East likes us.  _We_ own Burma!"
+
+After a moment's pause, which gave his companion time to digest this
+surprising statement, he went on, "Have you ever seen Herr Krauss?"
+
+"No! when my aunt came home he always went to Germany--to Frankfort, I
+think."
+
+"So his acquaintance has yet to be made; it is what you call a pleasure
+in store.  I wonder what you will think of the unknown uncle; perhaps
+some day you will tell me?"  Then he gave an odd laugh and walked away,
+still laughing.
+
+Bernhard's place was speedily filled by another man.  Most people
+considered Miss Leigh the beauty of the ship, but this novel and
+agreeable prominence had not spoiled her and she was always ready to
+oblige--to accompany a song, amuse the children, pick up and rectify a
+piece of knitting, promenade the deck, play quoits, or dance.
+
+The various other girls on board, with whom she was popular, had
+assured her of the joys awaiting her and them in Rangoon.  Dances,
+picknics, concerts, paper-chases--in short, no end of gaiety--all to be
+enjoyed in that yet unknown and romantic country, "the Land of the
+Golden Umbrella."  Often the girls sat in one another's cabins,
+discussed and described frocks and beautiful toilettes, at present
+unseen and packed away in the baggage-room.  Also they talked over
+their fellow-passengers--not forgetting the young men--and when
+Shafto's name was mentioned, an occasional sly glance or hint would be
+thrown at Sophy, of which she endeavoured to appear serenely
+unconscious.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Early one morning the passengers awoke to find themselves at anchor in
+Colombo harbour, and the soft warm air brought them a delicious whiff
+of the celebrated cinnamon gardens.  Many were landing for Southern
+India and a quantity of cargo had to be discharged.  As this was bound
+to be a lengthy process, the remnant who were bound for Rangoon had
+nearly a whole day ashore.  Mrs. Milward and maid, and her young
+friends Miss Leigh and Mr. Shafto, Herr Bernhard, the Pomeroys, Mrs.
+Lacy and several of her satellites, breakfasted at the Galle Face
+Hotel, and subsequently made trips in rickshaws, shopped in the bazaar,
+and had afternoon tea at Mount Lavinia.
+
+It was, as everyone agreed, a most delightful break.  On that same
+evening, as they steamed out into the moonlit Bay of Bengal, Sophy and
+Shafto paced the half-deserted deck, gazing on the Southern Cross, and
+the former suddenly said:
+
+"That was our last stopping-place.  When I leave the _Blankshire_,
+where I have been so much at home, I shall feel rather astray."
+
+"So you would like a home on the rolling deep?" suggested her companion.
+
+"No, indeed; shall I _ever_ forget that day we had off Crete?  But I
+have never been long away from mother; I am going to a new country, a
+new life, and almost new relations--it all seems so strange and vague."
+
+"But your aunt cannot be a stranger," suggested Shafto.  "You know her,
+don't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes; but I have not seen her for eight years.  The last time she
+was over, she stayed with us for a few weeks.  I remember her as
+handsome and beautifully dressed, with wonderful toilet arrangements in
+ivory and silver, and bottles of heavy Indian scent.  She was very kind
+and had such soft caressing manners, and gave us lots of chocolate and
+nice presents.  I recollect a beautiful emerald ring she wore--but I
+cannot recall the colour of her eyes."
+
+"Oh, well, that oversight will soon be repaired!"
+
+"Aunt Flora was fond of gaiety and theatres; we lived in Chelsea, and
+as our small house could hardly hold her big boxes and we had no
+telephone, she went to the Carlton, where she was more in the middle of
+things, and could entertain her friends from India and Burma--but she
+came to see us two or three times a week."
+
+"And where was her lord and master?"
+
+"In Germany; I have never seen him."
+
+"How did your aunt come across him?"
+
+"In Hong Kong, of all places!  She was married at eighteen to a young
+officer; they ran away, and I believe grandpa never forgave her.  He
+was a General, a strict old martinet, and she was his favourite
+daughter.  After they had been married a couple of years, Aunt Flora's
+husband was killed in an accident and she was left rather badly off.
+People out there were very kind to her.  She had been hurt in the
+accident and was laid up for months.  Then this rich German asked her
+to marry him, and as she was reluctant to return home and face grandpa,
+she said 'Yes.'  But perhaps it was love match number two."
+
+"Yes, perhaps it was."
+
+"That all happened twenty years ago, and since then Aunt Flora has made
+her home in the East--China, the Straits Settlements and Burma.  You
+see, her friends and her interests are mostly out there.  She and
+mother always write to one another; we do her commissions in London,
+and she sends us Burmese silks and umbrellas and curry stuff; but we
+were immensely surprised when, without any little hints or
+preparations, Uncle Karl wrote and invited me to pay them a long
+visit--and so here I am!  I do hope I shan't be a fish out of water.
+I've never been accustomed to living with wealthy people, and, I'm told
+that Uncle Karl is immensely rich."
+
+"You need not consider that a drawback.  It is better than being
+immensely poor--for instance, like myself."
+
+"You don't look poor."
+
+She smiled as she glanced at his well-cut suit and admirable brown
+shoes.
+
+"I'm not exactly a whining beggar, selling boot laces and matches, but
+I am uncommonly glad to have got this job, which brings me in about
+four hundred a year.  In London I was a clerk at less than half, and
+here is my chance to see the world--and I'm bound to make the most of
+it."
+
+"Mrs. Milward said you were to have gone into the Army."
+
+"Yes, but if you can't get what you like, you must like what you can
+get," was the philosophic rejoinder.
+
+"I suppose your people were very sorry to part with you.  My poor
+mother cried for nearly three days; my sister, I know, will miss me
+dreadfully.  This is not sheer vanity, as you might suppose, but we
+have always done things together--and there is only a year between us."
+
+"Well, my mother did not cry much, and I have no sisters to mourn for
+me."
+
+"No sisters," she echoed, as if the fact struck hot as unusual.
+
+"No, nor brothers either--only cousins."
+
+"Sometimes they do just as well; are they pretty?"
+
+"No," he answered rather curtly, as Cossie's round complacent face rose
+before his mental eye.
+
+After a short pause he changed the topic and asked:
+
+"Do you ride, Miss Leigh?"
+
+"Yes, but not since we've come to London; I love riding.  In the
+country, in father's lifetime, I rode a cob--he went in the cart, too;
+he was such a dear, but very tricky; once or twice he ran away with me;
+I didn't tell father, because I knew I'd never again be allowed to ride
+alone, and I do enjoy riding by myself."
+
+"I'm sorry to hear that, for if I can rise to the price of a gee, I was
+hoping you would allow me to join you occasionally."
+
+"I should be delighted, but----" and she hesitated.
+
+"Oh, yes," he added quickly, "I know what you are going to say: 'How
+about a chaperon?'"
+
+"Perhaps they don't keep chaperons in Rangoon?"
+
+"Oh, yes, my dear, they do," declared Mrs. Maitland, who, as she joined
+them, had overheard the last remark, "and extra fierce specimens, I can
+assure you!  Miss Leigh, they want me to sing Gounod's 'Ave Maria,' so
+will you be an angel and come and play my accompaniment?"
+
+As Miss Leigh was always ready to be "an angel" at a moment's notice,
+she offered no resistance when Mrs. Maitland took her by the arm and
+led her away to the music-room.
+
+Shafto and Miss Leigh were usually among the first to appear on deck,
+both being early risers; she, in order to leave a clear field for Mrs.
+Milward's prolonged toilet, and the elaborate operations of her clever
+maid.  The pretty grey hair had to be taken out of pins, brushed,
+back-combed and deftly arranged, as the frame to its owner's beaming
+and youthful face.  Lacing, buttoning and hooking also absorbed
+considerable time.
+
+As for Shafto, he was no lie-a-bed.  Even in those dark, raw winter
+days at Lincoln Square, when breakfast was served by electric light, he
+was always punctual, and one of the first to descend and retrieve his
+boots through the smoky atmosphere of the lower regions.  What a
+contrast were those murky hours to these glorious mornings in the
+tropics--the green translucent sea, the soft golden light, the salt,
+stimulating air, all shimmering and melting together!  The day really
+dawned for Shafto when a certain Panama hat, crowning a beautiful head,
+emerged from the companion ladder, and the smile in a pair of bright
+dark eyes greeted him like a ray of sunshine.  One morning, as the
+couple paced the deck before breakfast, accompanied by Mr. Hoskins, an
+excited fellow traveller accosted the trio.
+
+"I say," he began, "have you heard?  They have just signalled land
+ahead!"
+
+"Oh, where?" cried Sophy eagerly.
+
+"Do you see over the starboard bow, that faint dark streak upon the sky
+line?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Well then," he announced impressively, "that is Burma!"
+
+Shafto snatched up a pair of glasses and gazed at the long line of
+coast and, as he gazed, he felt as if he stood upon Pisgah and a whole
+new world lay open before him.  He was figuratively surveying the
+Promised Land!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A BURMESE HOSTESS
+
+Early in the same afternoon the _Blankshire_ picked up her pilot at
+Elephant Point and entered the famous Irrawaddy.  Long before her
+destination was in sight, twenty miles from the sea, the glorious Shwe
+Dagon, a shining golden object, towered into view, flashing in the
+sunlight against a background of impenetrable woods.
+
+Rangoon, on a river navigable for nine hundred miles, is a large and
+important seaport and, as the wealth of one of the richest countries
+filters through its ports, naturally the approach is thronged with
+shipping.  Our incoming liner met or overtook cargo steamers, tank
+ships, battered tramps and heavily laden wind-jammers in the tow of
+straining tugs, not to mention steam-launches, barges and swarms of the
+local _sampan_, or small boat.
+
+At the wharf where, amidst deafening yells and hoarse shoutings, the
+_Blankshire_ crept to her berth, crowds of different races--brown,
+black, yellow and white--awaited the English mail.  Passengers were
+eagerly claimed by their friends and hurried away to motors and
+carriages; all was excitement and bustle.  Alas! 'board-ship
+friendships soon evaporate, and presently Shafto found himself standing
+on the aft-deck with his gun-case and cabin luggage, deserted and
+forgotten--no, for here came Hoskins, the police officer, hot and
+breathless.
+
+"I say, look here, old chap!" he panted, "I'm just off to catch my
+train to Tonghoo, but I've had a word with FitzGerald; it will be all
+right about the chummery; they can take you in on Monday.  I see Salter
+on board, one of the head assistants in Gregory's; I expect he has come
+to meet you.  Well, I must run; so long!"
+
+This good-natured fellow passenger was immediately succeeded by a cabin
+steward.  "Been looking for you everywhere, sir," he said; "there's a
+gentleman come aboard asking for you."  As he concluded, a spare,
+middle-aged man wearing a large topee and a dust-coloured suit
+approached and said:
+
+"Mr. Shafto, I believe?" and offered a welcoming hand.
+
+"Yes," assented the new arrival.
+
+"I'm Salter from Gregory's.  Manders, the head assistant, asked me to
+meet you.  I'll be glad to help you get your things ashore and take you
+to the Strand Hotel, where I have booked you a room."
+
+"That is most awfully good of you," replied Shafto.  "On Monday I
+believe I am to get quarters in a chummery."
+
+"Ah, so you are settled, I see.  Now, if you will show me your baggage,
+I have a couple of coolies here with a cart and a taxi for ourselves."
+
+Mr. Salter proved to be remarkably prompt in his measures, and in less
+than ten minutes Shafto found himself following his flat narrow back
+down the steep gangway and setting his foot for the first time on the
+soil of Burma.  He halted for a moment to look about.  Here was a
+landmark in his life, a new sphere lay before him; the street was
+humming and alive with people, and he stared at the jostling, motley
+crowd of British, Burmese, Chinese, mostly a gaily-clad ever-changing
+multitude.  Among them were shaven priests in yellow robes.  Shans in
+flapping hats; right in front of him stood a stalwart Burman, wearing a
+white jacket, a pink silk handkerchief, twisted jauntily around his
+bullet head, and a yellow Lungi, girded to the knee, displayed a
+three-tailed cat tattooed on the back of each substantial calf.
+
+And what a curious, soft and penetrating atmosphere; moist and loaded
+with unfamiliar, aromatic odours!
+
+However, Mr. Salter, a man of action, had no time to spare for
+contemplation, and briskly hustled the stranger into a waiting
+taxi--for the old days of the rattling, shattered _gharry_ are numbered.
+
+"I suppose this is all new to you?" said Shafto's acquaintance as they
+struggled up the crowded Strand, lined with imposing offices and vast
+_godowns_, or warehouses.
+
+"You may say so," he replied, eagerly gazing at the dense passing
+throng--animated women with flower-decked hair, square-shouldered,
+sauntering men, carrying flat umbrellas and smoking huge cheroots,
+Khaki-clad Tommies and yellow-faced John Chinamen.
+
+"Oh, there's lots to see in Burma," continued Salter, "an extraordinary
+mixture of people and races, and a most beautiful country; such
+splendid rivers and forests--but here, in Rangoon, everyone has but one
+idea."
+
+In answer to Shafto's glance of interrogation he said:
+
+"We are a commercial community, and our sole aim and object is to work,
+to get rich, and go home."
+
+"But that doesn't apply to the native?"
+
+"No, the Burman does not work; he is merely a spectator.  The industry
+of others amuses him; his chief object is to enjoy life.  Well, here is
+the hotel; let us go in and have a look at your quarters."
+
+After the baggage had been disposed of and Shafto's room inspected and
+criticised, his companion still lingered talking.  To Salter, the
+proverbially eccentric, this new-comer appeared to be an intelligent
+young fellow whom he would like and take to.  There was no superior
+"just out from London to the back of God-speed" air about him.  On the
+contrary, he appeared to be genuinely interested in his surroundings
+and insatiable for information.  It struck him, too, that the forlorn
+stranger would put in a mighty dull and solitary evening and, stirred
+by a benevolent impulse, he said:
+
+"Suppose you come back and dine at my diggings?  I may be able to give
+you a few hints as I am an old hand."
+
+"I should be delighted," assented Shafto, "if it won't be putting you
+out?"
+
+"Oh no, not a bit; Mrs. Salter is accustomed to my bringing home a
+stray guest."
+
+"Had I not better dress?"
+
+"Certainly not; come along with me now, just as you are."
+
+Thus the matter being arranged, the pair once more entered the taxi,
+and were presently steering through the traffic of various
+thoroughfares and teeming bazaars.  All at once, with an unexpected
+lurch, the car turned into a wide, well-shaded enclosure and halted
+before a low, heavily-roofed house, supported on stout wooden legs--an
+old-time residence.
+
+"Do you go up," urged Shako's host, "whilst I pay the taxi--you can
+settle with me later."  Here spoke the canny Yorkshire tyke.
+
+Shafto, as requested, climbed the stairs leading up to a wide veranda,
+on which opened a sitting-room, lined with teak wood and lighted by
+long glass doors.  Here he was confronted by a little Burmese woman
+with a beaming face.  She wore a short white jacket, an extraordinarily
+tight satin petticoat, or, _tamain_ of wonderful butterfly colours,
+enormous gold ear-rings, and a flower stuck coquettishly behind her
+left ear.  At first he supposed her to be a picturesque attendant, but
+when she extended a tiny hand loaded with rings and murmured "Pleased
+to see you!" he realised that he was addressed by the mistress of the
+house.
+
+"This is my wife," announced Salter as he entered.  "Mee Lay, here's
+Mr. Shafto, one of our new assistants, just out from England; I hope
+you can give him a good dinner?"
+
+"Oh yes, it will be all right," and once more she beamed upon her
+guest, "I will go and see about it now."
+
+And in spite of her tight skirt, Mee Lay glided out of the room with an
+air of surpassing grace.
+
+"I dare say you are surprised to see that Mrs. Salter is of _this
+country_," said her husband, as he sank into a chair; "but it is by no
+means an uncommon match here.  Burmese women are very good-humoured and
+capable; they make capital wives, and there is no denying the
+fascination of the Burmese girl--always so piquant and smiling and
+dainty.  They have also a wonderful capacity for business and
+money-making, and a real hunger for land; some of the best plots in and
+about Rangoon have been picked up by these shrewd little creatures.
+The men-folk, on the other hand, are incurably lazy.  They loaf, gamble
+and amuse themselves and leave their women-kind to trade, or to weave
+silks and manufacture cheroots; numbers of them are in business.  Mee
+Lay, my wife, owns and runs a good-sized rice mill; and if you were to
+look into the back compound you would see it entirely surrounded by her
+matted paddy-bins, biding a rise in the market."
+
+A yet further surprise awaited Shafto, in the shape of a little sallow
+girl, with clouds of crimped golden hair, beautifully dressed in
+European style, in a white embroidered frock and wide silk sash.
+
+Rosetta had inherited the high cheek-bones and short nose of her
+mother's race, the blue eyes and firm jaw of her Yorkshire parent.  On
+the whole, she was an attractive child.
+
+Miss Rosetta Salter received the strange gentleman with overpowering
+condescension, and spoke English in a thin, squeaky voice.  In a
+flatteringly short time she had descended from her high horse, and
+accepted Shafto as a friend, revealed her age (eight years) and told
+him all about her French doll and her new brown boots--also from Paris.
+
+The dinner, which was announced directly after the return of Mrs.
+Salter, proved to be excellent, well cooked and a novelty.  For the
+first time Shafto tasted real curry, also mango fool.  The appointments
+were exclusively European, with the exception of a massive silver bowl,
+filled with purple orchids, which adorned the centre of the table.  Two
+snowy-clad Madras servants waited with silent dexterity and
+conversation never flagged.  Salter discoursed of chummeries and the
+_Blankshire_ passengers, and Mrs. Salter thoughtfully prepared the new
+arrival for the alarming insects of Lower Burma, whilst Rosetta, for
+her part, kept up an accompaniment on a high chirruping note.
+
+During a momentary pause Shafto was startled by an odd sound--an
+imperious, unnatural voice that called, "Tucktoo!  Tucktoo!  Tucktoo!"
+
+"What is it--or _who_ is it?" he inquired anxiously.
+
+"Oh, it's only a large lizard that lives under the eaves," explained
+Salter, "one of our specialities.  In the rains, when he is in good
+voice, he is deafening."
+
+"He brings good and bad luck," added Mrs. Salter.  "Oh, yes, that is
+so," and she flipped the air with her two first fingers, a favourite
+gesture among Burmese women.
+
+"How do you mean luck?" Shafto asked.
+
+"If he gives seven 'Tucktoos' without stopping, that is luck--great big
+luck--but if he goes on, he brings trouble."
+
+"Only if he stops at an odd number," corrected the child.
+
+"I see you know all about it," remarked the guest.
+
+"Oh, yes, our Tucktoo never goes beyond seven--I think he is old--and
+mother says the _nats_ are kind to us."
+
+"The cats are kind to you!" ejaculated Shafto.  "But why not?"
+
+"No, no," hastily broke in Salter, "nats are spirits, good spirits or
+bad, who live in the trees; you will hear enough about them before you
+are a month in Burma.  Their worship is the national faith."
+
+"But I thought Buddhism----" began Shafto, and hesitated.
+
+"Oh, yes, ostensibly and ostentatiously, but wait and see."
+
+"I am a Catholic," announced the child abruptly.
+
+She was excessively self-conscious and anxious to show off before
+Shafto.
+
+"Are you really?" he said with an incredulous smile.
+
+"Oh, yes, I attend the convent school; I am learning French and
+dancing, I go to mass; mother goes to the pagoda festivals--mother is a
+heathen."
+
+"Rosetta!  Mind what you are saying," sharply interposed Salter; "your
+mother's no more a heathen than yourself."
+
+"Rosetta is a nasty little girl," said Mrs. Salter, rising, "she
+forgets herself before company, and must go away to be----"
+
+A succession of shrieks interrupted the verdict.
+
+"Oh, do forgive her, please!" implored Shafto; "I ask it as a favour, a
+special favour."
+
+Meanwhile Rosetta clung to her mother apostrophising her in an unknown
+tongue, then with piercing screams, entirely regardless of her
+beautiful clean frock, she flung herself flat upon the floor.
+
+If Shafto had been inclined to meditation, he might have reflected on
+the future of the offspring of two such divergent countries as the West
+Riding of Yorkshire and Pegu.  At one moment the prim, well-mannered
+English girl; the next, an impulsive, emotional daughter of the Far
+East.  When she grew to woman's estate, which of the races would
+predominate?
+
+Meanwhile, as Rosetta lay prone and kicking upon the _dhurri_, her
+father murmured apologetically:
+
+"When the lassie is a bit over-fired and excited, she doesn't know what
+she is saying."
+
+Mee Lay raised her struggling offspring, was about to bear her away and
+give her "Tap Tap," when again Shafto interposed:
+
+"Oh, I say, do forgive her this time, please, Mrs. Salter.  This is my
+first day in Rangoon--and I ask it as a particular favour."
+
+Mee Lay, an adoring parent, was by no means reluctant to grant his
+petition, and when the tearful culprit was released and set down, she
+turned to Shafto and said in her piping treble:
+
+"Thank you, nice gentleman, but she would not have hurt me much.  It
+was not I who said mother was a heathen savage, but Ethel Lucas, and I
+slapped her, so I did--and Sister gave me a bad mark.  I, too, go to
+the pagoda festivals and like them awfully much.  There are bells and
+beads, and flowers and priests, the same as in the convent."
+
+"Now that peace has been declared, Rosetta, here is a chocolate," said
+her father, "and you can go to bed.  Shafto, we will adjourn into the
+veranda to smoke, watch the rising moon, and listen to the hum of the
+bazaar--a new sound for your ears!"
+
+In a few minutes both were extended in comfortable, long cane chairs,
+no doubt experiencing an agreeable sense of _bien être_.  The outlook,
+with its heavy foliage, was restful to the eye, and the air was charged
+with a spicy warmth.
+
+Presently Salter began: "On Monday you are due at the office to report
+yourself.  You need not be scared at the Head, although he has a stiff,
+discouraging sort of manner, and they say that, like the east wind, he
+finds out all your weak points in the twinkling of an eye!  He is just
+and impartial, and no man is more respected in the whole of Burma than
+George Gregory.  I suppose you know that Gregory's is one of the
+oldest-established houses here?"
+
+Shafto nodded; he had learned this fact on board ship.
+
+"We do a great trade and employ a number of young fellows, mostly from
+public schools and universities.  One or two other firms do not engage
+gentlemen--for reasons that, perhaps, you may guess.  Out of business
+hours our house keeps a sharp eye on their employés.  A young chap can
+get into any amount of mischief in Rangoon--Rangoon is full of
+temptations."
+
+"Oh, is it?" muttered Shafto indifferently--what could its temptations
+offer in comparison to London?
+
+"Anyhow it seems a huge, stirring sort of place," he added, as he
+watched motors, bicycles, and _gharries_ whirring past the entrance.
+
+"Stirring!  Why you may say so--it's humming like a hive day and night.
+There are so many taps to turn in this wealthy country--timber, rice,
+wolfram, jade, tin, oil, rubies.  A man with a little capital, if he
+does not lose his head, can make a fortune in ten years, especially in
+paddy.  Our particular trade is teak and paddy--that's rice, you know.
+I expect your work will be on the wharf and pretty heavy at first."
+
+"Well, anyway, it's an open-air job."
+
+"Yes, you have the pull now; this is our cold season--October to March;
+but the hot weather is no joke; as for the rains, you might as well
+live in a steam laundry; we get a hundred inches here in Lower Burma."
+
+"A hundred inches!" echoed Shafto, "you are not serious?"
+
+"Yes; it pours down as if the sea were overhead, and goes on steadily
+for days.  Frogs flop round and round your room, and you can almost
+hear the trees growing.  In the rains the forests are a wonderful
+sight, such dense masses of foliage and flowers.  Can you imagine great
+trees entirely covered with exquisite blooms, and garlands of pink and
+lilac creepers interlacing the jungle?"
+
+"How gorgeous!  Perhaps I may see all this some day," said Shafto,
+"after I have explored Rangoon itself."
+
+"Well, I hope you may," assented his companion, "and now I want to ask
+you a strange question."
+
+"All right--ask away!"
+
+"You have only been a few hours on shore, and I am curious to know if
+you have received any impression of the place and people--you know,
+first impressions go a long way!"
+
+"Yes.  Although I have only just rattled through the streets and along
+the Strand, the impression I gathered is that the Burmese appear to be
+an amazingly happy crew, with no thought for the morrow; they were all
+laughing and chattering as if life was a splendid joke and they enjoyed
+it thoroughly.  The _joie de vivre_ simply hits me in the eye!"
+
+"I can explain all that," said Salter, putting down his cheroot and
+sitting forward in his long chair.  "The Burman has no fear of death,
+but proclaims an intense consciousness that it is a mere passing over
+to another existence--one of a chain of many future lives--and I think
+I may say that this belief is universal.  They also declare that a
+man's present life is absolutely controlled by the influence of past
+good or bad deeds, and that in the next world they may possibly be
+better off than they are in this.  Although a Burman gives alms,
+worships at the pagoda on appointed days, and repeats the doxology he
+has learnt at school, he governs his life by the _nats_--spirits of the
+air, the forests, streams, and home, who must be propitiated."
+
+"I never heard of these _nats_ until now," said Shafto.
+
+"No; but, as I have said before, you will hear a good deal about them
+here, especially if you mix with the Burmans."
+
+"I certainly hope I shall see something of the people of the country."
+
+"You will find them interesting; a full-blooded, pleasure-loving race;
+they've curious, original ideas, drawn from their ancient and sacred
+books, and an amazingly generous notion of time.  For instance, they
+talk glibly of worlds a hundred thousand years old, and believe that
+this very planet has been destroyed no fewer than sixty-five
+times--chiefly by fire, on ten occasions by water, and once by wind!
+According to them, as in the New Testament, 'a thousand years are but
+as yesterday.'  And yet they do not acknowledge the existence of a
+Supreme Being--the highest glory is annihilation."
+
+At this moment a light little figure flitted up the stairs, leaving an
+impression of slender elegance and satin skirt.
+
+"Ah, there goes Ma Chit, my wife's cousin!" explained Salter.
+
+"And I must be taking my departure," said Shafto rising.  "What you
+have been telling me is extraordinarily interesting, and I would gladly
+sit on for hours, but it is ten o'clock."
+
+"Yes, and we workers are early birds.  I hope you will come and see us
+again.  I have been twenty years in the country and I can tell you many
+a curious tale.  To-morrow will be Sunday and, if you like, I will call
+round and take you to do a bit of sightseeing--the Pagoda and the
+lakes."
+
+"I should enjoy it of all things; perhaps you will have tiffin with me
+at the hotel?"
+
+"No, you must come to us; twelve o'clock sharp, and afterwards we'll
+make a start."
+
+"Then I'll just go in and say good-bye to Mrs. Salter."
+
+When they entered the sitting-room, where lamps had been lighted, they
+found the lady of the house in an ecstasy of admiration, gesticulating
+with her tiny brown hands, as she gloated over a length of rose and
+silver brocade.  Standing beside her was the proud owner of this
+magnificence; a slim, graceful girl, wearing heavy gold ornaments and
+flowers in her hair, and, in spite of an extravagant use of pearl
+powder, undeniably pretty.  Her slanting eyes were long-lashed and
+expressive, and her little mocking mouth wore a bewitching smile.
+
+"Look at my _tamain_, Papa Salter!" she cried; "a piece of the best
+satin, just enough for a skirt--one yard and a half; Herr Bernhard
+brought it to me from England."
+
+"Splendid indeed, Ma Chit," he replied; "you will cut them all out at
+the big festival and the _Pwes_.  Mee Lay, Mr. Shafto wishes to say
+'good night'!"
+
+Mee Lay took a somewhat preoccupied leave of her guest, her eyes and
+attention being riveted upon the gorgeous material in her hand; but Ma
+Chit accorded the young man a gay salutation and a splendid view of her
+beautiful white teeth.
+
+Salter accompanied his guest to the entrance gate, giving him careful
+directions as to the whereabouts of his hotel.  It was an exquisite
+starlight night; the roar of the bazaar, the clang of the trams, and
+the whistling of launches were in the distance; the compound itself was
+so still that the sudden thud of a fallen jack-fruit made quite a
+startling sound.  As the men exchanged last words, their attention was
+arrested by a charming tableau in the lighted sitting-room; two figures
+were outlined in strong relief against the dark teak walls, both
+absorbed in conversation.  Ma Chit presented a particularly attractive
+picture, with her rose-crowned head, graceful posture, and waving
+hands; even as they gazed, her rippling laugh drifted seductively
+towards them.
+
+"In this country, great is the tyranny of Temptation, and _there_ is
+one of the temptations," gravely announced Salter; "Rangoon is full of
+these fascinating _chits_, who have no morals, but are witty,
+good-tempered and gay.  Ma Chit--the name means 'my love'--is said to
+be irresistible and the prettiest girl in the province; she is
+Bernhard's housekeeper."
+
+"His housekeeper!" repeated Shafto; "why, he told me he lived at the
+German Club!"
+
+"That may be; but he has a fine house in Kokine.  It is not an uncommon
+situation--that sort of temporary marriage.  Ma Chit looks after his
+interests, rules his household, and makes him comfortable; her people
+acquiesce.  All marriages are easily arranged and easily dissolved
+among the Burmans.  A young man may offer sweets, serenade a girl a few
+times; if he is acceptable, there's a family dinner, with much chewing
+of betel nut, and that constitutes the ceremony!"
+
+"What a happy-go-lucky country!" exclaimed Shafto.
+
+"Happy, yes!  Lucky, I'm not sure!  Well now, don't lose your way;
+first turn to the right, second to the left, and there is the Strand.
+Good night!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+EAST AND WEST
+
+The first and principal sight in Rangoon is the great Shwe Dagon
+Pagoda, and on Sunday afternoon Shafto and his new acquaintance passed
+between the golden lions at its base, and slowly ascended flight after
+flight of steep brick steps, lined with flower-decked shrines and
+blocked by dense masses of worshippers, who were swarming up and down.
+
+The temple stands in imposing majesty on a wide platform and dominates
+the town--in fact, apart from the trade and business element, the
+Pagoda _is_ Rangoon.  The splendid edifice is entirely encased in
+plates of solid gold, and the "Ti," which rises from the inverted
+begging-bowl, is studded with priceless precious stones--emeralds,
+rubies, sapphires and diamonds--which flash and glitter in the sun.
+These have been presented by pious pilgrims from all parts of the
+province and beyond; for, with the exception of the Caaba at Mecca, no
+earthly shrine attracts such multitudes, or receives such generous
+largesse.
+
+Shafto and his companion having toiled up the steps, worn hollow by
+millions of feet, halted on the plateau, which was half-covered with
+little stalls, whose keepers were selling flowers, candles, flags,
+dolls, and images of Buddha--made in Birmingham.  Here were hundreds,
+nay thousands of joyous gaily-clad worshippers moving to and fro, a
+truly brilliant pageant of passing life.  It was difficult to say which
+were the more strikingly dressed: the men in brilliant turbans and silk
+waist cloths, or the women in satin skirts of endless pattern, their
+chignons wreathed with flowers, wearing a profusion of gold ornaments,
+and attended by many children.
+
+"Ah, I see you are struck with the spectacle!" said Salter.  "Isn't it
+an orgy of colour--rose, orange, purple, scarlet?  There is nothing
+more picturesque than a Burmese crowd."
+
+"Yes, a great show!" rejoined Shafto; "in gala costume.  I can now
+understand why the national emblem is a peacock."
+
+As they made their way through the throng there was a clanging of
+melodious gongs and sounds of loud continuous chanting, whilst overhead
+the far-away sea breeze stirred the bells on the Ti to a silvery
+tinkle, tinkle.
+
+To Shafto this scene was amazing and impressive; the wonderful golden
+Pagoda with its crown of jewels, the vast multitudes in many-hued
+garments, the flowers, fluttering flags, coloured lights, all as it
+were attuned to the accompaniment of merry voices, sonorous Gregorian
+chanting, and deep-toned gongs.
+
+And what a labyrinth of shrines!  Hours might be spent examining their
+rich carvings.  At one of the principal of these shrines a service was
+proceeding; to Shafto, it recalled the celebration of mass in a Roman
+Catholic chapel, for here were shaven priests intoning prayers on the
+steps of a decorated altar; here also were incense, lights, and a
+multitude of devout people, kneeling, rosary in hand, chanting the
+responses.
+
+Among the worshippers Shafto recognised Mee Lay and her cousin Ma Chit,
+attired in what, no doubt, were their festival toilets.  Mee Lay's
+white jacket was fastened by diamond buttons, and large diamonds
+sparkled in her little brown ears; as for Ma Chit, she was adorned with
+the national gold necklace, or _dalizan_.  In her sleek, black hair
+were artfully arranged sprigs of scarlet hibiscus, and between her tiny
+hands, glittering with rings, and uplifted palm to palm, she held a
+beautiful flower, which, when her devotions were accomplished, she laid
+upon the shrine with an undulating movement of adoration and grace.
+
+"You see my wife follows her own religion," remarked Salter, "and I
+make no objection.  I was brought up as a Baptist, in the very
+strictest sense of the word.  Rosetta, as you already know, is a Roman
+Catholic; sometimes Mee Lay brings her here; the service and the
+spectacle are attractive enough, though never so to me.  My
+Nonconformist blood leaves me cold to this sort of display.  Mee Lay is
+a good, religious woman; when you come to think of it, the East is far
+more devout than the West.  She insists that our faith is a mere feeble
+copy of Buddhism, which had six hundreds years the start of
+Christianity.  There is no doubt that the Buddhists preach most of the
+moral truths that are to be found in the Gospels, and Buddha was a
+Deliverer, who taught the necessity of a pure life, of self-denial and
+unworldliness.  He exhorted his disciples to practise every virtue.
+But here is the difference between Buddhism and Christianity: Buddha
+brings a man by a thorny path to the brink of a huge, black chasm, and
+drops him into annihilation."
+
+"It seems unsatisfying," said Shafto.  "Yet, by all accounts, Buddhism
+is a wonderful religion.  I heard a fellow on board ship discussing its
+code and the extraordinary way in which it has fastened on mankind, and
+spread.  He declared that every fourth human being who came into the
+world was a Buddhist!"
+
+"So they say," replied Salter with a careless shrug.  "I doubt if the
+assertion would hold water.  At the same time Buddha has an enormous
+number of followers in China, Tibet, India, and Ceylon; they, too, have
+traditions of a Holy Mother and Child, of a fast in the wilderness, and
+here, even now, crucifixion is the form of capital punishment."
+
+"And what do you think about Buddhism in Burma?" inquired Shafto.
+
+"Buddhism will hold its ground, in spite of many converts among the
+Karens.  The Burmans are a sunny, happy people, as you see, who hope
+for a good time here, and a good time in the worlds to come.  They held
+the same expectations and creed, and wore the same clothes, two
+thousand years ago; time does not appear to touch them; they are as gay
+and irresponsible as so many butterflies.  You know Kipling's lines to
+Rangoon?"
+
+Before Shafto could reply, Salter quoted in a sonorous monotone:
+
+  'Hail, Mother!  Do they call me rich in trade?
+    Little care I, but hear the shorn priest drone,
+  And watch my silk-clad lovers, man by maid,
+    Laugh 'neath my Shwe Dagon.'
+
+"From the 'Song of the Cities.'  Rather appropriate to the occasion,
+eh?"
+
+"Yes, fits it to a T," assented Shafto, as his eye wandered over the
+vast assemblage on the plateau, talking, joking, laughing, smoking,
+absolutely content with the day, without a thought for the morrow.
+
+The atmosphere felt heavy with the scent of incense, flowers, and
+cheroots; little bells still tinkled gaily and the air was full of
+silver music.
+
+"Now I should like to show you the reverse of this scene," said Salter;
+"it won't take you long," and he led his companion away to a solitary,
+deserted place at the rear of the Pagoda.
+
+"Here," he said, indicating some dilapidated moss-grown stones, "are a
+number of totally-forgotten English graves.  There was desperate
+fighting all round this very plateau when we first came to this
+country, some seventy odd years ago; these dead, forgotten pioneer
+fellows struck a stout blow for the British flag.  British and German
+trade, thanks to them, have flourished like a green bay tree; ships and
+railways carry all before them, and the days of the caravan are
+numbered.  Well, now we shall move on to the Royal lakes and Dalhousie
+Park, and see all we can, for, after to-day, you won't have much spare
+time for doing the tourist--you will be a cog in the machine."
+
+The scene presented by the Royal lakes proved an uncompromising
+contrast to that at the Pagoda; save for the Eastern background of
+palms and bamboos the gathering might have been in London.  Here were
+motor-cars, smart carriages, pretty women wearing the latest fashions,
+men in flannels and tweeds; there was but little colour in their
+clothes--or their complexions--no brilliant orange or flaming scarlet,
+no bells, gongs, buoyant vitality, or merry laughter; the community
+were languidly discussing the mail news, the latest bridge tournament,
+and the approaching race meeting.  By the lakes you encountered
+Europe--more particularly Great Britain.  At the Shwe Dagon you found
+yourself in touch with an older world and face to face with the silken
+East!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+"KEEP AN EYE UPON HER"
+
+Gregory's proved to be a vast and imposing concern, occupying a
+prominent situation on the Strand and evidently doing an immense trade.
+All this the new assistant readily gathered as Salter steered him in
+the direction of the manager's sanctum.
+
+Here he found the head of the firm, a tall individual, with grizzled
+hair covering a fine square head, a hard, clean-shaven face, and a
+pince-nez--which pince-nez he invariably removed when about to make a
+disagreeable remark.  He received the new employé with an air of cool
+detachment, and shook hands in a manner that implied, "You must not
+expect this sort of thing every day."  Being taller than Shafto, he
+appeared to tower over him as he questioned him respecting the firm in
+London--which was but a small and insignificant offshoot of the great
+house in Rangoon; then he made a few perfunctory remarks on the subject
+of the voyage out, and said:
+
+"I understand from Salter that you have found quarters in a chummery; I
+hope your house-mates will prove congenial----" he paused and added as
+a sort of afterthought, "Mrs. Gregory is usually at home on Thursdays
+from three to six."
+
+"Thank you," murmured Shafto.
+
+The principal then struck a handbell, which summoned an elderly man to
+his presence.
+
+"Lowcroft," he said, "this is Mr. Shafto, who will take over Mr. Shaw's
+share of the landing business; you had better show him round and give
+him instructions.  By the way," turning to Shafto, "I suppose you don't
+know a word of Burmese or Hindustani?"
+
+The new arrival announced his complete ignorance of either language.
+
+"Then you must see about getting a munshi at once."
+
+And with a nod the new assistant found himself dismissed.
+
+On the very first Thursday after his arrival in Rangoon, Shafto
+presented himself at the "Barn," a residence purchased many years
+previously for the use of the then reigning Gregory.
+
+The house was large but unostentatious; the well-matured beautiful
+grounds and gardens were notable even in Rangoon.  A recent
+acquaintance, who escorted Shafto, presented him to Mrs. Gregory, a
+smart, sandy-haired little lady of five or six and thirty, with an
+animated, expressive face, intelligent grey eyes, and slightly
+prominent white teeth.  She was exquisitely dressed in some soft pale
+blue material, and wore a row of large and lustrous pearls.  Among the
+crowd of guests the newcomer discovered, to his great relief, several
+of his fellow-assistants, and not a few passengers from the
+_Blankshire_, including Mrs. Milward, who hailed him with a radiant
+countenance and plump, uplifted hands.
+
+"My dear Douglas!  How I've been longing to see you!  I'm off to
+Mandalay to-morrow morning."
+
+"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."
+
+"And I'm very sorry to go--there's such lots to do and see in this
+surprising place, but Ella has nailed me down to a date.  Have you seen
+anything of Sophy--I mean," correcting herself, "Miss Leigh?"
+
+"No, I've been tremendously busy fitting on my new harness and have had
+no time for calling."
+
+"And yet you are _here_!" she protested, with arched brows.
+
+"Oh yes, but this is official; Gregory as good as ordered me to wait
+upon his consort."
+
+"Hush, hush, Douglas!  She is a great friend of mine--my own cousin,
+and a dear.  Of course, I know that George looks as if he had swallowed
+the fire-irons, but that really means nothing; he is obliged to keep
+all you naughty boys in order!"
+
+"You think I'm a naughty boy?"
+
+"Oh well, I didn't mean that, my young Sir Galahad!  Now come away with
+me and I'll show you the wonderful ferns and the orchid house.  I must
+have a good, comfortable, private talk."
+
+As soon as the pair found themselves alone in the fernery she turned to
+face him, and said, with unusual animation:
+
+"Now I want to tell you about Sophy--I'm miserable when I think of her."
+
+"Miserable--but why?"
+
+"When you've been to call at 'Heidelberg'--I may tell you it's miles
+and miles away--you'll see for yourself; it's my opinion that she has
+been decoyed out to this country under false pretences."
+
+"Oh, but surely Mrs. Krauss is her own aunt?"
+
+"She is, and more or less an invalid, utterly broken down by years of
+Burma.  Mrs. Krauss is apathetic, dull, and boneless, and looks as if
+you could fold her up and put her in a bag.  Herr Krauss is a fat,
+loud-talking, trampling German--_not_ a gentleman, but a man with a
+keen eye to business.  His wife's half-caste maid who waited upon her,
+managed the house, and was with her for years, has married and gone to
+Australia, and poor Sophy has been imported to replace the treasure;
+that is, to nurse her aunt, run the house, and play the old bounder's
+accompaniments, for he, like Nero, is musical.  He is also a friend of
+that odious Bernhard's.  Bernhard is a well-born Prussian--I'll say
+that for him--the other is of the waiter class, who has made his money
+in China and Burma."
+
+"Oh, come, I say, this is rather bad!  What's to be done?"
+
+"I only wish I knew.  The Krauss abode is large and gloomy--it looks
+like a house in a bad temper, and stands in the heart of the German
+community; the servants seemed a low-class lot, the rooms were dark and
+untidy, and smelt of mould and medicine, but Sophy was just as bright
+and cheerful as usual; apparently delighted with everything--loyal, of
+course, to her own blood.  Now, I know that you and Sophy are friends,
+and I want you to keep an eye upon her," concluded this injudicious
+matron.
+
+"I'm afraid my eye will not be of much use," protested Shafto, "I am
+most frightfully sorry for what you tell me, but Miss Leigh has lots of
+pals.  There are the Pomeroys, Maitlands and----"
+
+"Yes, that's true," interrupted Mrs. Milward impatiently, "but she has
+no way of getting about.  Krauss takes the car and is away in it all
+day.  I gather that he has the strict German idea about a girl's being
+brought up to cook, to sew, to slave, to find _all_ her interests in
+her home!  In fact, he told me so plainly; he also added that he had
+paid for Sophy's passage and implied that he intended to have the worth
+of his money--his pound of flesh!"
+
+"Brute!" ejaculated Shafto.
+
+"Agreed!  I have enlisted one friend for the poor child.  Polly
+Gregory--she is so clever, clear-headed and decided, and will be a rock
+of strength--she is sure to like Sophy, eh?"
+
+"Oh yes, that will be all right!"
+
+"I put in a good word for you too, Master Douglas."
+
+"That was kind," and he swept off his straw hat.
+
+"I wonder if that's meant sarcastic?  Perhaps you think good wine needs
+no bush?  Yes, and I've told Polly I knew you as a boy--and how,
+instead of quill-driving, you hoped to wear a sword."
+
+"Hope told a flattering tale," he answered with a laugh.  "Don't forget
+that the pen is the mightier of the two."
+
+"No," she dissented; "I back the sword, though it's rarely drawn now,
+thank goodness.  Well, I've said my say and given you my impressions
+and instructions; we must go back and join the _Burra Mems_.  I shall
+write to you from Mandalay and see you later, when I pass through to
+Calcutta.  Now you had better go and try to get a set of tennis," and,
+with a wave of adieu, Mrs. Milward strolled away across the grass, an
+attractive personality with her fresh complexion, soft round face, dark
+pencilled brows, and bewitching mauve toilet--which toilet was
+subsequently tabooed by her daughter as "too young"!
+
+"George," said Mrs. Gregory to her husband, "that new importation is a
+nice boy; Milly Milward has known him since he was in blouses; he has
+had rather hard luck; his father was swindled out of a comfortable
+fortune, and he has to turn to and earn his bread."
+
+"What we all do!" growled George.
+
+"Yes, but some ways are so much more agreeable than others.  His
+profession was to have been along the path of glory."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Why, the Army, of course."
+
+"And now his profession is checking inventories and cargoes.  As he is
+new to the business, he will have his hands fairly full for the next
+few months; so, my dear Polly, don't turn his head just _yet_."
+
+"As if I ever turned anybody's head."
+
+"I cannot answer for others, but you certainly turned mine."
+
+"Ah, but that was twelve years ago; I'm afraid my fascinations have
+faded since then.  Joking apart, George, Milly has left me two
+legacies--two protégés to befriend.  Shafto is one--I am to invite him
+to tea, and talk to him with wisdom, and win his complete and entire
+confidence."
+
+"Oh! and the other?"
+
+"The other is Miss Leigh, whom she chaperoned from home.  She is living
+with an aunt, who is married to a German named Krauss."
+
+"Yes, I know; a poisonous chap!"
+
+"So she seems to think, and that this girl, who by all accounts is very
+pretty and charming, and a marvellous pianist, has been lured out to
+act as maid and housekeeper, and save the pocket of Herr Krauss.  Now,
+as I have two legacies, I want to know if you will take one of them off
+my hands?"
+
+"As if my hands were not full!"
+
+"Yes, officially, only; now I offer you your choice.  Which will you
+have?  Shafto or the girl?"
+
+"You need scarcely ask; I'll take the girl, of course, and leave you
+Shafto."
+
+"Oh, you are an old silly!" she exclaimed, ruffling up his grizzled
+hair; "I wonder which of us will have the better bargain."
+
+With regard to the subject of Mrs. Gregory's conversation, Douglas set
+to work with the proverbial enthusiasm of a new broom and soon
+became--as Salter had predicted--a cog in the whirling wheels of a
+machine.  But Thursday being the Station holiday, he hired a taxi and
+had himself driven out to Kokine, in order to call on Mrs. Krauss and
+Miss Leigh; unfortunately his journey proved to be a waste of time and
+money.  The leisurely servant who emerged from the entrance of
+"Heidelberg," salver in hand, accepted his visiting-card with a salaam,
+and then announced with stolid unconcern:
+
+"Missis can't see."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE MANTLE OF FERNANDA
+
+During the long and weary wait whilst the _Blankshire_ was being made
+fast, Sophy Leigh and her girl friends had collected in a group taking
+leave of one another and making plans for future meetings.
+
+"I must say I envy you," said Lena Morgan, the elder of the two plain,
+pleasant sisters, whose father was "something in timber."  "You will be
+the darling of enormously rich relatives, have several motors, and
+horses galore."
+
+"I'm not so sure," she gaily rejoined.  "'Galore' is such a big word,
+but from what my aunt has told us, I believe I shall have what is
+called 'a good time,' and I hope everyone of us will share it.  I
+expect Aunt Flora will be here to meet me," she added with happy
+certainty.
+
+"Why, of course she will," assented Eva Pomeroy; "she does not have a
+niece out every mail.  I dare say she has already bought you a nice
+saddle horse.  You will be riding every morning, and we can meet and
+arrange all sorts of jolly picnics and expeditions.  I shall come round
+and look you up as soon as I've unpacked and settled."
+
+At this moment a heavy bang announced the letting down of the gangway,
+over which a crowd instantly poured and scattered about the decks.
+
+Among the first to appear aft was an immense individual, wearing a
+loose tussore suit, a huge pith topee, and a black and yellow
+cummerbund.  His face, with its great jowl, wide lipless mouth, short
+chin, and a pair of goggle eyes, was distinctly of the frog type.
+
+"Which of you is Miss Leigh?" he demanded in a loud voice, as he
+approached the group of girls.
+
+Sophy stood forward and before she could evade the outrage, this ugly
+fat man had put his hands on her shoulders and given her a smacking
+kiss on each cheek.
+
+Even in this exciting moment of imminent departure, the circle paused
+for a moment and stared aghast--such an appalling person to claim and
+kiss Sophy Leigh!  What a frightful shock for the unfortunate
+girl--whilst the sensations of several young men on the verge of the
+group are better imagined than described!
+
+Herr Krauss, for his part, had received a surprise of a far more
+agreeable nature, being entirely unprepared to welcome such a pretty,
+fashionable young lady, in the character of his wife's niece.  Flora
+had invariably spoken of her relatives as "ugly, dowdy little things";
+but then, she had only known them at the awkward age and, being herself
+remarkably handsome, was super-critical with regard to beauty.
+
+"Now come along and show me your luggage," urged Herr Krauss, releasing
+his new acquaintance, "and I will see about it.  The hand gepäck can go
+in the car."
+
+With a sense of dazed bewilderment, Sophy took a hasty leave of her
+friends and prepared to follow her leader.  As she kept close behind
+him, whilst he forced his way through the crowd, she noticed his short,
+thick neck, and powerful, aggressive shoulders--she also noticed that
+he allowed her to carry all her parcels herself.
+
+When at last they reached the car, he stepped in with surprising
+agility and said as he seated himself:
+
+"Now come along, put your things, umbrellas, wraps and parcels here.
+My man," nodding towards a native, "will look after the heavy baggage.
+Better stick your dressing-bag in front, as there is not much room.  I
+take up two shares--ha! ha!"
+
+This remark was painfully true.  His burly form occupied most of the
+back seat, and Sophy with difficulty squeezed herself in beside him.
+As they glided slowly away, through the dense throng, she looked about
+her--her curiosity as raw and eager as that of Shafto.
+
+"What a wonderful, busy place!" she exclaimed.  "I see you have
+telephones and trams in all directions."
+
+"Oh, trams!" Krauss echoed contemptuously.  "We have _everything_ in
+Rangoon; great shops and offices, public buildings, a cathedral, a
+mosque, theatres, clubs, sawmills, rice mills, banks--oh yes, it's a
+fine place, and so rich," and he smacked his lips as he added, "Burma
+is the land of opportunity."
+
+"How is my aunt?" inquired Sophy.
+
+"Only middling--she will be glad to see you, and I expect you will do
+her good.  We live a long way out--in Kokine, where Germans herd
+together, and I take this chance of a talk.  I am a busy
+man--particularly of late; and time with me means _money_, so I'll tell
+you what I have to say in as few words as possible."
+
+Sophy nodded her head in agreeable assent.
+
+"Some years ago my wife met with a bad accident--a fall, out
+paper-chasing.  It did not seem much at the time, though she lost her
+nerve; but it came against her later.  During the last two or three
+years her health has broken down; she suffers from chronic neuralgia in
+head and spine, and for days she lies like a dead woman."
+
+"Oh, poor Aunt Flora, how very sad!"
+
+"Yes, you may say so.  Well, for the last ten years she has had an
+invaluable maid--Fernanda, a Portuguese half-caste, a treasure, who
+waited on and nursed her, and took entire charge of the housekeeping.
+Fernanda understood my tastes to a T--the curries and stews and blood
+sausages that I am fond of, and was a rare hand at coffee.  Then came a
+blow!  Fernanda made up her silly mind to marry a Scotch engineer and
+go to Australia.  I was at my wits' end the day she gave notice; I said
+to myself: 'Ach Gott! what can we do?  No maids in Rangoon, and meine
+liebe Flora so helpless!'  Then a splendid thought came into my
+mind--her nieces!  Flora is fond of her family and has often talked of
+your mother, and of you, so I wrote off at once, and--here you are!"
+
+Sophy was about to speak, but he laid a heavy, restraining hand upon
+her arm and continued:
+
+"There are just one or two little things I wish to say.  Your aunt has
+a clever ayah who knows what to do, and when she has her attacks I
+leave her alone--by her own wish.  Also, she doesn't like to have her
+health noticed--though everyone knows that she's more or less an
+invalid.  I believe, if her mind were diverted and occupied she would
+be better."
+
+"I'm a pretty good nurse," began Sophy; "I've a Red Cross certificate
+and I like nursing----"
+
+"Oh, that is of no use," he interrupted impatiently.  "You must nurse
+her _mind_; amuse her with cards, reading, games, music--that is your
+job.  Well, then there is the housekeeping; you will have to take the
+place of Fernanda.  She looked after the servants, the mending, the
+stores, and the cooking--you shall step into _her_ shoes.  Of course,
+it will be an immense responsibility for a young girl."
+
+As he spoke he turned his head and looked at his _vis-à-vis_ with a
+glance which seemed to imply that he was endowing her with an empire.
+
+"Of course, I am aware that you English are slatternly, ignorant, and
+extravagant managers," he continued pleasantly, "but my excellent
+friend and neighbour, Frau Wurm, has promised to take you in hand."
+
+"But I'm afraid I could not undertake all this," protested Sophy.  "I
+know very little of housekeeping in a large establishment.  I can knit
+and sew, make coffee and savouries, arrange flowers--and that's about
+all."
+
+"Gott!  Gott!  Can you not make confitures and cakes and salads?
+Confiture I must have with every meal--a nice saucer of cherries or
+raspberries or greengages, so good with meat.  Well, well, never mind,
+you shall soon learn.  Frau Wurm will teach you much.  We no longer see
+company--just two or three men to dine and smoke; your aunt has dropped
+her English circle.  The English community changes, and many of her old
+friends have gone away or died--and a good job, too!  We live in the
+German quarter and are surrounded by compatriots.  You speak German, of
+course?"
+
+"No--only French; German is so difficult."
+
+"Tch! tch! tch!  How lazy you English are!  We all speak English.  As
+for me, my mother was English--you could not tell that I was not born
+an Englishman?"
+
+Apart from his appearance and guttural r's, this claim was justified.
+
+"I suppose you made lots of friends on board ship?"
+
+"Yes, a good many."
+
+"Girls, I suppose--idle girls, who will come buzzing round to coax you
+to play with them.  That is all they are good for; but you will have
+your work, as I have pointed out.  If you are industrious, I shall lend
+you a horse that was your aunt's--he is not up to my weight--and I will
+take you to our fine club when I can spare an afternoon.  At present, I
+am immensely occupied, engaged in collecting wolfram.  Do you know what
+wolfram is?"
+
+"No, I have never heard of it," humbly admitted Sophy.
+
+"Well, it is ore used for hardening steel--extremely scarce and
+valuable; it comes from Tavoy, but business connected with it takes me
+up and down the river, and even as far as Calcutta and Singapore.  Now,
+with you to look after the house and your aunt, I shall feel so free
+and easy in my mind.  Ah, here we are; this is 'Heidelberg,'" he said,
+as the car swung in between two tall gate piers.
+
+"Heidelberg" was a good-sized residence, with spacious surroundings;
+palms, bamboos and crotona abounded, and a wonderful collection of
+gigantic cannas--red, yellow and orange--gave colour to the compound.
+A crowd of lazy retainers, who were hanging about, gaped in silence
+upon the new arrival.
+
+"Now, I'll take you to your aunt at once," said Krauss, descending
+heavily from the car, but making no effort to assist his niece.  Then
+he led the way upstairs, striding along the veranda with a heavy,
+despotic tread, and through a large, dim drawing-room, where Sophy
+caught an impression of much carved furniture, the figure of a large
+alabaster Buddha gleaming through the shadows, and a stifling
+atmosphere of dust and sandalwood.  Pushing aside a tinkling bamboo
+screen, they entered another apartment, which was yet gloomier and more
+obscure, and here on a wide sofa, propped, among large, silk cushions,
+lay a sick and wasted woman, who turned on Sophy a sallow face and a
+pair of drowsy, dark eyes.
+
+"Here is your new treasure, mein schatz," announced her husband!  "I
+brought her straight up."
+
+"Oh, dear child," she murmured, "this is one of my--my dreadful days;
+so sorry--so sorry--so sorry," and she slowly closed her eyes upon her
+pretty niece.
+
+Sophy stooped and lifted her hand (which was limp and clammy) to her
+lips, and said to herself, as she did so, that poor Aunt Flora was
+woefully changed.  She recalled her as a beautiful vision, beautifully
+dressed, and so gay.  Now her face was yellow and withered, and she
+looked positively old and gaunt.
+
+All at once a buxom ayah advanced---a stout, straight-backed Madrassi,
+with her black hair in a chignon, a ring in her nose, jewelled rings in
+her ears, wearing a handsome blue-and-gold saree, coquettishly draped
+round her ample form, the usual short silk bodice, or _choli_, and
+numerous heavy bangles.  She salaamed to Sophy with both hands, and
+Sophy, who had never before beheld such an apparition, gazed in
+admiring silence; the ayah's carriage, her gait and sheeny
+protuberance, recalled to mind a prosperous pouter pigeon.
+
+"My missis plenty sick to-day," said Lily, "never seeing people--that
+no good; to-morrow, she may be arl right, but _now_ she must sleep, and
+I will take the new missy to her room."
+
+Sophy's room, which was large and, rather bare, overlooked the stables,
+cook-house and servants' quarters, and here she was introduced to her
+own attendant Motee, a timid creature in white, who seemed to rise, as
+it were, out of the floor.
+
+"Motee is the best lady's ayah in Rangoon," explained Lily with an
+offhand air, "she understands Miss Sahibs, she will pack and unpack,
+dress hair--and hold her tongue."
+
+After giving Motee some directions, unpacking her favourite hats and
+changing her dress, Sophy went forth in order to explore her new home.
+The whole establishment had a squalid, neglected appearance and sadly
+lacked the eye of the mistress.  The compound or garden, with its
+masses of gorgeous tropical trees and plants, was overgrown and jungly,
+poultry wandered about at their own sweet will, and even invaded the
+veranda--yet apparently there was no lack of staff.  On the contrary,
+from her bedroom window she had observed groups of men talking and
+smoking, presumably servants, as several wore silver badges on their
+turbans, and soiled white linen coats, and among these were some jovial
+Burmans and one or two wide-trousered Chinamen.
+
+No doubt Fernanda, the treasure, had kept the house in working order,
+and now that she had abdicated, her sceptre lay in the dust--in every
+sense of the word.  Was it her, Sophy's, duty to raise it?  She noticed
+quantities of litter and cobwebs in the drawing-room, but there were no
+flowers or knick-knacks; the silver teapot that appeared with tea at
+five o'clock was nearly black.  It was not a luxurious meal, a weak
+Chinese mixture, and a plate of fossilised biscuits.
+
+The morning after her arrival Sophy was awakened by a soft tremulous
+touch on her hand; she opened her eyes and beheld her aunt stooping
+over her.  She was clad in a shabby, splendidly embroidered red kimono,
+and appeared to have made a temporary recovery.
+
+Mrs. Krauss offered her niece a warmly affectionate welcome and many
+caresses, and then, sitting on the side of the bed, asked eager
+questions respecting her mother and sister, their mutual relations, and
+all the family news; but made no allusion to the state of her own
+health, or to the dirty and neglected condition of her establishment.
+
+"So Karl met you himself," she said, "although he is so busy; that was
+nice.  He has a kind heart and I do hope you will like one another."
+
+"Yes, I hope we shall," assented Sophy, but her conscience protested
+that this hope was vain--already she disliked him.
+
+"He looks to you to step into Fernanda's shoes; but of course I won't
+have that.  Fernanda had enormous wages.  Oh, dear child, I can't tell
+you how I miss her," and tears stood in her dark eyes.  "Karl has such
+odd, old-fashioned German ideas--you must not mind him--though he is
+getting more German every day.  He says a woman is just a hausfrau, who
+must sew and cook and do whatever a man orders.  She is to have no mind
+of her own--and very little amusement."
+
+"Then, Aunt Flora, one thing is certain--I shall never marry a German."
+
+"I dare say it strikes you as strange that I should have done so; but
+Karl has always been devoted to me.  I suppose your mother has told you
+that, when I was eighteen, I ran away to marry Charlie Bellamy, whose
+regiment was under orders for Hong Kong; we were fearfully poor and
+fearfully happy; then in a dog-cart accident, Charlie was killed and I
+was taken up for dead.  But I recovered, as you see.  The Hong Kong
+people were angels to me--one's own country folks always _are_, when
+you are in trouble abroad.  I was laid up for months.  When I was
+better, Karl came forward and implored me to marry him; I was almost
+penniless and loathed the idea of going home, so that was how it
+happened.  Karl was wealthy in those days, but afterwards he lost his
+money--our fortunes go up and down like a see-saw.  I am afraid he is
+too fond of speculating and taking huge risks; he likes to be a man or
+a mouse.  Just now he is not a mouse, but very, very rich.  Well, my
+dear, I'll leave you to have a bath and dress; we shall meet at
+breakfast; it is many a day since I appeared there.  Do you know I feel
+as if you'd done me good already!" and with a clinging embrace she
+departed.
+
+As hours and days wore on, Mrs. Krauss became more and more charmed
+with her companion; it did not take her long to discover her unselfish
+character, amazing adaptability to these strange surrounding's and,
+above all, her gift of music.  The invalid would lie prone on her sofa
+with a handkerchief over her face--rather suggesting the idea of a
+laid-out corpse--motionless and spell-bound, and when she spoke it was
+merely to murmur:
+
+"Please go on, please go on, Sophy darling; your music is wonderful;
+you are my David and I am gloomy Saul.  Oh, my dearest child, your
+exquisite gift has given me new thoughts, and opened the door of many
+delicious and half-forgotten memories!"
+
+Besides soothing her aunt with dreamy and enthralling melodies, Sophy
+remembered her "job," and endeavoured to interest her in patience, in
+puzzles and the latest stitch; but Frau Krauss had no taste for cards
+or puzzles.  She was, however, profoundly interested in Sophy's pretty
+frocks, examined them, priced them, and tried them on; otherwise she
+preferred to lounge among her cushions and talk, whilst her niece, who
+busied herself mending table linen, proved an invaluable listener.
+
+"You are a treasure, my sweet child," she remarked; "I have so often
+longed for a companion of my own class and nation.  All my neighbours
+are German; here in Kokine is a German colony; they all dine and have
+music, and gossip together, and I am rather out of it.  Of course, I
+speak German, but not very fluently.  There are two or three uncommonly
+smart women who speak English as well as you do, and their children
+have English names; but all the same, they hate us in their secret
+hearts and often give me a nasty scratch; so I needn't tell you that I
+don't open my heart to _them_.  The English live in another
+direction--down the Halpin Road, or out by the Royal lakes, and I have
+really grown too lazy and careless to go among them.  Besides, what is
+the good?  My friends return to England, new people come, but as for
+poor me--I stay on for ever."
+
+"And, of course, you would like to go home, Aunt Flora, would you not?"
+
+"For some things, yes!  But how can I leave Karl?  Also, I feel that
+this country has got such a hold upon me--oh, such a hold!"  And she
+closed her eyes and sighed profoundly.
+
+Three whole weeks had elapsed since Sophy arrived, and during that time
+she had not been outside the compound.  Herr Krauss had departed up
+country and taken the car with him; in the meanwhile Sophy had
+contrived to carry out some improvements, and induced her aunt to
+dismiss and replace several worthless servants.  There had been a grand
+cleaning, dusting, and polishing; the drawing-room was rearranged, the
+compound cleared and tidied, flowers decorated the sitting-rooms--and
+the hens had been interned.
+
+All this Sophy had not contrived to manage without assistance and
+advice; several German ladies had been to call, to inspect, to offer
+instruction, and to criticise.  There was Mrs. Muller, a remarkably
+pretty, smart young woman (wife of the head of an important firm, who
+spoke English perfectly, played bridge and the violin).  She and Sophy
+had an interesting musical talk, and arranged about duets and
+practisings; it was she who helped with regard to weeding out the
+staff, finding substitutes, and engaging a _dirzee_ to mend and make.
+Augusta Muller was a born administrator, and the head of the
+neighbouring community.  Another visitor was Frau Wendel, a dowdy
+middle-aged woman, who wore a hideous check cotton gown (much too
+short), green spectacles, and velvet boots; she stared hard at Sophy
+and asked her many personal questions.  There was also the Baroness--a
+little lady with small patrician features, faded light hair and a brisk
+manner; and last, but by no means least, Frau Wurm, who daily arrived
+to fulfil a promise to Herr Krauss, and every morning, for one solid
+hour, imparted to Sophy instruction in the management of native
+servants, the reckoning of bazaar accounts, the coinage--rupees and
+pice--and the proper way to keep house linen and stores.  She also gave
+her lessons in cooking on the oil stove in the veranda--not invalid
+delicacies, but dishes that were favourites with the master of the
+house, including confitures and Russian salad.
+
+Frau Wurm was a competent teacher--practical and brisk.  She drew up a
+list of menus, of shops to be dealt at, and hours for different tasks.
+As she worked she talked incessantly in excellent guttural English; her
+talk consisted of a series of personal and impertinent questions--her
+curiosity was of the mean and hungry class, and to every reply,
+satisfactory or otherwise, she invariably ejaculated, "Ach so!"
+
+Among other matters she desired to know Sophy's age--the age of her
+mother--and sister; if their washing was given out; who had paid for
+her passage and outfit; where her mother lived, the rent of her house,
+and number of servants.
+
+"So she keeps _three_ servants!" she exclaimed.  "Ach! but I thought
+she was poor!"
+
+"No, not poor," replied Sophy.  "Mother has a pretty good income."
+
+"Ach so! and that is the reason, I suppose, that you cannot cook or
+make your own frocks, or do anything useful.  Are you engaged to be
+married?"
+
+"No," replied Sophy with a laugh, "not yet."
+
+"Ach so!  I do not think your uncle will permit you to marry any of
+those silly young English officers, who play games all day and are
+ashamed to wear uniform.  Have you any relations in the Army?"
+
+"Yes, I have two cousins; one in the Flying Corps and one in a
+submarine."
+
+"Ach so!  That is _most_ interesting.  Some day you will tell me all
+about them, will you not?  I like to hear about submarines."
+
+"Very well," said Sophy, who was busy mixing a pudding according to an
+elaborate German recipe.
+
+"Yes, you are getting on," admitted Frau Wurm patronisingly.  "You will
+be a good little housekeeper before I have finished with you.  Tell
+me--how is your aunt to-day?" she asked abruptly.
+
+"She seems better, much better."
+
+"Yes, much better--better since yon came; you rouse her, though she
+doesn't get up now till eleven o'clock.  She suffers from such a
+strange complaint--very mysterious," she added with a significant sniff.
+
+"I don't think there is anything mysterious about neuralgia."
+
+"Oh, yes, there is," rejoined Frau Wurm, lowering her voice; "we often
+talk it over and wonder.  Long ago she was as others; now she is
+different, and seems but half awake--always so jaded and feeble and
+vague.  There was only one who understood the case--that was Fernanda,
+and she has gone away, ach so!"
+
+Sophy found her present life unexpectedly strenuous.  The mornings were
+devoted to incessant house-keeping, writing lists, and making pickles
+and German condiments; in the afternoons her aunt absorbed her time.
+She did not seem to come to life till then.
+
+"I know I am selfish," she confessed, as she looked through a number of
+invitations and cards which had been left for Sophy.  "I do so want to
+keep you to myself; I don't wish to share you with the Maitlands and
+Morgans and Pomeroys; you have brought me a new lease of life.  Of late
+I have felt like a half-dead creature, without even the energy to open
+a book, much less to get up and dress.  I have the Burma head, and take
+_no_ interest in anything."
+
+"Then do please take an interest in me, Aunt Flora," said Sophy
+coaxingly, putting her arm about her and smiling into her haggard eyes.
+
+"Very well, my dear; yes, I will--and at once.  I shall take you out
+and amuse you.  No time like the present!  To-day I shall telephone for
+a motor, get Lily to look out my smartest clothes, and you and I will
+make a round of calls.  You know it is the duty of a new arrival to
+wait on the residents?"
+
+Sophy nodded.
+
+"We will go in the afternoon, when they are all out, and so get through
+a number.  There are no end of sets here: the Government House, the
+civilian, military, the legal, and above all the mercantile--they
+really _count_, these merchant princes, being numerous, wealthy, and so
+generous and charitable, and can snap their fingers at precedence.
+Then there is the German set, to which I should belong--but I don't.  I
+tell Karl that my father was an English General and I am English--a
+real Englander.  We differ in so many ways from these German women--in
+what we eat, like, and believe, and how we make our beds, do our hair,
+and even how we knit!"
+
+Dressed for making a round of visits, Mrs. Krauss presented a different
+appearance from that loglike invalid her niece had first beheld.  She
+was a picturesque, graceful woman, with a pair of heartrending dark
+eyes, while a little touch of colour on her faded cheeks illuminated a
+face that still exhibited the remains of a remarkable beauty.  Mrs.
+Krauss, in a hired and luxurious motor, made a rapid round of calls
+among the principal mem-sahibs--who, as predicted, were not at
+home--and wrote her own and Sophy's name in Government House book.
+
+The last house they visited was "The Barn."  Mrs. Gregory received them
+and gave Mrs. Krauss and her niece a genial welcome.  She and Mrs.
+Krauss had known one another for years, but had never been really
+intimate or close friends.  Mrs. Gregory was energetic, modern and
+vivacious; the other, a somewhat lethargic beauty, was not interested
+in the burning questions of the day, and had long ceased to take part
+in local gaieties; but her niece, as Milly said, was charming, and Mrs.
+Gregory felt immediately inspired by a liking for this pretty,
+graceful, unaffected girl.  Sophy, for her part, was delighted with
+this large, English-looking drawing-room, with chintz-covered
+furniture, quantities of flowers, books, an open grand piano, and a
+pile of music.  The hostess, too, Mrs. Milward's cousin, attracted her
+and made her feel at home.
+
+"And what do you think of Rangoon?" inquired Mrs. Gregory.
+
+"Oh, do not ask her," interposed Mrs. Krauss with a dramatic gesture,
+"she has been with me for more than a fortnight, and this is the first
+time she has been beyond Kokine.  It is all my fault; she has had such
+a lot of housekeeping to see to and take over, and she is such a
+delightful companion that I have not been able to bear her out of my
+sight."
+
+"But, dear Mrs. Krauss, we cannot allow you to appropriate Miss Leigh
+altogether.  I hope you will spare her to me now and then.  Perhaps
+Miss Leigh could come with me to the Gymkhana dance next week?"
+
+"I should like it very much indeed," said Sophy, glancing
+interrogatively at her aunt.
+
+"Well, if I cannot take her myself, I shall be glad if you will
+chaperon Sophy.  She has not had any amusement yet and one is young but
+once!  And now we must go; no thank you, we won't wait for tea.  I
+intend to rush the child round the lakes--she has not seen them--and
+then do some shopping in the bazaar."
+
+After the departure of her visitors, Mrs. Gregory stood in the veranda
+and watched them as they sped away together--the dark faded beauty, the
+pretty, fresh girl--and said to herself:
+
+"I wonder!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE CHUMMERY
+
+The chummery to which Douglas Shafto had been introduced was a rambling
+old bungalow, and the edge of the Cantonment, sufficiently close to
+offices and work.  Although by no means modern, it boasted both
+electric light and fans, and the rent was fairly moderate; the
+landlord, Ah Kin, a Chinaman, called for it punctually on the first of
+every month, but closed his slits of eyes to various necessary repairs.
+
+Among the three chums already established was Roscoe, a dark, well-set
+up man of five or six and thirty, with a clean-shaven, eager face,
+artistic hands, and a pair of clever eyes.  Roscoe had been in turn a
+junior master, a journalist and actor.  Dissatisfied and unsatisfactory
+in these situations, his friends had found him an opening where he
+would be at too great a distance to trouble them--in short, a billet in
+a Burma oil company in Rangoon.  Amazing to relate, the post suited him
+and the rolling stone came to a standstill; well educated and
+intellectual, endowed with a curious eye and a critical mind, he was
+anxious to see, mark and learn the life of his present surroundings.
+Out of business hours, Roscoe devoted himself to this task with such
+whole-souled enthusiasm, that at times he actually imagined that he had
+his finger upon the pulse of this strange, new world.  The oldest and
+least prosperous of the fraternity, his companions liked him and spoke
+of Roscoe as "a queer fish, but a rare good sort."
+
+Patrick Ormond FitzGerald, police officer, a genial native of County
+Cork, was about thirty years of age, handsome, generous and hot-headed,
+who enjoyed every kind of scrap and sport--including chasing dacoits
+and smugglers.  He diffused an atmosphere of good humour and
+confidence, was universally popular and invariably in debt.  Chum
+number three, James MacNab, hailed from "Bonnie Scotland"--a spare,
+sandy, canny individual, who, far from being in debt, was carefully
+amassing large savings.  He had a pretty fiancée in Crieff, who sent
+him weekly budgets and the _Scotsman_.  He owned a sound, steady
+ambition, and seldom made an unconsidered remark.  "Mac" was an employé
+in the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, where he was rapidly rising, so to
+speak, to the surface.
+
+Each "chum" had a room to himself, but they took their meals together
+in a wide, open veranda, and were catered for by a fat Madrassi butler,
+who did not rob them unduly, seeing that his accounts had to be
+inspected and passed by thrifty "Mac," who ruthlessly eliminated all
+imaginative items.
+
+In their large compound their cook kept game fowl--long-legged fighting
+cocks from Shanghai--and other poultry, including the curly feathered
+freaks of Aracan.  Here FitzGerald stabled his horses--a capital pair,
+trust an Irishman for that!--and Roscoe, a stout elderly Shan,
+ironically nicknamed "Later On."  MacNab rode a bicycle; a useful mount
+that required neither oats nor groom.
+
+The three chums soon made Shafto feel at ease and at home; they were
+lively companions, too.  Roscoe was a capital mimic, and kept his
+company in roars of laughter.  FitzGerald drew notable caricatures and
+could tell a story with the best.  "The MacNab," who had a certain dry
+wit, took the stranger firmly in hand with regard to finance--namely,
+the furnishing of his room and other expenditure.
+
+"Bide a wee; go slow at first," he advised.  "Just hire a few sticks
+from Whiteway and Laidlaw, and wait your chance for picking up bargains
+at Balthasar's auction rooms; anyway, you don't want much.  A bed, a
+couple of chairs, table, washstand and tub.  I have a chest of drawers
+I can let you have cheap.  In the rains the pictures fall out of their
+frames, the glue melts, rugs are eaten by white ants in a few
+hours--and your boots grow mushrooms."
+
+"That's a cheerful look out!" exclaimed Shafto.  "Well, I have nothing
+to tempt the white ants."
+
+Shafto was adaptable and soon found his feet.  At first his entire time
+and energies were concentrated on his new job and learning an
+unaccustomed task; he spent hours on the wharves along the Strand, or
+across the river at Dallah, standing about in the glare, and dust and
+blazing sun, amongst struggling, sweating coolies and swinging cranes.
+He had also to supervise his Eurasian subordinates, see paddy shipped,
+and keep a sharp look out for their delinquencies, such as receiving
+"palm oil," or overlooking damages.
+
+In the midst of his daily work Shafto was not insensible to his
+surroundings, but, on the contrary, acutely alive to the strange
+bewildering glamour of the East, where life dwells radiantly.  He was
+interested in the ever-changing shipping, the crowds of strange craft
+lying by the wharves or moored to buoys in the great impetuous
+Irrawaddy, and the swarms of sampans darting in all directions.
+Overhead was the hot blue sky, blazing upon a motley crowd, which
+included the smiling faces of the idle, insouciant, gaily-clad
+Burmans--most genial and most engaging of nations.
+
+Down by the _godowns_, where Shafto worked, the stir and press of
+commercial life was tremendous; on every side roared and dashed trams,
+motor-lorries, traction engines  and--curious  anachronism--long
+strings of heavily-laden bullock carts.  Here was trade from the ends
+and corners of the earth; out of her abundance this rich country was
+shipping to the nations wood, oil, rice, metals, cotton, tea, silken
+stuffs, ivory, jade, and precious stones; masses of cargo lay piled on
+the wharves, amid which a multitude of noisy coolies, busy as ants,
+went to and fro incessantly, whilst in the distance the saw-mills
+screamed, the steam dredgers clanked, and tall factory chimneys
+blackened the heavens.
+
+All this amazing restless activity seemed strangely out of its natural
+perspective; the scene should have been laid in Liverpool or Glasgow,
+instead of displaying a background of palms, tropical trees, gilded
+pagodas, and a circle of gaily-dressed, idle natives.
+
+Although the British and German residents did not assimilate, Shafto
+saw a good deal of their mercantile element.  At ten o'clock every
+morning hundreds of Teuton clerks poured into Rangoon from the
+surrounding neighbourhood, and he could not but admire their
+indefatigable business activity, tireless industry, and world-wide
+radius of action.  Long, long after British firms had closed for the
+day, and their employés had rushed off to amuse themselves at football,
+golf, or boating, the German was still sticking to it and hard at work.
+But there was another feature of which Shafto was aware and could not
+applaud; this was the "spy" system.  There were rumours of an active
+gang (manipulated from Berlin), whose business it was to discover what
+English firms were doing in the way of large contracts, and
+subsequently to enter into competition, cut out, and undersell.  It was
+said that their methods were both prompt and ruthless.  It was also
+hinted that one or two firms winked at contraband, offered irresistible
+bribes, and made fabulous profits.
+
+The individual characteristics of his fellow-inmates were soon
+impressed upon Shafto, and the interest they evinced in him--a mere
+stranger--was undeniably agreeable to his _amour propre_.  MacNab, who
+was sincerely  concerned about his financial affairs, instructed him in
+many clever economies, and the localities of the cheapest shops; he was
+also emphatic on the subject of cautious outlay--and full of warning
+against the horrors of "a rainy day."
+
+FitzGerald, on the contrary, was eloquent in favour of "the best that
+was going, and hang the expense!"
+
+"You'll want two horses, my boy," he announced, "if you're going in for
+paper-chasing and the gymkhana; you might chance on a bargain, too.  I
+heard of a fellow who got a wonder for three hundred rupees, an ugly
+ewe-necked brute, but he carried off the Gold Cup and every blessed
+thing he was entered for.  On the other hand, such a windfall is a very
+outside chance; then you must have a small car for the rains--I believe
+you would get a nice little Ford for six hundred rupees."
+
+Shafto received this advice with a shout of laughter.
+
+"A racer and a car on four hundred rupees a month!  FitzGerald, you are
+raving mad.  If I followed your advice----" he paused.
+
+"You would soon be shunted out of Gregory's," supplemented MacNab, who,
+with impassive face, was lolling in a long chair, a silent but
+attentive listener.
+
+"Ah, don't be minding that fellow!" protested FitzGerald.  "Shure, he'd
+sell his father's gravestone, if he ever had the heart to put it up."
+
+"Well, I pay my way, Fitz, and can walk down Phayre Street at my case,
+whilst you----" he paused significantly.
+
+"Oh, well, I own a few bills, I know--six hundred rupees a month goes
+no way here, but it'll be all right when my ship comes in; anyhow, I'll
+have had a good time--I'll have _that_ to look back upon when I'm an
+old fellow upon the shelf.  Now you," suddenly turning to stare at
+MacNab, "never spend a rupee; you wouldn't take a taxi to save your
+life, never go to a cinema or a concert, nothing that costs money; you
+just bicycle and drink lemon squashes and write home."
+
+"Oh, if you want to ride in taxis and go to cinemas, you might as well
+be in London," put in Roscoe, who had joined them.
+
+"I wish to the Lord I was!" declared FitzGerald; "standing at the
+corner of Piccadilly Circus this blessed minute, and making up my mind
+whether to go to the Criterion grill or to Prince's?"
+
+"But as you happen to be in Rangoon, and _not_ Piccadilly Circus, why
+don't you open your eyes and see the place, and enjoy it?"
+
+"_Enjoy_!" repeated FitzGerald with a dramatic gesture; "see it?  I see
+a deal too much of it; while you fellows are snoozing in bed, I'm
+turning out filthy liquor shops, drug stores, tea houses, and stopping
+Chinese fights, smuggling and murder."
+
+"Yes, we know all that," rejoined Roscoe; "you look into the dark,
+Shafto and I see the bright side of this country."
+
+"Oh, yes, you're a bright pair, and here, I'm off!" exclaimed the
+police officer, as he suddenly caught sight of a mounted orderly and
+thundered down the stairs.
+
+Roscoe was neither economical, nor yet extravagant; he patronised the
+theatres and shows, made expeditions into the country on "Later On,"
+read many books, and occasionally took a trip up the river in a cargo
+boat.
+
+Shafto and Roscoe had one taste in common--a craving to see, know,
+understand and, as it were, get under the skin of this wonderful land.
+An impossible achievement!  From the first they had been drawn
+together; they were searching in an eager way for the same object; they
+had both been at a public school and once, when Shafto dropped a word
+about Sandhurst, Roscoe said:
+
+"I was intended for the Army, but I couldn't pass the doctor--rather a
+facer after scraping through the exam.; when that was knocked on the
+head, I got a post as assistant-master, but I couldn't stick it for
+more than a couple of years; after that, I was in a newspaper office;
+then I got badly stage-struck and went on the boards.  Unfortunately, I
+was not a success; I never could do the love parts--I neither bellowed
+nor whined; at last my people got fairly sick of me, I was so often
+'resting,' and they made a combined effort and hustled me out here into
+the oil business, and here I am in my element."
+
+"I can't say you look particularly oily," observed his companion.
+
+"Perhaps not, but I dare say to lots of young fellows I seem a dry old
+stick--anyhow, I _was_ a stick in 'the Profession.'"
+
+Occasionally Roscoe invited Shafto to accompany him of an evening, and
+introduced him to strange and wonderful sights--wrestling,
+cock-fighting, puppet _pwes_, or plays in the Burmese character.  These
+were acted by little figures wonderfully manipulated by strings behind
+the scenes; the holder of the string also supplied any amount of
+dialogue (not always of the most decorous description), and also all
+the latest and coarsest jokes from the bazaar.  To the Europeans these
+entertainments offered scanty amusement, but to natives they proved
+enthralling.  An audience would sit spell-bound and motionless for a
+whole night, soothed and cheered by the strains of the Burmese
+band--that unique and original collection of sounds and instruments.
+
+"In former days," explained Roscoe, as he and his companion sat staring
+at the bedizened actors and shrill little figures on a long, low stage,
+"these plays took place in the open air, on a _midan_; all the world
+was welcome, and as there was no charge, naturally all the world was
+present!  They were usually given by some rich Burman, or widow, in
+honour of some offering or anniversary.  An uncle of mine was quartered
+here years ago, and I remember him saying that he suffered sorely from
+these _pwes_; one play lasted for three consecutive days and
+nights--the Burmese brought their bedding.  The great _midan_ outside
+his bungalow was a seething mass of people; whose families were
+encamped--the place resembled a huge fair.  Some were bartering,
+gambling, or eating horrible-looking refreshment, and altogether
+thoroughly enjoying themselves; rows and rows squatted motionless on
+the ground in front of the stage; of course, sleep, with such a
+fiendish commotion, was out of the question, and so my uncle was
+obliged to get up and wander about among the masses until daybreak; he
+said he never could make head or tail of the play, but one of his
+brother officers loved it; he engaged an interpreter and squatted for
+hours in front of the stage, enjoying what he considered 'a priceless
+treat.'"
+
+Shafto, like Roscoe's uncle, failed to appreciate _pwes_, which were
+now held within stated bounds; he preferred out-of-door entertainments,
+as the heat, the smoke, the smell of raw plantain skins, the band, and
+the jabber were too much for him.
+
+Roscoe, his cicerone, had contrived to learn a little of the difficult
+Burmese language, and knew the town to a certain extent--including
+something of the vast underworld, and even FitzGerald admitted that
+"old man Roscoe" could tell a thing or two, if he liked.
+
+Before he had been long in Rangoon Shafto had also a glimpse into its
+depths.  One night, returning from a "sing-song," as he reached the
+bottom of the outer stairs, he was startled by a voice from the pitch
+dark space beneath the house--a voice which said in a husky whisper:
+
+"Is that you, Joe?  Joe, for God's sake stop and give me a couple of
+rupees."
+
+"It's not Roscoe," said Shafto, striking a match; "who are you?"
+
+The flickering and uncertain light discovered a gaunt and unshaven
+European in the shabbiest of clothes.
+
+"Roscoe's out; what do you want?" he brusquely demanded.
+
+"Only a couple of rupees," was the hoarse reply.  "I'm ashamed for you
+to see me; I'm down and under, as you may guess."
+
+"Drink?" suggested Shafto, lighting another match.
+
+"No; drugs--two devils: cocaine and morphia."
+
+"I say, that's bad; can't you take a pull at yourself?"
+
+"Too late now."
+
+"Nothing's too late," declared Shafto; "believe that and buck up.
+Well, here are four rupees for you."
+
+As he put them into a shaking hand the match went out, and the loafer
+noiselessly melted away into the soft and impenetrable darkness.
+
+Next morning Shafto informed Roscoe of this strange encounter.
+
+"Such a water-logged derelict was never seen!  One of your underworld
+friends, I take it?"
+
+"Worse than that," rejoined Roscoe; "he's my own first cousin."
+
+In reply to Shafto's exclamation he added: "His father was the officer
+I told you about, who was so terribly worried by the plays.  This chap
+was erratic, but a clever fellow and great at languages; he passed into
+the Woods and Forests out here, and enjoyed the wild jungle life for a
+good many years; now you see what he is--a wild man of the bazaars."
+
+"But I say, Roscoe; can you do nothing?"
+
+"Absolutely nothing; a cocaine case is hopeless.  Opium you might
+tackle; the other is beyond the power of man or woman."
+
+"But how does the fellow live?"'
+
+"God knows!" replied Roscoe.  "Most of these chaps keep body and soul
+together by stealing; there's a lot of smuggling going on in Burma, and
+I shouldn't be the least surprised if my cousin Richard had a hand in
+that!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+MR. AND MRS. ABEL SALTER
+
+Shafto had been six weeks in Rangoon and, thanks to his chums, was
+beginning to feel completely at home--as is sometimes the case with
+adaptable young people in a strange and fascinating country.
+
+His neighbours, the Salters, who were hospitable and friendly, had lent
+him a hand to find his bearings.  Occasionally, of an evening, he and
+Roscoe would stroll over there after dinner, and sit in the deep
+veranda discussing many matters with the master of the house.  Roscoe
+and Salter were more nearly of an age, and mutually interested in
+subjects that to Shafto seemed deadly dull and obscure.  He liked to
+hear about sport, the country, and the Burmese; to all such topics he
+was an eager and ready listener, but when philosophy and sociology were
+on the tapis he would join Mrs. Salter indoors, to discuss the paddy
+crop, inspect her great rice bins, and argue over prices and sales; or
+he would listen to blood-curdling tales about _nats_, or house spirits,
+related by his hostess in animated, broken English, and with
+appropriate gesticulations.  Mee Lay had a high opinion of the young
+man, and this was shared by her daughter, for "Shaft," as she called
+him, helped her to fly her kite, mended broken toys and brought her
+chocolates such as her soul loved.
+
+During one of their prowling expeditions Roscoe had imparted the
+life-history of Salter to his chum.  Salter's forbears were Yorkshire
+folk--thrifty, self-respecting, stiff-backed Nonconformists.  His
+father and grandfather belonged to what is called "the old school,"
+when parents ruled their families with an iron rod, and the meek,
+down-trodden children accepted punishment without question.  Salter's
+grandmother had dismissed grown-up sons from table and kept a
+rebellious daughter for weeks incarcerated in her room.  Salter's
+father had inherited her stern, Spartan spirit; he gave his heir a
+first-class education in the neighbourhood of London and, when he was
+twenty, recalled him to Bradford, there to take his place in the works
+and live at home.  But Salter, junior, having tasted the delights of
+liberty, found home life unspeakably irksome; the laws against drink,
+dancing, smoking and the theatre were Draconic.  He hated the long
+chapel service on Sunday, the endless hymns and emotional exhortations;
+the day concluding with family worship, which lasted three-quarters of
+an hour.  The young fellow dreaded the Sabbath and rebelled against his
+gloomy, comfortable, middle-class home, where he had no individuality,
+no rights--and no latch-key!  At last he broke loose--the flesh and
+blood of twenty-two years old revolted.  At twelve o'clock one night he
+found himself locked out and, as the first bold peal of the bell
+elicited no reply, he never again applied for admittance, but with four
+pounds in his pockets and a good saleable watch, launched his little
+skiff upon the great, wide world.
+
+Behold him now comfortably established in a foreign land, occupying a
+responsible position in a well-known firm, the husband of a clever,
+thrifty woman, who was actively engaged in building up his fortune.
+After an interval of some years, the Salters at home discovered that
+their prodigal had undoubtedly killed and thriven on his own fatted
+calf.  The usual little bird had informed them that "Abel was much
+thought of and prosperous; had a grand home in Rangoon, dozens of
+servants, and was married."  Friendly letters were dispatched--for
+"Nothing succeeds like success"--and a brisk correspondence ensued.
+Information and photographs were promptly exchanged, and the family
+received a nicely-finished presentment of Rosetta in her smartest and
+shortest frock.  They were much impressed by the grandchild born to
+them in Burma, and she was immediately installed in a handsome silver
+frame, introduced to all their neighbours and to most of their chapel
+friends.
+
+But what would have been the sensation of these worthy people if they
+had received a portrait of Mee Lay in full festival costume--flowers in
+hair and white cheroot in hand!
+
+On the subject of Mrs. Abel Salter there was but scanty information;
+her old maid sisters-in-law were given to understand that she sent them
+her best good-wishes--she also forwarded silks and jars of Burmese
+condiments, but her husband declared that she was very lazy about
+letter-writing and constitutionally shy.  Her maiden name, they were
+told, had been Mary Lee, and this information had sufficed.
+
+Besides having the entrée to the Salters' domestic circle, Shafto had
+been elected a member of the Gymkhana Club, where he made various new
+acquaintances--and these increased in number as his prowess in tennis
+and cricket became evident; then, with the advice--and, indeed, almost
+under the compulsion--of FitzGerald, he purchased a smart stud-bred
+mare, certainly no longer in her first youth, but sound, clever and
+full of "go."  She was not called upon to shine on a race-course, but
+carried her master admirably in Station paper-chases on Thursday
+afternoons.
+
+By the MacNab this investment was looked upon with a dubious and
+unfavourable eye, although he was aware that the price of "Moonshine"
+had come out of a small nest-egg which her owner had brought from home.
+He pointed out the enormous price of gram, or English oats, and he
+earnestly entreated Shafto "not to be led into follies by other people"
+(meaning FitzGerald), "but to keep his head and go slow."
+
+During this month of November Shafto had frequently come across his
+fellow-passengers in the _Blankshire_; even Lady Puffle had
+acknowledged his existence with a bow; not once had he beheld the
+desire of his eyes--Miss Leigh.  She appeared to have vanished as
+completely as a summer mist and, it was whispered, had been swallowed
+up and submerged by the German colony.
+
+Mrs. Krauss had vouchsafed no notice of his visit and card; her niece
+was never to be seen either at the Gymkhana, or on the lakes--the
+principal meeting-places for young and old.  More than once he imagined
+that he had caught sight of her in the cathedral at evening service,
+but she looked so different in smart Sunday clothes--a feathered hat
+and gauzy gown--that he might have been mistaken, and he heard from
+MacNab (the gossip of the chummery) that Krauss had brought forward a
+remarkably pretty niece, who had recently played in a concert at the
+German Club, and made a sensational success.
+
+When Shafto rode in the mornings, he eyed expectantly every passing or
+approaching habit, but Sophy Leigh was never among the early
+cavalcade--for the excellent reason that she had no horse.
+
+Mrs. Gregory, in spite of multifarious occupations as the firm's
+vice-reine, had by no means forgotten pretty Miss Leigh, nor her
+cousin's emphatic instructions; the girl had failed to accompany her to
+the Gymkhana dance--"her aunt was ill; she had been unable to leave
+her"--a stereotyped excuse to every invitation.  The truth was that
+Mrs. Krauss, after two or three social efforts, culminating in a large
+dinner-party to her German neighbours, had collapsed with one of her
+worst attacks, and between nursing her relative and housekeeping for
+Herr Krauss (who was shamelessly greedy and exacting), Sophy had not a
+moment to spare, and the Madras boy turned away all callers--including
+Miss Leigh's friends--with his mechanical parrot cry, "Missis can't
+see!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+AT THE PLAY
+
+Theatrical performances are the chief entertainment in Burma; the
+Burmese as a nation delight in plays--operatic, tragic, opera bouffe
+and ballets, such as the "Han Pwe," when a number of young girls, all
+dressed as royalties, posture and dance with extreme grace; and as
+their training is perfect, the entertainment evokes unqualified
+applause.  So interested and absorbed do the audience become in long
+drawn-out dramatic performances, with interludes of dancing and
+singing, that they will bring their bedding, and not merely remain all
+night but several nights--according as the play may hold them!  As a
+rule, the background is a palace, and the plot concerns the love story
+of a prince and princess, which is interrupted by all manner of
+vicissitudes--some grotesque, others of genuine pathos; to these the
+accompaniment of soft, wailing Burmese music is admirably adapted.
+
+Po Sine, the greatest actor in Burma--an Eastern "star"--had recently
+returned to Rangoon from a prolonged tour, and his admirers, who
+numbered thousands, were all agog to see and welcome him.
+
+The principal theatre was established in a large space at the back of
+the Great Pagoda, trustfully open to the soft blue night, otherwise
+strictly encompassed with matting; for in these changed and
+money-making days, there was an official box-office at the entrance and
+no admittance without cash payment!  The stage was only raised a foot
+or two from the ground, and a long row of little lamps threw a becoming
+red light upon the scene.  Here many rows of chairs were arranged for
+the use of Europeans, whilst the Easterns sat upon the ground on mats
+and folded themselves up in easy native fashion.
+
+On the first night of Po Sine's reappearance, the arena was packed to
+the utmost limit of the matting.  In the front were assembled many
+European residents, who were treated to bunches of flowers, paper fans,
+cheroots and lemonade; also, in a reserved space and on gorgeous rugs,
+reclined a number of splendidly attired and bejewelled Burmese
+ladies--princesses of the Royal house, a sprightly and animated group;
+their flashing diamond combs and long diamond chains made a feature
+amid the audience.
+
+Mrs. Gregory had brought a small party, which included Mena Pomeroy,
+Robin Close--one of the assistants--and Douglas Shafto, who had never
+yet seen the famous Po Sine.  Somehow Miss Pomeroy and Mr. Close had
+contrived to get separated from their chaperon, but Shafto still stuck
+faithfully to his hostess.
+
+A puppet play represented the curtain-raiser, and as this, to Shafto,
+was no novelty, he stared about him at the masses of shining black
+heads; men with jaunty silk handkerchiefs twisted round their brows,
+women with their wreaths and golden combs--an undeniably smart
+audience--all smoking.  The stage was open to the dark blue sky, which
+was sprinkled with stars.  Right above them clanged a temple gong; from
+far down the river came the hoot of a steamer's syren, and during
+intervals the soft humming of the wind among the labyrinth of
+shrines--a complete contrast in every respect was this Eastern scene to
+the last play he had witnessed in a London theatre!
+
+All at once there was an influx of people surging in--crafty folk who
+knew how to avoid the curtain-raiser.  These included a number of
+Germans.  Among the party in the train of Mrs. Muller, and attended by
+Herr Bernhard, was Miss Leigh in a dainty white frock and
+flower-trimmed hat, but somehow looking a little bit out of the
+picture.  Her chaperon, magnificent in a Viennese toilet, unexpectedly
+encountered friends who had recently arrived from the Fatherland; these
+she hailed with boisterous jubilation, and as she chattered and
+gesticulated, listened and interrupted, she entirely forgot her charge;
+in fact, she moved on, still talking, and abandoned her, so to speak,
+to her fate.
+
+Sophy's fate, luckily for her, happened to be Mrs. Gregory, who signed
+to Shafto to rescue the young lady and conduct her to a place under her
+own wing.
+
+"How are you?" he said, accosting her eagerly.  "Mrs. Gregory has sent
+me to ask if you won't sit by her?  There is lots of room."
+
+"I should love to, but you see I am here officially with Mrs. Muller.
+I'll go and speak to her, but I think she has filled my seat."
+
+A hasty word to the chaperon, who had entirely forgotten her existence,
+released Sophy and, as she joined Mrs. Gregory, Frau Muller said with a
+shrug:
+
+"Oh yes, she is rather pretty in her way.  She has got among those
+odious English--let her stay with them!"
+
+(Then she threw herself once more into the interesting topic of the
+latest scandal in Frankfort.)
+
+"I am so pleased to see you," said Mrs. Gregory, making room for Sophy
+beside her; "what has become of you all these weeks?"
+
+"Oh, I have been in Kokine and quite safe," she answered, but her smile
+was not so ready and whole-hearted as it had been on board ship.  "Aunt
+Flora caught a chill and has been laid up.  Poor dear, she is a martyr
+to neuralgia."
+
+"I know she is subject to it, but surely she does not require you to be
+with her _all_ day?"
+
+"No, but Herr Krauss is at home now; the old cook has departed after a
+fearful explosion, and housekeeping is a struggle; servants are so
+difficult to find and deal with, especially by a strange 'missy' like
+myself.  And Herr Krauss is particular about punctuality and the plates
+being hot, and all that sort of thing; I have to make Russian salads,
+confitures and sauces, so I have really had no spare time."
+
+"Yes, I can imagine your hands have been pretty full.  But do you mean
+to tell me that _you_ run the house?"
+
+"I don't exactly run it, but I do my best to drag it along--and it's
+rather awkward from my being a new-comer; pice and rupees are
+novelties, and everything is supposed to be in German fashion."
+
+"German fashion!" echoed Shafto.  "What's that?"
+
+"Oh, particular hours, particular food, _Blutwurst_, sausages, Russian
+salads, cakes, creams, and plenty of them."
+
+"Well, I must say Krauss looks sleek and well fed; he does you credit!
+But don't you ever get your Sunday off or your day out?"
+
+"I suppose I do in a way.  I have been to dine with one or two of our
+neighbours, and we had some really first-rate music; and then, you see,
+we live at a long distance from the Cantonment and the Gymkhana."
+
+"But what about the car?"
+
+"Herr Krauss uses it; he is away most of the day."
+
+"But you have a horse to ride?"
+
+"Yes, there was one; rather a nice-looking little bay, but soon after I
+arrived, he was borrowed by a man who has taken it up to Prome."
+
+Mrs. Gregory had been listening to this conversation, making mental
+notes and setting down bad marks!  Her cousin was returning from
+Mandalay on the following day, and she determined that she and Milly
+would wait upon Mrs. Krauss, and request her to liberate this prisoner.
+Mrs. Krauss was a charming, indolent, clinging sort of individual, who
+had latterly sunken into a somnolent existence and rarely appeared
+above the social surface.  Formerly she had been a brilliant figure in
+Rangoon society, gave excellent dinners, danced, rode and played bridge
+and tennis; but, by degrees, she seemed to have dropped out of things,
+and Mrs. Gregory remembered how, once upon a time, when riding
+together, she had lamented that she had no children and no particular
+interests, and that her energy, such as it was, was ebbing rapidly.  Of
+course, she had been too long in Lower Burma--eight years of Lower
+Burma, merely diluted with an occasional few weeks at May Myo, was
+enough to undermine any woman's mental and bodily state.
+
+"And so your aunt has been ill?" she asked after a long pause.
+
+"Yes, but she is much better now and very cheerful, so I was able to
+leave her and accept Mrs. Muller's invitation to accompany her to this
+play."
+
+"You have seen nothing so far?"
+
+"Well, not much, but there is lots of time."
+
+Mrs. Gregory glanced at the girl and, in the searching electric light,
+noticed that her lovely colour was already fading, the lines of the
+face seemed a trifle sharper; beauty is fleeting in Lower Burma.
+Meanwhile Shafto, sitting so silent at the ladies' feet, was secretly
+boiling with rage.
+
+So the fat old German, in spite of his wealth, had made his wife's
+niece both sick nurse and house-keeper; one of these tasks was ample
+for any girl; Miss Leigh had been six weeks in Rangoon and had never
+even seen the Pagoda!
+
+"I know you are fond of riding," he began; "do you think you could come
+for a gallop if I produced a pony?"
+
+"And a chaperon," supplemented Mrs. Gregory.  "I can offer my services
+and a mount, and I'll call for you at seven o'clock on Thursday
+morning.  You may come, too," she added, turning to Shafto, "and we
+will go to the Pineapple Forest."
+
+"How delightful, and how very kind of you!" said Sophy.  "I am sure I
+can manage--as long as I am in by nine o'clock."
+
+"But why nine o'clock, my dear Cinderella?"
+
+"Because I have to interview the cook when he returns from the bazaar.
+Herr Krauss is something of a gourmand and rather querulous about his
+food, and he often brings in one or two men to tiffin or dinner."
+
+"A nice, amusing change," said Shafto.  "You must find old Krauss a bit
+monotonous.  What does he talk about?  Wolfram or sausages?"
+
+"He talks a good deal about my aunt--he really is devoted to her."
+
+"Well, I'll mark him up one for that.  I suppose the guests are his own
+compatriots?"
+
+"Yes, they come on business, and are nearly always the same.  They talk
+German all the time, which I cannot understand--only when they stare at
+me and say something about 'Engländerin'; after dinner we have music
+and Herr Krauss and I play duets.  His instrument is the violin--most
+of the neighbours are musical, first-rate musicians and so critical; I
+appreciate that--it keeps me up to the mark."
+
+"I think, among them, they all keep you up to the mark," observed Mrs.
+Gregory, and whatever she was about to add was abruptly interrupted by
+a loud, swelling, unanimous murmur of "Ah Wah, Ah Wah," which suddenly
+rose from a thousand throats.  This rapturous acclamation hailed the
+appearance of Po Sine, the star of the Burmese theatre--unsurpassed and
+unapproachable in either tragedy or comedy.  Po Sine was nothing to
+look at--a thin, ordinary, little man, but endowed with genius; even
+those who could not understand a word he said immediately recognised
+the great actor.
+
+This particular play was a favourite comedy; shouts of laughter shook
+the audience and the encompassing walls of matting, and in this Shafto
+and his companion could not help joining.
+
+"I wonder what it is all about," said Sophy.  "I know it's very
+amusing.  What was that funny thing he said last?" she asked as the
+shrieks died down.
+
+Shafto coloured guiltily.  Although far from being an expert in the
+Burmese language, he had caught the drift of this sentence--a coarse
+_double entendre_, which he could not possibly interpret to a girl.
+Burmese plays are not always decorous; this particular performance was
+an odd mixture of ancient and modern.  The lovers, who were, as usual,
+princes and princesses, played stately roles and moved about with
+majestic dignity and in gorgeous raiment--their prototypes dated from
+the days of Buddha; on the other hand, the clown and the country men,
+who enacted the parts of villains and devils, were essentially
+modern--as quick with patter songs and up-to-date local events and
+jokes as the cleverest music-hall artist.  At intervals the weird
+Burmese band, with its clashing cymbals, harps and clarions, discoursed
+the latest Burmese operatic airs.
+
+It was one o'clock and the great bell in the heart of the Pagoda had
+throbbed out its long deep note, when Mrs. Gregory rose and collected
+her party.
+
+"I'm so sorry I can't take you with me," she said to Sophy.  "I hope
+your German friends will not remain all night.  However, I shall depute
+Mr. Shafto to look after you.  Please tell your aunt that I hope to
+call and see her very shortly--and do not forget that you are to ride
+with me on Thursday morning."
+
+As if it was likely!  Then Mrs. Gregory took her departure, leaving
+Sophy and her companion to a _tête-à-tête_.
+
+"I think we will move up closer to your friends," he said; "I see two
+empty seats behind them.  Our people can't stick this for more than
+three or four hours."
+
+"How have you been getting on?" inquired Sophy, "and how do you like
+Burma?"
+
+"Burma suits me down to the ground; I like it most awfully.  I've been
+very busy learning my job, but I've seen a good deal outside business
+hours."
+
+"What have you seen?"
+
+"Oh, well, wrestling, tattooing and cock-fights; I have been once up
+the river as far as Prome, and to several native shows, including a
+funeral."
+
+"How have you managed that?"
+
+"Salter, a fellow in our house, took me; the funeral was a strange
+affair--not a bit like ours; everyone in gala clothes, great feasting
+and a band in the house; altogether a lively entertainment.  When a man
+is dying, his friends come and gather round and cheer him, and tell him
+of all the good deeds he has done in his lifetime.  At the graveside
+there is an extraordinary business with a silk handkerchief, in which
+the nearest relation is supposed to catch and enclose the departed
+spirit, now in the form of a white butterfly--and dangerous to mortals
+for seven days and nights.  I have seen a good deal of native life
+already."
+
+"How lucky you are!" exclaimed the girl; "and I've seen nothing but
+Germans."
+
+"Salter has taken me about and naturally he has extra opportunities,
+being married to a Burmese."
+
+"Married to a Burmese?" echoed Sophy; her tone was incredulous.
+
+"Yes.  At one time it was quite a common thing.  Mrs. Salter--her real
+name is Mee Lay--is sitting over there in about the fifth row back,
+behind the fellow with the scarlet handkerchief twisted round his head.
+Presently you must turn and look at her.  She is a nice, cheery woman,
+and Salter is an interesting, original sort of man.  I dine with them
+now and then.  Mee Lay is uncommonly businesslike--has a good deal of
+land and a flourishing rice concern."
+
+"She has?  How amazing!"
+
+"I see you don't know much of Burma yet."
+
+"No; so far I am only acquainted with the bazaar prices, the gorgeous
+flowers, delicious fruit and futurist insects!"
+
+"Well, women do most of the business and do it well; the men are a
+lazy, loafing lot; very genial and sporting, fond of cock-fighting and
+gambling--absolutely regardless of expense or debt.  Mrs. Salter is
+rich; if you will look round now you will see her--the little woman
+with the yellow fan and diamond comb; notice her blazing ear-rings; and
+yet I have seen the same lady with her petticoats kilted high, standing
+knee-deep in a rice cart and diving with both hands into the grain to
+test its quality!"
+
+"That is a very pretty girl with flowers in her hair, beside her,"
+remarked Sophy; "look, she is nodding to you.  Who is she?"
+
+"Her name is Ma Chit; she is Mrs. Salter's cousin.  Sometimes she drops
+in when I am there; the Salters live close to my chummery.  I have a
+munshi now and I am learning Burmese."
+
+"And--and I am learning German!"
+
+"How do you hit it off with your uncle?"
+
+"Please don't call him my uncle."
+
+"Then I am answered."
+
+Sophy laughed and coloured brilliantly.
+
+"I suppose so.  We do not coalesce; our ideas, age and country are
+different; he is hard as a rock, brusque and overbearing--but amazingly
+clever and energetic.  He seems to hold so many threads in his hands,
+to deal with such numbers of people; his correspondence is enormous;
+his office, when he is at home, is surrounded and stormed by all sorts
+of people--Mohammedans, Chinese, Burmese, all waiting on his good
+pleasure and his nod.  I scarcely see anything of him except at meals,
+and then he is too much taken up with eating to have time to spare for
+conversation; but we meet in one spot--music-land!  He plays the
+violin; we do Beethoven together and are great friends; then when the
+piano closes----" she paused.
+
+"You are enemies?"
+
+"Not exactly enemies, but I do hate the way he gobbles his food and
+bullies the servants; and then he says such rude things about
+England--perhaps it's only done on purpose to make me angry?  He
+declares we are a wretched, rotten, played-out old country, going down
+the hill as hard as we can fly.  He is narrow-minded, too; so
+arrogant--the Germans can do no wrong, the English can never do right.
+I am telling dreadful tales, am I not?  All the same, he has an English
+wife, and is simply devoted to Aunt Flora; nothing is too good for her.
+It is really funny to see this rough overbearing man so gentle and
+thoughtful.  But then, she is a dear!"
+
+"Oh, is she?"
+
+"You shall see for yourself.  You must come to tea on Sunday.  I am
+sure I may invite you; Aunt Flora is so kind and sympathetic, and has a
+look of mother."
+
+"I'll come all right, if you think she'll not be _durwaza bund_."
+
+"No, she is ever so much better, but the last few years has been more
+or less an invalid."
+
+"What is her particular illness?  Is it fever?"
+
+"Fever and neuralgia.  Some days she will lie in a darkened room and
+see no one but her ayah; she won't even admit me, though occasionally I
+do slip in; she has had a bad attack lately, but is now convalescent.
+Oh, I see Mrs. Muller moving at last; now we shall be going."
+
+"I'm afraid you've found this show a hit dull."
+
+"Not at all--it has been a most interesting sight; I don't know when I
+have enjoyed myself so much."
+
+"So have I; it has been a----"
+
+Whatever Shafto was about to add was interrupted by Mrs. Muller, who
+pounced on his companion with a laughing apology, and handed her over
+to the charge of Herr Bernhard.
+
+Two days later Mrs. Gregory and Mrs. Milward called at "Heidelberg,"
+and on the veranda encountered Sophy, who was hurrying out to keep an
+appointment to practise duets with Frau Muller.
+
+"I'm so dreadfully sorry," she said, when the first greetings were
+over, "but I must go; I'll get back as soon as ever I can.  Aunt Flora
+is at home."
+
+But when Sophy returned the visitors had already departed, leaving
+their hostess a good deal disturbed.  Indeed, Mrs. Krauss's languid
+spirits had been violently shaken.  Mrs. Milward had remarked on
+Sophy's changed appearance, and her tone had been hostile.
+
+"It is very plain that Burma does not suit her," she said.  "I could
+not believe that any girl would have altered in so short a time; I
+shall write to her mother at once."
+
+"Oh, dear Mrs. Milward, what do you mean?"
+
+"I should think anyone could _see_ what I mean," rejoined the lady, who
+was very angry and had heard the tale of Sophy's heavy cares.
+
+"The girl looks ill.  I have known Sophy for years--known her since she
+was a small child--and I can assure you that she has never been
+accustomed to a strenuous indoor employment, to getting no exercise or
+relaxation--or ever meeting people of her own age."
+
+Her hostess was struck dumb; her torpid conscience suddenly awoke and
+condemned her; Mrs. Milward, who was immediately leaving Rangoon and
+had no fear of retaliation, continued with ruthless animosity:
+
+"It is true what you say--that your niece has been a wonderful comfort
+to _you_, but will it be a comfort to her mother when she hears that
+she is merely a hard-worked lady-help?  I think it would be well to
+arrange that she should return home with _me_."
+
+Tears now trembled in the culprit's dark eyes, and she fumbled for her
+handkerchief.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Milward," she said piteously, "I do see what you mean.  I
+have been ill and stupid; my husband has always spoiled me, and thinks
+that other people are only brought into the world to wait upon _me_.  I
+realise my selfishness now.  Yes, you are right, the child looks pale
+and no longer flits about the house singing her little songs.  I beg
+you will not alarm my sister; I will undertake that things are altered
+and you may depend upon me, dear Mrs. Milward; you have made me feel
+horribly guilty.  I know I am a self-centred invalid, but I intend to
+mend my ways."  And tears, no longer to be restrained, trickled down
+the worn, cadaverous face of Mrs. Krauss.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE CHINESE SHOP
+
+The solemn promise Mrs. Krauss had made to Mrs. Milward was honourably
+redeemed, and a new and agreeable vista opened before Sophy Leigh.  Her
+aunt roused herself, as it were, from a long sleep; the little bay
+horse was recalled from Prome; a Rolls-Royce was purchased (Herr Krauss
+signed the cheque without a murmur); a highly-recommended Portuguese
+butler was engaged to undertake the heavier forms of housekeeping; and
+Mrs. Krauss once more re-entered society--figuratively leading by the
+hand a lovely niece, of whom she was unaffectedly proud and who, she
+imparted to her friends, "had given her a new interest in life."
+
+Hitherto, she declared, she had felt like a flower that was withering
+for the lack of sun; now Sophy supplied the sunshine.  Sophy was
+endowed with a personality that inspired happiness, and looked on the
+world as the abode of joy.  And so at last pretty Miss Leigh tasted the
+delights of the Gymkhana Club, and took part in tennis, golf and
+dancing.  There were boating parties on the Royal lakes and picnics in
+the woods.  She made many acquaintances and had quite "a waiting list"
+of partners.  Sometimes of a morning, but much more frequently of an
+evening, after tennis or boating, Mrs. Krauss would drive down to
+Phayre Street.  There the shops were on the best European lines, and
+exhibited all the latest articles from London, Paris, or Berlin,
+tempting rupees out of people's pockets.  Mrs. Krauss was a liberal
+purchaser, whether of European stores, fancy goods, drapery, or
+jewellery; this generous aunt presented Sophy with a pair of heavy gold
+bangles, a string of pearls and an exquisite fan and kimono.  These
+latter were found at an Indian repository owned by a well-known
+Bengali, with a large clientèle (Burmese themselves are too indolent to
+make successful shopkeepers--they much prefer to look on, and laugh,
+and bargain).  In this and other emporiums of the same class were to be
+found rare embroideries, ivory carvings, eggshell china, Oriental
+draperies, jade, and piles of Chinese and Japanese silks of the most
+exquisite fabric and colour.  Sophy liked to wander round, to marvel
+and admire, but soon discovered that to do the latter was to be
+immediately endowed with her fancy--be it an enormous Chinese jar, or a
+lacquered cabinet, or a mere silver bowl.  Mrs. Krauss firmly resisted
+every denial and excuse.
+
+"My dear," she would protest, "do not refuse me; mine is the pleasure.
+I don't know how to spend all my money, and never until now have I had
+a girl to whom I could offer presents--and to _give_ is such a joy.  I
+am a rich woman, with no belongings except you and yours.  Certainly, I
+don't deny that this big gong" (the present in question) "is rather a
+clumsy affair, but it is old and a beauty.  What a deep, rich,
+melancholy tone!  When struck it seems to tell of some sad, sad story
+that happened hundreds of years ago.  After you are married, dear
+child, it will be so useful in your hall."
+
+On these excursions there was one little shop that was never neglected
+or overlooked; this was situated in a narrow slum, a long way from the
+great artery of traffic and fashion.  After negotiating various
+tortuous windings and encountering horrible gusts of stale _napie_ and
+the ever-odorous _dorian_, the car halted at a certain corner, and Mrs.
+Krauss and her companion made their way into a narrow ill-lit lane, and
+entered a mean den kept by a fat, crafty-looking Chinaman and his lean,
+pock-marked son.  There was, as far as Sophy could discern, nothing
+whatever to interest or attract upon the premises.  The stock was
+ordinary and scanty; a few coarse china tea-sets, some teapots in cane
+baskets, paper fans, lacquer trays and odds and ends of the cheapest
+rubbish; but Mrs. Krauss solemnly assured her niece that "it was the
+_only_ place in Rangoon for the real guaranteed netsukes," of which she
+was making a collection.
+
+A Japanese netsuke is an elaborately-carved ivory button of various
+shapes and sizes--no two are alike; they take the form of men or
+animals and, as a rule, are executed with amazing delicacy, and, if
+signed and old, are of considerable value.
+
+Mrs. Krauss, who spoke a little Chinese--and was proud of her
+accomplishment--appeared to know the fat proprietor rather well, and
+together they would retire into a dim inner recess, illumined by an oil
+lamp hanging before an altar, and there examine, bargain and gloat over
+treasures.
+
+Meanwhile Sophy, who remained in the outer shop, was offered a seat and
+tea, without milk or sugar, in what resembled a doll's cup; by her
+aunt's express desire she always accepted this refreshment, although
+she found the decoction unspeakably nasty; it seemed to taste of an
+evil odour.  Sometimes Mrs. Krauss would linger for fifteen minutes,
+sometimes for longer, talking over netsukes and Hong Kong with Ah Shee.
+The atmosphere of the place was overpowering; such a stifling reek of a
+mysterious effluvium, the combination of joss sticks, stale fish,
+rancid oil, and a sickly taint like the fetid breath of some mortal
+sickness; it made Sophy feel faint and, after a short interval, she
+invariably made her way into the street, where the air--though by no
+means fresh--was an improvement on that within the shop.
+
+The street was narrow and squalid and the houses were dilapidated--even
+for a native quarter; passers-by had a slinking stealthy gait, and cast
+glances of surprise and suspicion at the young lady who lingered
+outside the premises of Ah Shee.
+
+One evening, as she waited thus, in the warm, damp dusk, FitzGerald in
+uniform clattered by; he caught sight of Sophy out of what is called
+"the tail of the eye," and pulled up so suddenly as to throw his horse
+upon its haunches.
+
+"Miss Leigh!" he exclaimed.  "Yes, it is!  May I ask why you find
+yourself among the Seven Dials, or devils, of Rangoon?"
+
+"Oh, Aunt Flora comes to Ah Shee's shop hunting for ivories; she is
+collecting netsukes."
+
+"Netsukes!" he repeated; "netsukes _here_!"
+
+"Oh yes, and such good ones--the best in Burma; but it's a horrible
+place, and as to the odours!" and she made a gesture expressive of
+disgust.
+
+"Yes, by Jove, the Chinese beat all the world in stinks; but I say,
+Miss Leigh, try to persuade your aunt to hunt elsewhere for
+ivories--this part of the world is unhealthy."
+
+"I'm not surprised at that."
+
+"Be advised by me and make _this_ your last visit to this chinky shop.
+Well, I must be shoving on," and he trotted away.
+
+A moment later Mrs. Krauss emerged and, by the quivering eye of an
+electric lamp, Sophy noticed that she looked strangely animated--indeed
+almost radiant.  No doubt she had secured some wonderful prize.
+
+"Who were you talking to, my dear?" she asked.
+
+"Mr. FitzGerald; he was so surprised to see me and says we ought not to
+come here--the place is unhealthy and, indeed, Aunt Flora, I wonder you
+can stand the reek of Ah Shee's den for so long without feeling
+horribly sick."
+
+"Oh, Mr. FitzGerald--the police-officer?  Yes, he is right; it is a low
+neighbourhood and the air is poisonous, but I've managed to get what I
+wanted," and she held up a pocket handkerchief bulging with ivories.
+"I won't have to come again for ages and ages."
+
+Meanwhile Ah Shee and son had shuffled off to summon the chauffeur, and
+the car now appeared round the corner of the street, looking like some
+crouching black monster, with round, fiery eyes.  Attended by the two
+obsequious Chinamen, Mrs. Krauss and her niece entered the motor and
+were speedily borne away.  For a considerable time the former did not
+open her lips, but lay back in her corner in an attitude of contented
+lassitude.
+
+They made their way homewards through the teeming bazaar and
+brilliantly illuminated Phayre Street, with its brave show of shops,
+offering a kaleidoscopic review of jewellery, glittering silver, cut
+glass and brass work, or masses of rich, many-coloured stuffs and
+silks, each shop with a special circle of admirers.
+
+It was the hour when offices disgorge their employés, when idlers come
+to lounge and stare, and between foot-passengers, trams, taxis and
+carts, the thoroughfare was almost impassable.  During a block Mrs.
+Krauss suddenly roused from her condition of happy contemplation, and
+said, as she opened her handkerchief:
+
+"My dear Sophy, I've got _such_ treasures--such finds; real, old
+netsukes, signed, and _so_ cheap!  Do look at this delicious rabbit!"
+holding out a beautiful model.  "Is it not too perfect, exquisitely
+carved, and smooth with age?  And the tortoise with the little tiny one
+on its back--what a darling!" and she took it up and kissed it with
+rapture.
+
+It puzzled Sophy to witness this extraordinary enthusiasm and then to
+recall the cold fact that, on her return to "Heidelberg," her aunt's
+interest in these ivories seemed to wane and disappear.  Was there not
+a bowl of specimens in the drawing-room already consigned to oblivion
+and dust?  Aunt Flora's character exhibited an amazing combination of
+fantastic caprice and invincible good nature.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+CHAFF
+
+It was Thursday, the Station holiday.  A capital paper-chase had
+recently engaged the entire community; the pace had been unusually
+severe; the obstacles large and formidable--especially the notorious
+Log Jump--and casualties were not a few.  Shafto and FitzGerald, on hot
+and heaving horses, had only halted for a moment at the hospitable
+"Finish," where refreshments were being served, as care for their
+precious steeds was taking them and their animals home.  After an
+unusually long silence FitzGerald exclaimed, apropos of nothing in
+particular:
+
+"So--sits the wind in that quarter?"
+
+Shafto turned his head and met a pair of knowing Irish eyes.
+
+"That quarter!" repeated FitzGerald, indicating the red-tiled roof of
+the Krausses' bungalow, where it peeped out from amid a solid mass of
+palms and bamboos.
+
+"I haven't the remotest idea what you are driving at," said Shafto
+impatiently.  "Is it a bit of dialogue in the play you are rehearsing?"
+
+"No, me boy, that is fiction--this is fact!  In my official capacity I
+am bound to take notes, and within the last week I have twice met you
+early of a morning riding with Miss Leigh--no third party visible to
+the naked eye.  In fact, you were there before the rest of the
+crowd--and, of course, the early bird gets the worm!"
+
+"And which is the worm--Miss Leigh or I?"
+
+"Oh yes, you may try to laugh it off, but there's some reason for these
+early _tête-à-têtes_.  The reason is as plain as the stick in my
+hand--no, I beg its pardon, the reason is uncommonly pretty."
+
+"FitzGerald, you are talking most blatant bosh."
+
+"Maybe I am and maybe I'm not, and, let me tell you, you're not the
+only string to the lady's bow; she has as many as a harp!  There's
+Fotheringay, the A.D.C.; there's Captain Howe; there's Bernhard----"
+
+"Bernhard's a beast," burst out Shafto.
+
+"Naturally _you_ would think so--it's only human nature.  But Otto is a
+handsome man and has a fine seductive voice; and mind you, music has
+charms to soothe the breast, savage or otherwise; as for your
+prospects, you may apply to me for a testimonial of character: steady,
+sober----"
+
+"There, Fitz, that's enough--drop it!"
+
+"Drop it!" repeated FitzGerald with a laugh.  "Don't get your frills
+out, old boy, I mean no harm; she is by a long way the prettiest girl
+in the place."
+
+"That will do," exclaimed Shafto impatiently; "leave the ladies alone,
+or, if you must discuss them, what about the little American Miss
+Bliss?  You danced with her half the night at the last Cinderella."
+
+"Ah! now I suppose you think you're carrying the war into the enemy's
+quarter, don't ye?  Dancing is not compromising--like solitary rides
+with a girl before the world is warm, and Miss Bliss, by name and
+nature, is the only girl in Rangoon who can do a decent turkey trot.
+Now, as to Miss Leigh----"
+
+"Oh, for goodness' sake leave Miss Leigh alone and talk about something
+else--talk about horses."
+
+"Talk about horses," repeated FitzGerald in a teasing voice, "and if he
+isn't blushing up to his ears!  I'll tell you what, young Shafto, it's
+a treat to see a real blush in this part of the world; blushing is rare
+in Burma, and I'd just like to have your coloured photograph,"
+continued FitzGerald, whose methods of chaff were as rude and crude as
+those of any schoolboy.
+
+"Come, don't let's have any more of this, Fitz, or you and I will
+quarrel."
+
+FitzGerald grinned from ear to ear, delighted at the rise he had taken
+out of his companion, touched his cap, and said:
+
+"All right, yer honour," but to himself he added, "by Jingo, it's
+_serious_!  Well, well!  However, he's as poor as a rat and that's a
+great comfort."
+
+Comfort was constituted by the fact that, in these circumstances, there
+could be no immediate prospect of a break-up of the congenial chummery.
+
+"See here, Mr. Shafto, on your high horse, if you promise not to trail
+your coat and frighten me, I'll tell you something that will interest
+you.  I know you have been poking round with Roscoe and diving into
+queer places--are you as keen as ever?"
+
+"I am, of course," rejoined Shafto, still stiff and unappeased.
+
+"Well, then, I can show you a quarter where Roscoe has never dared to
+stick his nose--a cocaine den."
+
+"Not really?  Surely you couldn't take me in there."
+
+"I can so, as one of my subordinates; I am looking for evidence in a
+murder case; I'll lend you a coat, and all you will have to do is to
+look wise and hold your tongue."
+
+"This is most awfully good of you," exclaimed Shafto, "and I needn't
+tell you I'll go like a shot."
+
+"Oh, I'm good now, am I?" jeered FitzGerald; "but, joking apart, this
+will be an experience.  Not like puppet plays and dances--but a black
+tragedy."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so; I know it's pretty awful."
+
+"Cocaine smuggling is playing the very devil with the country and
+there's no denying that."
+
+"But can't you do something to stop it?"
+
+"Is it stop it?  You might just as well try to stop the Irrawaddy with
+a pitchfork.  And it's growing worse; there are some big people in
+it--the Hidden Hand Company--who keep out of sight, pay the money,
+employ the tools and collar the swag.  They have agents all over this
+province, as well as India, China and the Straits."
+
+"Where does the stuff come from?"
+
+"It's chiefly manufactured in Germany, though some comes from England."
+
+"What, you don't mean that!  I always thought it was concocted out
+here."
+
+"'Tis little ye know!  It is mostly sent in from Hamburg, and in all
+manner of clever ways; the smugglers are as cute as foxes and up to
+every mortal dodge.  A lot of the contraband is done by native crews,
+of course without the knowledge of the ships' officers.  Hydrochloride
+of cocaine travels in strong paper envelopes between fragile goods, or
+in larger quantities in false bottoms of boxes, under plates in the
+engine room, or in the bulkheads."
+
+"But how can they possibly land the stuff?" inquired Shafto.
+
+"Easier than you think!  There are lots of nice, lonely, sequestered
+coves, where goods can be put ashore of a dark night, or dropped
+carefully overboard, hermetically sealed, with an empty tin canister as
+a float, and picked up at daybreak by a friendly sampan.  Of course,
+the customs house officers have to be reckoned with from the moment a
+ship enters till she leaves the port, but sometimes in this drowsy
+climate a man falls asleep in his long chair, and here is the
+_serang's_ chance--the _serang_ being the head and leader of the crew.
+The contraband is quickly lowered in gunny bags to the sampans and
+carried off in triumph to its destination.  However, not long ago, the
+customs made a haul of twelve hundred ounces; out here cocaine sells
+for six pounds an ounce.  So that was a nice little loss, and yet only
+a drop in the ocean--for every grain that is seized a pound enters the
+market.  Oh, I'd make my fortune if I could run one of these foxes to
+earth."
+
+"I wish you could," said Shafto; "have you no clue, no suspicions?"
+
+"Hundreds of suspicions, but no clue.  There's a fellow in a sampan who
+unnecessarily hoists a white umbrella--I have my best eye on him; and
+there is said to be a broken-down, past-mending motor-launch in a creek
+beyond Kemmendine, which I propose, when I have a chance, to overhaul
+on the quiet.  Chinese steamers plying between Japan and Rangoon run
+stacks of contraband; as soon as one method of landing is discovered
+they find another; their ingenuity is really interesting to watch.  The
+chief smugglers are never caught--only their satellites, who get about
+four months' gaol and never blow the gaff.  If they did I wouldn't give
+much for their lives."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that their employers wouldn't stick at murder?"
+cried Shafto aghast.
+
+"They stick at nothing; a murder done second-hand is quite cheap and
+easy--just a stab with a _dah_, or long knife, and the body flung into
+the Irrawaddy; you know the pace of that racing current and how it
+tells no tales!  Well, here we are!  You see, for once I can discourse
+of other things than horses; and, talking of horses, these fellows had
+better have a bran-mash apiece; but once you get me on cocaine
+smuggling, I warn you I can jaw till my mouth's as dry as a lime-kiln."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE PONGYE
+
+Late one warm afternoon in January, when Shafto was unusually busy on
+the Pagoda wharf--consignments of paddy were coming in thick and
+fast--suddenly, above the din of steam winches and donkey engines,
+there arose a great shouting, and he beheld an immense cloud of white
+dust rolling rapidly in his direction.
+
+"Look out, it's a runaway!" roared a neighbouring worker.  "By George,
+they'll all be in the river!"
+
+Sure enough, there came a rattle-trap hack _gharry_ at the heels of a
+pair of galloping ponies.  The reins were broken, a yelling soldier sat
+helpless on the driver's seat and several of his comrades were inside
+the rocking vehicle.  The animals, maddened with fear, were making
+straight for the Irrawaddy and, as Shafto rushed forward with
+outstretched arms to head them off, they swerved violently, came into
+resounding contact with a huge crane, and upset the _gharry_ with a
+shattering crash.  Several men ran to the struggling ponies; Shafto and
+another to the overturned _gharry_ and hauled out two privates; number
+one, helplessly intoxicated; number two, not quite so helpless; the
+third person to emerge was, to Shafto's speechless amazement, no less a
+personage than a shaven priest--a full-grown _pongye_ in his yellow
+robe!  He looked considerably dazed and a good deal cut about with
+broken glass.  Waving away assistance, he tottered over and sat down
+behind a huge pile of rice stacks.  Shafto immediately followed to
+inquire how he could help him, but before he had uttered a word, the
+_pongye_, who was much out of breath, gasped:
+
+"Bedad! that was a near shave!"
+
+Could Shafto believe his ears?
+
+"Whist! now, and don't let on!" he continued, staunching a cut with a
+corner of his yellow robe--which he presently exchanged for Shafto's
+handkerchief--"the fright knocked it out of me!"
+
+"So you're not a Burman?"
+
+"Faix, I am not; I'm a native of Cork and was born in Madras, and only
+for yer honour we'd all be floating down the Irrawaddy this blessed
+minute."
+
+His honour found it impossible to articulate; he merely stood and
+gaped.  The Irish _pongye_, born in Cork and Madras, was a tall, gaunt,
+middle-aged man, with high cheek-bones, a closely-shorn head, and horn
+spectacles.
+
+"Might I ask yer name, sorr?" he inquired at last, "and where ye live?"
+
+"My name is Shafto; I live in a chummery at the corner of Sandwith
+Road."
+
+"Oh, an' well I know it an' its old compound.  They say it's full of
+_nats_, because of a murder as was done there.  My name is Mung Baw, at
+yer service, and I'll not forget what ye did for me this day, and I'll
+call round.  Blessed hour! where's my begging-bowl?"
+
+As soon as Shafto had discovered and restored his _patta_, the _pongye_
+arose, gave himself a shake and, without another word, stalked away, a
+tall, erect, unspeakably majestic figure.
+
+When Shafto met Roscoe he lost no time in recounting his extraordinary
+adventure, and added triumphantly:
+
+"So you see, Joe Roscoe, you are not the only man here who makes a
+strange acquaintance."
+
+"I'm not surprised," he rejoined; "I've heard more than once of these
+white _pongyes_.  I dare say the chap will be as good as his word and
+will look you up; I foresee an interesting interview."
+
+In about three weeks Roscoe's prediction was verified.  Returning home
+late one evening Shafto was struck by the unusually impressive
+appearance and gestures of the fat Madrassi butler who, beckoning him
+aside with an air of alarming mystery, informed him that "someone was
+in his room waiting to see his honour."
+
+"In my room," he repeated indignantly.  "Why the mischief did you put
+him in there?  Couldn't he sit in the veranda, like other people?"
+
+"No, saar, he refused; he would not."
+
+Shafto flung open the door of his apartment with a gesture of annoyance
+and, to his profound amazement, discovered the _pongye_ seated in easy
+comfort upon his bed.  He was surrounded by an odd medicinal aromatic
+atmosphere, his sandals, begging-bowl and umbrella were carefully
+disposed beside him and he appeared to be thoroughly at home.
+
+"I thought I'd give ye a call, sorr, before I went up country.  I'm off
+to Mandalay to-morrow on a pilgrimage."
+
+"Oh, are you?" said Shafto, taking a seat and feeling at a complete
+loss what he was to say and how he was to handle this novel situation.
+
+"I thought," resumed the _pongye_, "that I'd like to offer ye an
+explanation of the way I happened to be in that 'ere accident."
+
+"Yes," assented his host; "I suppose this," pointing to his yellow gown
+with his stick, "is a fancy dress, for, of course, you are not a real
+_pongye_?"
+
+"Troth, I am so," he rejoined with indignant emphasis; "I've been
+properly initiated--I know Burmese and the Pali language, and can
+intone a chant with anyone."
+
+"All the same, you're an Irishman and your speech bewrayeth you.  I
+wonder you are not kicked out."
+
+"Is it kick me out?  No fear!  For besides being well respected and
+well liked, I'm a magician."
+
+"Oh, come, that's all rot!" exclaimed Shafto impatiently.
+
+"'Tis not," he rejoined in a vigorously defensive tone; "and 'tis
+little ye know.  This is a queer country; the people are terribly
+superstitious and weak in themselves, on account of _nats_ and bad
+spirits."
+
+"Oh, that I can believe," replied Shafto; "your pals in the _gharry_
+could tell you something about bad spirits."
+
+"Wait now and I'll explain," said the _pongye_, with an intimate
+gesture of his great bony hand.
+
+"Sometimes I've a sort of ache to be mixing up with European
+soldiers--even if it's only for a couple of hours."  After a pause he
+added in a thoughtful tone, "For ye see I was wance a soldier meself."
+
+"What!"
+
+"It's the pure truth I'm tellin' ye--a corporal, with two good-conduct
+stripes; the other week Paddy Nolan had drink taken, and nothin' would
+please him but that he must drive, so he turned off the _garriwan_ and
+made a cruel bad hand of it--as you saw for yourself!  They were a
+couple of raw new ponies, come down out of last drove, and unused to
+trams and motors, and frightened dancing mad; only for you heading them
+off, we were all as dead as mutton."
+
+"But how did you get into the Burmese priesthood?" inquired Shafto with
+abrupt irrelevance.
+
+"It was like this, sorr, I'm country-born; me father was a sergeant in
+the Irish Rifles, me mother was a half-caste--an Anglo-Indian from
+Ceylon--so I'm half Irish, quarter Cingalese.  I was left an orphan
+when I was seven years old and educated at the Lawrence Asylum.  I
+always had a wonderful twist for languages; it came as easy as
+breathing to me to talk Tamil or Telugu.  Well, when I was close on
+eighteen I enlisted and put in seven years with the Colours, mostly in
+Bengal; then we come over here and lay in Mandalay and, after a bit,
+I--somehow got lost."
+
+"That is, you deserted," sternly amended Shafto.
+
+"Oh well, have it whatever way ye like, sorr.  I was shootin' in the
+jungles and was took terribly bad with fever and nearly died.  The
+natives are good-natured, kind, soft people--none better; they took me
+in and nursed me, and one of the _pongyes_ doctored me.  You see, I was
+entirely out of touch with Europeans, and when I got cured was just a
+walking skeleton.  Some thief had made away with my boots and breeches,
+so I stopped among the natives and never laid eyes on a white face for
+two years.  I soon picked up the Burmese lingo, which some say is
+difficult; but to me it was aisy as kiss me hand.  Then I was received
+into the priesthood; that was over seven years ago, and here I am
+still.  Of course, as ye know, I can go or stay as I please; but I
+stick to the yellow robe as if it was me skin.  Still and all, I won't
+deny that the sight of a soldier draws me, and that," he concluded
+modestly, "is my only wakeness."
+
+"I say, you don't mean to tell me that you are a _real_ Buddhist?"
+
+"Why, of course I am; what else would I be?  The religion is pure and
+good and friendly; the other priests know that I'm from India--and
+that's enough for _them_.  In this country no questions is asked--and
+that's what makes livin' so nice and aisy.  And, sure, aren't we
+Buddhists all over the world?  Our doctrines are wise and ancient; we
+pray and keep fasts and live to ourselves, and there's little differ,
+in my mind, between us and the Catholic religion--in which I was born
+and reared.  Haven't we the mass, and vespers, and beads, and
+monasteries, and Lent,--all complate?"
+
+"So then you're a celibate--a monk?"
+
+"And to be shure I am; ye don't think I look like a nun, do ye?"
+
+"A water drinker?"
+
+"Well, sorr, I'm tell ye no lie--not altogether; I am not a teetotaller
+all out, I'm a sober man, and I mostly drink cocoanut water and tea.
+It's a fine, free life, I can tell ye."
+
+"Fine and idle, eh?"
+
+"I'm not more idle than the rest of them; it's true that I don't teach,
+and, of course, it's only the young fellows that do the sweeping,
+water-carrying and filtering, and the work at the _kyoung_.  I see a
+heap of the country and have many friends, who give me small presents,
+and smokes and food; I have a far better time--a thousand times a
+better time--than sweating in route marches and carrying round Orderly
+books in Rangoon or Calcutta; and many's the quare tale I could tell
+ye--tales about animals and elephant dances and big snakes, ay, and
+spirit tales that would open your eyes."
+
+"Well, if it's any comfort to know it, you've opened my eyes about as
+wide as they will go.  What is your real name?"
+
+"Michael Ryan.  Me father came from Cork--a real fine country for
+fighting men, and I understand that, once upon a time, my ancestors had
+a great kingdom beyond the Shannon.  Well, sorr," now beginning to
+unfold himself and rise from the bed, "I thought I'd just drop in and
+explain matters a bit before I go up country."
+
+"That was very thoughtful of you, Mung Baw."
+
+"I'll be back in a while, and I needn't tell ye, Mr. Shafto, that as
+long as I draw breath I'll never forget how I'm beholden to ye.  I'm
+vowed to poverty, of course, but I'm a rover and go about a lot, and
+some day I may be able to put a good thing in your way, and I can tell
+ye one thing--ye have a lucky face!"
+
+"I'm glad to hear it; and now, before you depart, will you tell me
+something else?  How do you contrive to get so much liberty--careering
+round the town with Tommies and coming to look me up?  It's past seven
+o'clock--and I understand your Roll Call is at six."
+
+"That's true," assented the _pongye_, "but there are exceptions, and
+I'm one of them," suddenly sliding off the bed and drawing himself up
+to his full height--about six feet two.  "I don't enjoy very good
+health being, as ye understand, no native of the country; so I'm
+allowed a certain margin and liberty.  Well now, I'll be takin' leave
+of ye; but before I go, I want you to accept something I brought
+you--just a small trifle of a talisman."
+
+And from some mysterious receptacle he produced a good-sized dark
+stone, about the size of a pigeon's egg.  "Now, whatever ye do, put
+this carefully away and keep it safe and secure."
+
+Shafto took it in his hand, examined the gift and murmured his thanks.
+
+"No harm of any sort can come next or nigh ye," continued the _pongye_,
+"as long as that stone's in your possession--and that's as shure as me
+name's Mung Baw."
+
+And hastily collecting his umbrella and bowl, before Shafto could
+realise the intended move the stranger was gone.  Nothing remained of
+his visit but the curious aromatic odour and the so-called "talisman."
+The stone was round, dark and by no means beautiful, and at first
+Shafto was inclined to throw it into the compound, but, on second
+thoughts, he thrust it into his dispatch box and locked it away.
+
+"Evil spirits, a magician, a talisman," he said to himself.  "I suppose
+the poor fellow was discharged from the Service as a hopeless lunatic."
+
+Having arrived at this conclusion, Shafto changed his clothes and went
+to dinner in the veranda, where he was well chaffed about his recent
+visitor.
+
+"Been stealing something up at the Pagoda and they sent a _Bo_ after
+you," suggested FitzGerald; "I must say your new friend is a
+rum-looking customer; a powerful, strapping _pongye_.  He'd make a
+grand constable!  What did he want?"
+
+"Oh, he merely came to pay a visit of ceremony," replied Shafto.  "He
+was in a _gharry_ accident a few weeks ago, and I happened to come to
+his rescue and pick up the pieces; he called to express his thanks and
+drop a P.P.C."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE COCAINE DEN
+
+"To-night's the night," said FitzGerald to his confederate.  "You and I
+will creep out in half an hour's time, and no questions asked.  Roscoe
+has gone up to Tonghoo about oil; the MacNab is dining at the Pegu Club
+with one of his Big Pots and talking Flotilla and finance."
+
+"All right, I'll be ready in two jiffs--you won't forget the coat?"
+
+"Not likely!  We will taxi down to the end of Dalhousie Street, and
+into the bazaar about half-past nine o'clock, and then proceed on foot.
+I am taking two constables--both armed."
+
+It was a gay and busy scene; Dalhousie Street--which, it is said, never
+sleeps--was a blaze of light, humming with noise and excitement and
+packed with crowds of pleasure-seekers; a crude mixture of races,
+struggling and pushing to their different goals of entertainment.
+
+As the two young men halted for a moment at a popular corner, it seemed
+as if the whole town and bazaar flowed past in a wave of colour and
+movement.  Burmans' and Shans, male and female, clothed in coloured
+silk and satin, the women decked with flowers and jewellery, all
+smoking and jabbering in their strange monosyllabic tongue; solid,
+well-set-up Germans parading in couples; rollicking sailors; Chinamen;
+Malays in great numbers; stately Sikhs and the inevitable Babu filled
+the scene.
+
+"They are all out to-night," observed FitzGerald, "lots of shows on;
+well, now for _ours_."
+
+As he spoke he turned into a narrow street that led through an endless
+maze of curves and angles and, followed by two stalwart Sikh police,
+they made their way into the heart of the China bazaar and plunged into
+the worst slum quarter of this crowded, cosmopolitan city--a city, at
+least, in wealth, extent, population and importance.  They passed
+flaring joss-houses, gambling dens and brazenly naked haunts of vice,
+and after picking their steps through a particularly noisome
+gully--odorous of _napie_ and rotten vegetables--they arrived at an
+innocent little door in a high blank wall.  After some whispered parley
+with an old Chinaman, the pair were admitted and ushered into a large,
+low saloon, where scores of gamblers were engrossed in the hypnotic
+pleasures of "Fan Tan," or the "36 animal lottery," so popular and so
+simple!
+
+The adjoining room was a well-appointed opium resort.  Here the roar of
+the bazaar and pulsing of tom-toms were blurred and almost inaudible.
+A reek of _bhang_ and _betel_ hung in the air; there were rows of neat
+bunks, lacquered pillows, and small trays containing the opium pipe,
+lamp and other necessaries.  Everything was apparently carried out
+decently and in order; the clients were of a respectable, well-to-do
+class--some who had merely dropped in for a pipe of _chandu_, or a jolt
+of opium; and Shafto noticed quite a number of Europeans and, among
+them, at present asleep, a man whom he knew and frequently met on the
+Strand.  He had sometimes wondered at his dried-up, withered skin and
+lank, dead-looking black hair.  _Now_ he understood.
+
+The police officer was not disposed to linger on these premises.  A
+cocaine den was his goal, and after a short talk with an affable old
+Chinaman, who spoke perfect English, he took leave and once more they
+were threading the odorous gloom of the slums.  They soon came to a
+halt and, leaving the two constables outside, after the usual delay and
+mystery, were admitted and entered a most evil-smelling den.  This was
+lighted by two or three smoky oil-lamps, the rank smell of which, with
+the sickly reek of squalid humanity, struck them like a blow in the
+face.  Between forty and fifty victims appeared to be present, all
+belonging to the poorer classes, and nothing could be more repulsive
+than their appearance.  Excessive emaciation and festering sores were
+their most marked characteristics.  Some were lying on their mats in
+semi-stupor, several who had just received an injection were patiently
+awaiting their dreadful sleep--one of the chief attributes of cocaine
+is its almost immediate effect.  Here was a group squatting round a man
+armed with a syringe--fatal germ-carrier--busily engaged in mixing the
+cocaine and morphia.  When the concoction had been prepared, one of the
+customers turned up his sleeve to discover--if he could--a spot in
+which to insert the needle; but there was not a place, even the size of
+a pin's head, so he rolled up his _lungyi_ and searched for a site on
+his thigh; then the needle was produced, its contents were pumped in,
+and the man made room for the next victim.  This performance held
+Shafto with a sort of hideous fascination; the crowd appeared to be
+entirely insensible to his presence and only alive to the enjoyment
+awaiting them.
+
+At the far end of the room was an iron-bound enclosure, behind which
+sat a wily and inscrutable Chinaman who, having received a formal
+notice that this visit was "safe and unofficial," obligingly exhibited
+his scales and small packets of drugs--wares to bring rich delights to
+the narcotised--which he disposed of in infinitesimal quantities, at
+from four to six annas a dose.
+
+Sprawling about on filthy rush mats were numerous Chinese, Burmese and
+Indians; also a few women of the lowest class, each and all sunken in
+the various stages of an ecstatic slumber.
+
+As FitzGerald was now engaged in whispered conference with a
+pock-marked Malay (who was awaiting his turn), Shafto stood back
+against the wall, a completely detached figure, acutely sensible of the
+chill horror of this unknown sphere--the so-called "underworld."
+
+He noticed that one or two customers sat round covetously watching the
+operation of the syringe--not having the money with which to indulge
+themselves; he also observed several who appeared to be in the last
+stage of their existence--thin to emaciation, mere wrecks, like
+half-dead flies, scarcely able to crawl about the floor.
+
+Quite in the shadow, he caught sight of a tall figure in European
+clothes, who was, like himself, an impassive spectator, and, with a
+start, he recognised Roscoe's cousin.  To-night he appeared cleaner and
+more human; he had shaved recently, and there was an undeniable family
+likeness between him and his relative--such a resemblance as may exist
+between a dead and broken branch and one still flourishing upon a
+healthy tree.  On this occasion he was evidently not ashamed to be seen
+and recognised, for he nodded to Shafto, then crossed the room and
+joined him.
+
+"Ah, so you've not taken a pull at yourself yet?" said Shafto.
+
+"No, the cocaine debauchee has no power to resist the drug," he replied
+in a thin refined voice.  "I am fairly normal to-night; it is not a
+case of virtuous repentance, but merely because I have no money."
+
+As he made this statement the despairing eyes that looked into Shafto's
+were those of some famishing animal.
+
+"You have the power to raise me from the pit," he continued in a husky
+voice; "you can lift me straight into heaven!"
+
+"Only temporarily," brusquely rejoined Shafto.
+
+"Even that is something when it offers peace and satisfaction to the
+restless human heart."
+
+"But surely you can free yourself and your restless heart?  Why not
+walk out of this filthy den with us?  Roscoe will help you, so will I.
+Come, be a man!"
+
+"It would be impossible for me to regain the normal balance of life,"
+declared the victim of the drug; "also, I am no longer a man--I am a
+fanatical worshipper of cocaine, and only death can part us.  Some day
+soon I shall fall out of her train, the police will find me in the
+gutter and take the debased body to the mortuary, whence, unclaimed and
+unknown, it will be carried to a pauper's grave."
+
+"But can nothing be done to stop this hellish business?"
+
+"Nothing," replied the victim with emphasis, "nothing whatever, until
+sales are rendered impossible and the big men--the real smugglers who
+are trading in the life-blood of their brothers--are reached and
+scotched.  As for myself, I am past praying for; but thousands of
+others could and ought to be saved--by drastic measures and a stern
+exposure.  The fellows in this business are as cunning as the devil;
+the stuff arrives by roundabout channels and from the most surprising
+quarters.  Now and then they allow a consignment to be seized, but as a
+mere blind, a sop, and trade flourishes; there is no business to touch
+it in the money-making line."
+
+He paused and met Shafto's searching eyes, then went on:
+
+"It must amaze you to hear a fellow in this sink talking plain
+grammatical English, but before the cocaine fiend caught and tortured
+me I had brains.  Joe Roscoe is a good chap--he has often held out a
+helping hand, but it was not a bit of use, I only sank deeper.  When I
+recall the things I have done, the meannesses I have stooped to, I
+squirm and squirm and _squirm_!  Well, I am nearly at the end of my
+tether, and a hair of the dog that bit me is all I ask.  Your friend
+FitzGerald here, now looking up evidence from that rascally Malay, is
+working his very best to find some clue to the headquarters of the
+gang; but they are much too clever and are making their thousands and
+tens of thousands; profits are enormous, and the servants of the
+company are well paid for any risks or prosecutions."
+
+"But what about informers?" asked Shafto.
+
+"Oh, as for betraying secrets or giving the game away, the employés
+know exactly what to expect.  More than one would-be witness has
+disappeared; his epitaph is, 'Found drowned.'  Ah, I see FitzGerald
+moving, and so you must take your departure out of this inferno into
+the clean upper-world."
+
+"You come along with us," said Shafto, suddenly seizing him by the arm.
+
+But Roscoe threw him off with astonishing force and shook his head
+emphatically.  Nevertheless he followed the pair to the entrance--a
+tall wraith-like form moving behind them, a shadow in the shadows.
+
+As soon as the door had closed and the visitors were once more in the
+street, the police officer broke out:
+
+"Upon my word, Shafto, you ought to be ashamed of yourself!  Didn't I
+see you slip money into the hand of that broken-down Englishman?"
+
+"Yes, you did," Douglas boldly admitted; "I was obliged to, right or
+wrong.  If you had only seen his eyes, his starving, despairing eyes!
+I believe they will haunt me as long as I live; somehow I feel to-night
+as if I had looked through the gates of hell!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE APPROACHING DREAD
+
+The cold weather was waning in the month of March, women and children
+were flocking to cooler climes than Lower Burma--chiefly to May Myo,
+north-east of Mandalay.  Once a stockaded village, it was now a
+fair-sized and attractive station, with a garrison, a club, many
+comfortable bungalows, an overflowing abundance of flowers and fruit,
+and in its neighbourhood beautiful moss-green rides.  When the hot
+weather had begun to make itself felt, and the brain-fever bird to make
+himself heard, Mrs. Krauss had insisted on dispatching her niece to
+this resort, chaperoned by Mrs. Gregory; but as far as she herself was
+concerned nothing would induce her to leave home.
+
+"I love my own veranda and my own dear bed," she declared; "I shall
+have lots of electric fans and ice, all the new books, and Lily will
+look after me; but you, Sophy, being a new-comer and not acclimatised,
+must positively depart."
+
+Sophy exerted her utmost eloquence to induce her aunt to follow the
+fashion and spend, at least, two months in the hills, and her efforts
+were warmly supported by Mr. Krauss, but his wife made no reply--she
+merely beamed and shook her head.  Eloquence and persuasion were
+wasted.  He and Sophy might just as well have appealed to the alabaster
+Buddha in the drawing-room.  Flora Krauss never argued--possibly this
+was one phase of her indolent nature.  She merely assumed an immovable,
+negative attitude and met every suggestion with a smile and a shake of
+the head.
+
+Sophy had no desire to leave Rangoon; she protested that she had only
+been out seven months and really required no change; but her appeal was
+silenced by the voice of authority.
+
+"My dear child," said her aunt, "you've no idea what you would be like
+in three months' time.  I am hardened and acclimatised, but your nice
+complexion would soon take leave, never to return.  You would be
+covered with hideous spots and you would probably get fever.  Mrs.
+Gregory is most anxious for your company and _I_ am equally anxious for
+your departure.  You will have a very good time up at May Myo and go
+you must!"
+
+Sophy had no alternative and was compelled to obey orders.
+
+"I shall miss you most dreadfully, my dear," said her aunt; "it is so
+nice to have you flitting about the house, not to speak of your
+vivacious company and delicious music.  Your music is really wonderful;
+it seems to exorcise an evil spirit that gives me no peace."
+
+"Oh, Aunt Flora," expostulated the girl, "how can you say such things?
+Surely you don't believe in evil spirits?"
+
+"But, my dear child, how can I help it when I live in a country where
+millions of people worship and fear them?"
+
+"Those are only ignorant natives; you would not allow their
+superstitions to affect you."
+
+"Well, at any rate, your playing uplifts and soothes me; I can't
+imagine how you inherited this gift; your mother was not particularly
+musical, nor was I.  I recollect my misery as a girl in struggling
+through 'The Harmonious Blacksmith,' and I never remember hearing that
+we had any musical genius in the family.  Of course, the natives here
+would find an easy answer and say that you had been a great musician in
+another incarnation."
+
+On hearing this solemn explanation Sophy burst into peals of laughter,
+at which rejoinder Mrs. Krauss looked both shocked and hurt and, after
+an awkward silence, the subject dropped.
+
+And so, in spite of Sophy's efforts to remain in Rangoon, she was
+figuratively driven into the arms of Mrs. Gregory.  The Maitlands and
+the Pomeroys had also invited her to May Myo, but Mrs. Gregory overbore
+all competition and insisted that she must have Sophy as a companion to
+share her bungalow and accompany her songs, and departed in triumph,
+carrying the girl with her.
+
+Mrs. Krauss attended her niece to the railway station, loaded her with
+books and fruit and saw her off with urgent and affectionate
+injunctions and many kisses.  During the last few months Mrs. Krauss
+appeared to have become a transformed person; she went about
+continually in her smart new car, was seen at dances, little dinners
+and the theatre, and had recovered a faint shadow of her former good
+looks and something of her old animation.
+
+Herr Krauss naturally attributed this change to her niece, and showed
+his gratitude to Sophy in various abrupt ways, suffering her to mix
+with the English society without sneers or interference.  Sophy did not
+now see so much of the German community; she was aware that Mrs. Muller
+and others no longer approved of her, and Frau Wurm had said openly,
+"that although the girl had done her best to learn how to keep a house,
+her heart had never been in the business and she was not
+_schwärmerisch_ to German people or German ways!"
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Whilst Sophy Leigh had been enjoying herself at May Myo, among the
+green hills and soft airs of Upper Burma, Shafto, in the oppressive
+sultry heat, had had some pleasant and unpleasant experiences.
+
+The pleasant experience was that his salary had been raised.  Now he
+could afford to buy another horse and keep a _tum-tum_; with a heavier
+purse he was able to send home some well-chosen and handsome
+presents--a China crêpe shawl for Mrs. Malone, ivory carvings to the
+Tebbs, an Indian _chuddah_ to his aunt and a heavy gold bangle for each
+of the girls.  Unfortunately one gift to "Monte Carlo" had a dire and
+unexpected result--it brought him a deluge of letters from Cossie, who
+was rapturous over his promotion and "his beautiful, exquisite,
+_darling_ gift," which she wore on her arm day and night!
+
+"I felt sure you had _not_ forgotten me," was her ominous opening; "you
+could not; there is a secret telepathy between us, and I am _always_
+thinking of you, dear old boy."
+
+Several mails later there arrived a letter from Sandy, the contents of
+which almost made his cousin's hair stand on end.  After one or two
+preliminary sentences, Shafto's eyes fell upon these lines:
+
+"By this you will have heard that our Cossie will be afloat; she has
+been very restless and unsettled for a long time--almost ever since you
+left; nothing seems to please her.  First she took up nursing and soon
+dropped that; then she took up typing and soon dropped that.  At last
+she has got the wish of her life, which is to go abroad.  She has
+answered an advertisement and secured a top-hole situation, as lady
+nurse in Rangoon.  She starts in ten days in the ship that took you
+out--the _Blankshire_, and is so busy and excited that she is nearly
+off her nut."
+
+The same post delivered a thick letter from Cossie, which her
+ungrateful and distracted relative tore up unread.  Already, in his
+mind's eye, Shafto could see Cossie permanently established in Rangoon,
+informing everyone that she was his cousin, bombarding him with
+_chits_, worrying him for visits, treats and attentions.  Heaven be
+praised! neither of his horses carried a lady, it was as much as he
+could do to ride them himself.  He could not possibly leave Rangoon and
+so effect his escape; he was nailed down to his work, not like his
+lucky chums, whose business duties occasionally carried them up the
+country.  His job was confined to Rangoon itself, for eight hours a day.
+
+The prospect filled him with despair; life would become intolerable.  A
+vivid imagination painted the picture of Cossie, helpless and
+plaintive, appealing for information and advice, coming to him to patch
+up disputes between her and her employer, to take her on the lakes, to
+the gymkhana, or the theatre on her days out.  And what would Sophy
+Leigh think when she saw him accompanied by Mrs. So-and-So's European
+nurse?  Putting her absurd partiality for him on one side, Cossie in
+her normal condition was a good-natured, amiable creature, and, of
+course, when she arrived in Burma he, as her only relative in the
+country, would be bound to look after her and show her attention;
+probably all the world would believe that they were engaged!
+Unchivalrous as was the idea, he had a hateful conviction that it would
+not be Cossie's fault if they did not arrive at that conclusion.
+
+With this sword of Damocles hanging over his head, and the object of
+his apprehension being daily brought nearer and yet nearer, Shafto was
+and looked abjectly miserable.  FitzGerald rallied him boisterously on
+his glum appearance, and on being "off his feed."
+
+"What on earth ails you?"
+
+To his well-intended queries he invariably received the one brief
+unsatisfactory answer: "Nothing."
+
+Roscoe, too, endeavoured to puzzle out the mystery.  It was not the
+lack of money--Shafto was prompt in his payments; _his_ door was never
+haunted by bill-collectors, nor had he got into hot water in his
+office; both his horses were sound.  What could it be?
+
+In due course the _Blankshire_ was signalled and arrived, and the usual
+mob of people swarmed aboard to meet their friends.  Among these,
+carrying a heavy heart, was Shafto; after all, he realised that he must
+do the right thing and go to receive his cousin; but, amazing to
+relate, there was no Miss Larcher among the passengers!  On inquiry he
+was presented to an excited lady, who had brought her all the way from
+Tilbury, filling the situation of lady nurse.  Miss Larcher had not
+completed the voyage, but had landed at Colombo!  On hearing of his
+relationship to her late employé, Mrs. Jones, a hot-tempered matron,
+fell figuratively tooth and nail upon defenceless Shafto.  In a series
+of breathless sentences she assured him that "his cousin, Miss Larcher,
+was no better than an adventuress, and had behaved in the most
+dishonest and scandalous manner."
+
+After a moment--to recover her breath--she went on in gasps:
+
+"I took her on the recommendation of a mutual acquaintance, and at our
+interview she appeared quite all right and most anxious to please; but
+once on board ship, with her passage paid, I soon discovered that she
+was not anxious to please _me_, but any and every unmarried man she
+could come across!  Such a shameless and outrageous flirt I _never_
+saw.  As to her duties, she was absolutely _useless_; I don't believe
+she had ever washed or dressed a child in her life before she came to
+me; she did nothing but dress herself and sit about the deck with men,
+leaving me to do her work.  When I spoke to her she simply laughed in
+my face; the children couldn't endure her and screamed whenever she
+came near them.  So I was obliged to do nursemaid whilst she danced and
+amused herself--and all at my expense.  She made no secret of the fact
+that she was on the look out for a husband; and she has gained her
+end--for she is married."
+
+"Married!" repeated Shafto.  The news was too good to be true.
+
+"Well, at least they landed at Colombo with that intention," announced
+the lady sourly; "she and a coffee planter, a widower, with a touch of
+black blood.  They were going up country to his estate, and she
+declared that she was about to have the time of her life--but I doubt
+it."
+
+This piece of news was an unspeakable relief to Shafto.  The hypocrite
+listened to the long list of his cousin's enormities with a downcast
+and apologetic air, whilst all the time he could have shouted for joy.
+When at last he was permitted an opportunity of speaking, he assured
+the angry matron that he much deplored Miss Larcher's shortcomings.
+His sympathy even took a practical form, for he generously offered to
+refund Mrs. Jones half of Miss Larcher's passage money; this the lady
+vouchsafed to receive and subsequently always spoke of young Shafto as
+"a remarkably nice, gentlemanly fellow."  Little did she suspect that
+the cheque so punctually lodged at her banker's was in the form of a
+heartfelt thank-offering--the price of a young man's peace!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+MYSTERY AND SUSPICION
+
+One evening after dinner the four chums--unusual circumstance--were all
+present; MacNab, seated at the big round table, engaged in putting up a
+remarkably neat parcel, the others lounging at ease, smoking and
+talking.
+
+"Bedad, I know the address of that!" drawled FitzGerald from his long
+cane chair, "St. Andrew's Lodge, Crieff, Perthshire, N.B.
+Ahem--presents endear absents."
+
+"N.B.," retorted MacNab, "_you_ don't send many!"
+
+"Why, man alive, it's all I can do to keep myself in boots!  And you're
+wrong about presents, for I did send my sister a ruby ring out of
+'Top-Note's' winnings.  Things are getting so bad with me
+financially"--here he struck a match and then went on--"that some day
+I'll be obliged to make a present of myself!"
+
+Shafto, who was reading, looked up over the edge of his book and said:
+
+"How do you know you won't be declined with thanks?"
+
+"I will take an observation and make sure, me boy--I'm not a confounded
+fool.  Talking of fools--what about your crazy expedition to-morrow?  I
+say," addressing himself particularly to Roscoe and MacNab, "did you
+know that this fellow is going out tiger shooting?  Tiger shooting, if
+you please!  Tiger shooting is to be his way of spending the Sabbath;
+what do you say to _that_, my stiff-necked Presbyterian?"
+
+"Tiger shooting where?" inquired Roscoe.
+
+"Somewhere near Elephant Point, with Stafford of the Buffers," replied
+Shafto.  "We have got leave, a pass and two trackers."
+
+"You'll find it a pretty expensive business," remarked the canny
+Scotsman.
+
+"Worse than that!" supplemented  Roscoe.  "There will be no bag, no
+tiger skin, claws, whiskers, or fat.  As long as I've been in
+Rangoon--and that's some years--I've been hearing of this same tiger.
+Dozens of parties have been out after him, with no success; he is still
+living on his reputation--just a myth and a fortune to the trappers.
+Lower Burma is much too wet a district for the great cat tribe."
+
+"But I am told that there are plenty of elephants and tigers in this
+district," argued Shafto.  "And what about the tiger that was actually
+crawling on the Pagoda not so very long ago!  Why, hundreds of people
+saw the brute; it was shot by a fellow called Bacon."
+
+As this was a hard and unanswerable fact Roscoe was for the moment
+silenced.  After a short pause he continued:
+
+"All the same, I don't believe in the Elephant Point tiger; the other
+was no doubt a pious beast--who came from Chin Hills to make a
+pilgrimage."
+
+"You'll have a fine, rough journey, me boy." said FitzGerald; "nasty
+deep swamps, terrible thorn thickets, grass ten foot high--it wouldn't
+be _my_ idea of pleasure."
+
+"No," retorted Shafto, "tiger shooting and turkey-trotting are widely
+apart."
+
+"But look here," exclaimed FitzGerald, as if struck by a thought and
+now sitting bolt upright.  "Mind you keep your eyes skinned and your
+ears pricked when you are down there," and he threw his friend a
+significant glance; "you never know your luck, and you might happen on
+valuable _kubber_--and start some rare sort of game."
+
+FitzGerald's warning was amply justified; the tiger-shooting expedition
+proved a much rougher business than the sportsmen had anticipated.
+Once they quitted the roads and foot-path, vegetation became rank and
+overpowering and in places impassable.  Swampy ground, dense thorn
+thickets and elephant grass made progress enormously difficult--the
+jungle guards well its many secrets and is full of dangers to mankind.
+
+It was a bright moonlight night when Shafto and his companions alighted
+at the selected area and tossed for posts.  These were at a
+considerable distance apart, each in a tree, over a "tie-up"--which, on
+this occasion, happened to be a goat.
+
+The hours dragged along slowly; Shafto, doubled up in a cramped
+position on a _machan_, felt painfully stiff and was obliged to deny
+himself the comfort of a cigarette.  There was no sound beyond the
+bleat of the victim--unwittingly summoning its executioner, the buzz of
+myriads of insects, the bass booming of frogs and the stealthy,
+mysterious movements of night birds and small animals.  Then by degrees
+the moon waned and the stars faded--though the sky was still light.  It
+was about three o'clock in the morning and Shafto was beginning to
+agree with Roscoe respecting the tiger myth and to feel uncommonly
+drowsy, when his ear was struck by a far-away sound, entirely distinct
+from buzzing insects or booming frogs.
+
+The spot which had been thoughtfully selected by the trapper, was
+within a few hundred yards of a small cove, chosen as an inviting place
+for the tiger to come and slake his thirst.  The distant sound came
+from this direction and, by degrees, a faint but definite pulsation
+grew more audible and distinct, and finally resolved itself, into the
+steady throbbing of a motor-launch.  It was approaching.
+
+Then from the back of Shafto's mind he dragged out a memory of
+FitzGerald's mention of a broken-down petrol boat.  Here was probably
+the very one--by no means a derelict; on the contrary, a fast
+traveller.  For a moment he was startled, then promptly made up his
+mind.  This was a chance, perhaps, to secure some really valuable
+_kubber_.  More than once he had heard it rumoured that, in these
+distant creeks and bays, some of the smugglers had discharged their
+valuable cargo.  Well, if the cargo was now about to be landed, here
+was his opportunity!  As the bleating of the goat would undoubtedly
+give him away, he must get rid of the animal immediately, so he quickly
+shinned down the tree and commanded the trapper to remove it.
+
+"Tiger not coming to-night," he explained to the astonished Burman, who
+rejoined:
+
+"Tiger coming soon, soon, now; after the waning of the moon."
+
+"Oh well, never mind," said Shafto impatiently, "you take away the
+goat.  Look sharp--take him quickly, quickly and _keep_ him."
+
+This was an extraordinary _thakin_, who, at the very climax of the
+tiger hour, climbed out of the _machan_ and liberated the bait!
+Certainly these English folk were mad.
+
+"You go towards the camp," he ordered, "and take my gun."
+
+The Burman, still completely bewildered, obeyed; he could not
+understand the situation, but he felt bound to do what he was told, and
+presently he disappeared, moving with obvious reluctance, leading the
+goat and carrying gun and cartridges.  His employer did not immediately
+follow, but remained for a considerable time motionless--listening.
+The pulsation had almost ceased--evidently the motor-boat had arrived
+at her destination, which was unfortunately not in his immediate
+vicinity.  He crept stealthily along in the direction of the possible
+anchorage, fighting his way through roots and undergrowth; it was all
+of no use--a barrier of morass and elephant grass proved absolutely
+impassable, so he turned back towards his camp, pausing now and then to
+listen.  He could make out voices--one in an authoritative key
+summoning "Mung Li."  Well, he had at least discovered something
+definite--he was in the vicinity of smugglers.  In a short time he
+discovered something else; through a breach in the undergrowth he
+caught a glimpse of a Burman leading a stout, grey pony carrying a
+European saddle and--unless his eyes entirely deceived him--the animal
+was Krauss's well-known weight carrier, "Dacoit."
+
+
+Two evenings later, at the Gymkhana Club, Krauss lounged up to Shafto,
+who happened to be looking on at a billiard match.  Taking a cigar out
+of his mouth he astonished him by saying:
+
+"Well, so you had no luck after that tiger down the river!"
+
+This was taking the bull by the horns indeed.  "No," replied Shafto,
+"but Stafford saw him and got a shot.  He is there all right."
+
+"Perhaps you will have another try?" suggested Krauss.
+
+"Perhaps so--but not for some time."
+
+"Too much work, eh?  Gregory is doing a big trade just now."
+
+"Pretty well," rejoined Shafto, who was secretly surprised that Krauss
+should accost and talk to him in this way.  Hitherto their acquaintance
+had been slight and, when he had been to tea at "Heidelberg," the
+master of the house was invariably absent.
+
+"How is Mrs. Krauss?  I hope she is better."
+
+"No, she has been pretty bad the last few weeks--her niece is coming
+home in a day or two and that will cheer her up."  As he concluded he
+gave Shafto a nod and a curious look and then, with a sort of
+elephantine waddle, lounged away.
+
+So far Shafto had never spoken of his _kubber_; even with the evidence
+of his own eyes he shrank from suspecting anyone connected with Sophy
+Leigh; but links were joined in spite of his reluctance to face facts.
+How could Krauss have known that he had gone tiger shooting?  Surely
+the affairs of an insignificant fellow like himself never crossed the
+mental horizon of such a big and busy person as Karl Krauss?  There was
+no doubt that the animal he had seen near Elephant Point bore a
+suspicious resemblance to Krauss's weight-carrying grey pony!  What was
+"Dacoit" doing in the jungle, thirty miles from Rangoon?  He could make
+a pretty good guess.  Krauss had motored down, sent the animal on
+ahead, and ridden through the grass and jungle in order to superintend
+the landing.
+
+Could this be a fact?  Or was the whole thing a mere coincidence?  Was
+he obsessed by FitzGerald and suspecting an honest man, who might have
+been shooting in the swamps--why not?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+SENTENCE OF DEATH
+
+When Sophy Leigh returned from May Myo she had half expected her aunt
+to meet her at the station, and was much concerned to discover, when
+she arrived home, that Mrs. Krauss had suffered a serious collapse, had
+not been out of the house for weeks, but was confined to her own
+apartments, nursed and attended by the ever-faithful Lily.  Her
+condition seemed as serious as when Sophy had arrived from England, ten
+months previously, she found the patient propped up among her pillows,
+weak, apathetic, and terribly wasted.  She looked dreadfully ill and
+her whole appearance was unkempt and strange.
+
+"Oh, my dear Aunt Flora," said Sophy kneeling beside her and taking her
+limp hand, "why did you not let me know?  _Why_ did you not wire for
+me?  I would have come back at once."
+
+"No, no, no!" murmured Mrs. Krauss as she rolled her head slowly from
+side to side and closed her drowsy, dark eyes.
+
+"But yes, yes, yes! and when you wrote to me you never said one word
+about being ill--though I might have suspected it.  Your writing was so
+feeble--so shockingly shaky.  How long has my aunt been like this?" she
+asked, appealing to Lily.
+
+"About three--four weeks," replied the pouter pigeon, with calm
+unconcern; "ever since Mr. Krauss went to Singapore."
+
+"Most of her friends have been away and my aunt has had no one to look
+after her, except you?  Did the German ladies come to see her?"
+
+"They did--yes, three, four times; asking plenty questions.  Mem-sahib
+would not receive them, she liking only be left alone."
+
+To-day Mrs. Krauss appeared almost unconscious of Sophy's presence and
+to be sunken in a sort of stupor.
+
+As soon as Herr Krauss arrived home Sophy accosted him and deplored her
+aunt's condition.
+
+"If you had only sent me a line I would have been here the next day."
+
+"Oh yes, of course," he acquiesced brusquely.  "She wanted you to have
+a good time.  I have been away, too.  Now that you are here I expect
+she will pick up, same as before."
+
+"But do you not think that Aunt Flora should see a doctor?  The pain is
+so agonising that she seems quite stupid and dazed!"
+
+"A doctor--no," he replied; "she would not allow him inside the
+compound; her complaint comes and goes after the manner of its kind;
+just now it has been troublesome and this damp climate is bad for
+neuralgia.  Your aunt refuses to leave home, and so there it is!  Lily
+knows the remedies; she has been with us for years, and I have every
+confidence in her nursing."
+
+After this Sophy realised that there was nothing more to be said or
+done, but patiently to await her aunt's recovery.
+
+It was now the cool weather and, by degrees, Mrs. Krauss was able to
+leave her bed and repose in a long chair in the veranda.  As her
+husband predicted, Sophy's company was a wonderful help towards her
+convalescence.  She liked to hear all the news from May Myo about the
+people, their clothes, their doings and their gaieties.  She even
+roused herself to play patience and picquet, to read, to enjoy Sophy's
+music, but she showed no inclination to emerge into society, or receive
+friends.
+
+"You must go about and amuse yourself, Sophy; I do not feel up to
+motoring round, as I did last winter, but I won't keep you cooped up
+here with me--then we should have, not one invalid, but two.  You must
+enjoy your young days, mix with other young people, dance and ride,
+bring me the gossip and tell me all your love affairs, honour bright!
+Mrs. Gregory has promised to chaperon you until I am better."
+
+"No, indeed, Aunt Flora, I'd much rather stay with you," she protested.
+"I could not enjoy myself half so much if you are not with me.  Don't
+you remember how nice it was last year, talking over everything
+together after dances and the theatre?  I will play to you and read
+aloud, and if I ride in the morning, that will be as much outing as I
+shall require."
+
+But in spite of Sophy's anxious protestations, once more her aunt
+consigned her to the charge of Mrs. Gregory, who, delighted in the
+responsibility, escorted her to dances and tennis parties, rode with
+her, and proved, in spite of the disparity in their years, a dear and
+congenial friend.
+
+When at home Sophy would sit with her relative in her darkened room,
+which always seemed to hold a peculiar and distinctive atmosphere,
+resembling that of a chemist's shop.  She brought her all the news that
+she thought would interest or amuse her, read the letters from home,
+tempted her to drive out, and read her new novels; but in these days
+Aunt Flora seemed to take but a languid interest in life, and her
+recovery was strangely tardy and fitful.  On some days she was better,
+on others worse.  Occasionally she would crawl out to the motor, or
+appear at dinner, but she looked dreadfully ill, her face so yellow and
+wrinkled, her whole appearance unkempt and peculiar.  She was also
+abstracted and odd in her manner, at times even a little incoherent;
+and her eyes had a glazed, fixed expression.  Sometimes as Sophy sat in
+the darkened room her mind was burdened with vague anxieties; she
+recalled the looks and questions of Frau Wurm; could it be altogether
+neuralgia that brought her aunt to such a pass?  And if not, what?  A
+casual eye might suppose that the invalid was under the influence of
+drink, but this was not the case.  Mrs. Krauss was exceedingly
+temperate--her favourite stimulant was strong black coffee.
+
+The rains were over and Rangoon was unusually full, and the committee
+of the Pegu Club decided to give a dance.  This dance was to be the
+cheeriest of the season, the secretary had exerted himself to the
+utmost, and the great ballroom looked particularly well, all colour and
+glow, with splashes of bright shades, a profusion of palms and flowers,
+and a reckless prodigality of electric light.  Practically everyone was
+present, even Herr Krauss, who, on this supreme occasion, had
+volunteered to chaperon his niece.  The band was playing the newest
+waltzes and a varied assortment of Rangoon residents swung over the
+polished floor--men well known and otherwise, stout girls of German
+ancestry, daughters of judges, and soldiers, princesses of the Burmese
+dynasty, and dark-eyed maidens of Anglo-India.
+
+Shafto had only succeeded in securing two dances with Sophy
+Leigh--besides the privilege of conducting her to supper.  They were
+resting in the veranda, after a long, exhausting waltz, watching the
+crowd pour out of the ballroom; among others they noticed, approaching
+them, Mr. FitzGerald and his partner, Miss Fuchsia Bliss, a little
+frail American, who had dropped out of a touring party from the
+Philippines, and since then, as she expressed it, "had been staying
+around in Rangoon," first at the Lieutenant-Governor's, next at the
+Pomeroys', now, with a slight descent in the scale of precedence, with
+the Gregorys.  She had struck up a demonstrative but sincere friendship
+with Sophy Leigh and stood in the forefront of her admirers.
+
+Fuchsia Bliss was an orphan, absolutely independent in every sense of
+the word, who looked considerably younger than her real age, and
+appeared so small and so fragile that, like thistledown, she might
+almost be blown away.  Nevertheless, she was anything but light, in
+either head or purse.  Fuchsia was not pretty; indeed, to be honest,
+was barely good-looking.  Her complexion was colourless, her thick hair
+a dull, ashen shade, her eyes, though remarkably lively, were much too
+small, her chin, on the other hand, was much too long.  Beautifully
+marked brows, white teeth, and a fairy figure, were her assets; and, as
+she herself said, "she had plenty of snap!"  Miss Bliss was uncommonly
+shrewd and vivacious.  Her friends (these were many) were somewhat
+afraid of Fuchsia's plain speaking (her thoughts were too close to her
+tongue); she professed to be enormously interested in Burma and found
+it such a quaint old country, declared that the pagodas were "too sweet
+for words," and the Burmese women "just the dearest, daintiest, best
+tricked out, little talking dolls!"
+
+(A cynical critic might have compared Miss Fuchsia herself to a
+"talking doll.")
+
+"America," she announced, "was a brand-new nation, bubbling over with
+energy and vim, whilst this drowsy old Eastern land was most
+deliciously restful and ancient--it made a nice change."
+
+Down at the bottom of a good-sized heart Miss Fuchsia was aware that it
+was not altogether an admiration for the East which detained her
+lingering in Burma.  For the first time in her life the pale-faced
+heiress was seriously interested in one of the other sex.  This
+fortunate man happened to be Patrick FitzGerald, of the Burmese Police;
+a fellow without a penny beyond his pay, but well set up,
+self-possessed, and handsome; a capital partner, a congenial spirit,
+and a complete contrast to herself.
+
+The couple now approached Shafto and his companion, FitzGerald, rather
+warm, mopping his good-looking face, Miss Bliss, tripping airily beside
+him, in an exquisite green toilet, still--as always--talking.
+
+"Only think--he has got to go!" she announced with a dramatic gesture,
+halting in front of Sophy as she spoke.  "Isn't it too--too awfully
+provoking?  He has been sent for, right now in the middle of the
+ball--engaged to me for two more waltzes, supper and an extra, and here
+am I, side-tracked!"
+
+"A true bill--I am off," said FitzGerald, with a significant glance at
+Shafto; "I leave Miss Bliss and my reputation in your hands."
+
+"Miss Bliss can take good care of herself," she announced, sitting down.
+
+"No doubt of that," assented Shafto; "all the same, Miss Leigh and I
+will attend Miss Bliss to supper."
+
+"No, no," she protested, "I have planned to take in Mr. Gregory."
+
+"That is if you can get hold of him," argued her late partner; "he is
+playing bridge."
+
+"Oh well, anyway, _I_ shan't go begging!" said Fuchsia, leaning back on
+the lounge and crossing her tiny, exquisitely shod feet.
+
+"But whoever dreamt of that?" exclaimed Shafto.  "And here by great
+good luck comes Gregory.  I say, he looks as if his last partner had
+gone No Trumps on a Yarborough!"
+
+Almost before he had joined them the police officer disappeared, and
+the party adjourned to the supper-room, where they found places at the
+same round table as Mrs. Pomeroy and Herr Bernhard.  Herr Krauss, a
+ponderous free lance, who was completely detached, joined the circle
+uninvited, and pushed his huge person into an empty chair, next to Miss
+Bliss.  The soup, hot quails, and champagne were above criticism.  Miss
+Bliss, as usual, did most of the talking and entertained the company.
+
+"What a difference there is between our dancing and the native
+performance," she remarked.  "Our tangos and turkey-trotting are just
+an amusement, ending in a feast, whilst their diversion is mostly
+prayers, intoning, gongs, and bells, burning candles and telling beads.
+The Burmese seem to be always thinking of their souls; Oriental nations
+beat us at religion."
+
+"Religion, such as it is!" rejoined Bernhard with a sneer.  "After all,
+what does it amount to with them but the fear of evil spirits and the
+propitiation of _nats_ and demons?  Crowds go to the Pagoda and offer
+flowers, prayers and candles, yet all the time their faith is not in
+Buddha, but in devils.  They cover up their pillars and offer
+sacrifices to the _nats_, build them nice little houses, make them
+flattering speeches, and look for a return in the shape of a piece of
+luck!  Buddhism is merely a philosophy--not a religion," he concluded
+sententiously.
+
+"Well, there is one item in their faith which I admire," said Shafto;
+"they have no fear of death--they firmly believe that we shall pass
+into another existence, and how we fare in the next world depends on
+our good or evil deeds in this."
+
+"Surely that is an ordinary point of view," said Fuchsia, "and talking
+of evil deeds, such as big and little lies--murder--robbery--fraud,
+does anyone think there is _real_ harm in smuggling?  No one would call
+that an evil deed, although it is punishable by law.  I must confess
+that it appeals to me enormously; it's like a game, a sort of hide and
+seek.  If I only had an opening, I feel confident that it is _in_ me to
+become a most accomplished professional!  There is no injury to anyone,
+and it must be so exciting, and if you bring it off, oh, what a
+triumph!  I did envy a woman I came across with from France.  She
+landed a twenty-thousand pearl necklace in a hair-pad."
+
+"You needn't go far for smuggling--there's plenty of it in this
+country," said Mrs. Pomeroy, in her slow, decided manner.  "My husband
+says it is on the increase, and is a most serious question--a matter of
+vital concern."
+
+"Increase!" echoed Krauss.  "No, no, my dear lady, that is nonsense;
+don't you believe it.  Smuggling isn't worth while in Burma--it
+couldn't pay."
+
+"Oh, but it does exist and it pays hand over fist," argued Shafto.
+"Why only last week a piano-case full of opium was taken off a Chinese
+steamer."
+
+"Opium smuggling!" broke in Fuchsia eagerly.  "We know all about that
+in the States.  Opium smuggling is frightfully bad in 'Frisco.  There
+are deadly dens in parts of the town, where they say they make away
+with people."
+
+"And here people make away with themselves," supplemented Shafto, whose
+thoughts flew to a recent suicide.
+
+"Did any of you ever happen to read a story by Frank Norris about a
+girl who was lost?"  And Fuchsia planted her sharp elbows on the table
+and cast an interrogative glance round her audience.  "No, I expect
+not; but it's perfectly true.  Then listen," she proceeded with an air
+of genial narration.  "A pretty girl and her fiancé--both from New
+York--were poking round the sights in 'Frisco and, leaving the rest of
+their party, pushed on into the worst Chinese quarter, without a guide.
+It had such a bad name that even the police gave it a wide berth.
+Well, in they went, these two innocents; it looked quite all right,
+just the same as other places they had visited, and they found a real
+dandy tea-house and ordered tea.  Whilst they waited a most superior
+Chinaman appeared and invited the young man to come and inspect a
+wonderful piece of silk.  He said it would not take him a moment to
+look at, while the young lady was resting; so the young man accepted
+the invitation, examined the beautiful piece of silk, made an offer for
+yards and yards, and hurried back, only to find that the girl had
+disappeared.  Her gloves and sunshade were there all right, but she was
+never seen again, although her people offered an enormous reward, and
+more or less raised Cain!"
+
+"Oh, that's just a bit of sensational fiction," growled Herr Krauss,
+"and I dare say brought the author a couple of hundred dollars.  They
+pay high rates for that sort of rubbish in the States."
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised if it couldn't be pretty well matched here,"
+was Shafto's bold declaration.  "Not in the way of kidnapping
+inquisitive young ladies, but there are dens and spiders' webs in
+Rangoon where people are drawn in like flies--and die like flies."
+
+Krauss threw back his head, gave a loud harsh laugh, and tossed off a
+tumbler of champagne.
+
+"Young Shafto," he exclaimed, "you _are_ a funny fellow!"
+
+"I do believe there is something in what Mr. Shafto says," said Fuchsia
+in her thin nasal voice.  "I was told this as a mighty secret--but of
+course it's safe here," throwing a complacent glance round the table,
+"and I'd just like you all to know that the reason Mr. FitzGerald was
+sent for in such a hurry is that the police have been given the
+straight tip, and expect to make a real fine haul of smugglers and
+opium--this very night!"
+
+Herr Krauss glanced quickly at his neighbour, his eyes flickering.
+
+"Mr. FitzGerald," she continued, "said that if he could only get hold
+of one or two big men who are behind the cocaine and opium trade he'd
+be doing a service to the world; he is most frightfully keen on
+catching them."
+
+"Not easy to catch what doesn't exist," declared Herr Krauss in his
+guttural voice.
+
+"But smuggling does exist--surely you know that, and smuggling on an
+enormous scale," pronounced Mrs. Pomeroy authoritatively; "there are
+awful dens off the China bazaar."
+
+"Yes, the place is honeycombed with them," supplemented Shafto.
+
+"Pray, how do you know?" demanded Krauss with asperity.
+
+"Well, since you ask me--I've been in one or two."
+
+"Getting copy for a book, eh?  Local colour--and local atmosphere."
+
+"The atmosphere was pretty foul," rejoined Shafto; "I don't attempt to
+write."
+
+"Not even fiction?"
+
+There was a bitter sneer in Krauss's question.
+
+"No, not even fiction," echoed Shafto stolidly.
+
+"Now, I'll tell you all something that sounds like fiction or a dime
+novel," volunteered the irrepressible Fuchsia.  Then, without a pause,
+she continued: "Mr. FitzGerald got a note from a broken-down European
+loafer; a gentleman who had lost every single thing in the wide
+world--self-respect, money, friends and wits--through drugs and nothing
+else; he could not keep away from them unless he was chained up, but he
+wanted to save others from his own wretched fate."
+
+"That was very splendid of the loafer!" remarked Mr. Krauss, and
+leaning back in his chair he beckoned to a waiter and said: "Boy,
+champagne!"  When the champagne was brought, he said: "Let us all drink
+the health of this noble loafer, who cannot help himself but helps
+others.  Here's to the benevolent informer!  Let us hope he will meet
+with his reward--even in this life," and he raised a brimming glass.
+
+"I'm afraid there's not much chance of that, poor chap," murmured
+Shafto, "for if he is a man I know, he is down and under--his case is
+hopeless."
+
+Mrs. Pomeroy, who had been slowly drawing on her gloves, now pushed
+back her chair and rose and, with sudden unanimity, the company broke
+up and dispersed.
+
+Little did Fuchsia suppose, as she chattered unguardedly and gave away
+a confidence, that, in doing so, she had signed what was neither more
+nor less than a sentence of death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE LATE RICHARD ROSCOE
+
+Two days after the ball, as Shafto was passing through the veranda,
+Roscoe met him, took him by the arm, accompanied him into his room, and
+solemnly closed the door.
+
+"Anything up?"
+
+"Well, yes, there is," replied Roscoe gravely, "and I thought I'd tell
+you when we were by ourselves.  That cousin of mine, Dirk Roscoe, has
+been done for.  He was found this morning in a back drain, in one of
+the gullies, with the stab of a _dah_ in his back."
+
+"Oh, poor chap!" exclaimed Shafto.
+
+"Well, he hadn't much of a life to lose, had he?  However, such as it
+was, he laid it down for others."
+
+"Then I suppose it was he who put FitzGerald on the track of this
+splendid haul--six hundred ounces of cocaine?"
+
+"It was--yes, although he knew the risk he ran.  He sent FitzGerald a
+line and warned him that there would be two sampans in Bozo creek; that
+one sampan would be a decoy, loaded with stones, but that they would
+find what they wanted in the other, which would attempt to clear off
+whilst they were examining the dummy.  It's a pretty big loss to some
+people, and cocaine will be scarce for a week or two--and dear."
+
+"It beats me to understand how these beggars manage to find the money?"
+
+"Oh, they prowl round at night and thieve--and are capable of the most
+daring theft.  I've known them steal a whole lot of furniture out of a
+sitting-room, a man's evening clothes out of his dressing-room--not
+forgetting his gold watch and chain and even tooth-brush and tumbler.
+Once they actually had the cheek to take a pony belonging to the Chief
+Inspector of Police and sell him over at Moulmein.  The small fry take
+taps, pipes, bits of zinc roofing, rope--anything that will bring in a
+few annas."
+
+"What about your cousin?  Tell me more."
+
+"Not much more to tell.  He is in the mortuary and, of course, there
+has been the usual inquest; he will be buried this evening, quite late;
+FitzGerald and I are going to the funeral."
+
+"I'll come, too, if I may."
+
+"All right, do.  Our padre is a brick--he is having a quiet service in
+the cemetery at ten o'clock; there is a good moon.  If it had been a
+public, daylight affair, lots of questions would have to be asked--and
+answered."
+
+At ten o'clock the three Englishmen and the chaplain stood round the
+grave of a man who, within the last few hours, had arrived at the end
+of a wasted life--a victim to the drug that deals misery and
+destruction.  As the three chums walked away to where their horses
+awaited them, Roscoe said:
+
+"My cousin Richard, although he looked any age under eighty, was only
+thirty-five--two years younger than myself."
+
+"Look here, Joe," said FitzGerald, "your cousin was murdered for giving
+me information.  He knew the risk he was running, he knew that there
+are eyes and ears all over the place, and the chances were ninety to
+one he would be put out of the way--he hinted as much in his letter.
+Now then, I'm going to put my back into the business, and if I don't
+find out something about this cocaine smuggling, I'll--I'll----" he
+reflected for a moment and added abruptly, "never go to another dance!
+It's a syndicate who had this crime carried out; they have their hired
+assassins like the 'Black Hand' in Sicily.  Some of the crew are bound
+to be in Rangoon, for Roscoe's sentence and execution took place within
+a few hours.  Now it is my aim and intention to discover who they
+are--and to carry war into the enemy's quarter."
+
+"Well, Fitz," said Roscoe, "I know how you love adventure--and the
+smoke of battle, and I feel fairly confident that you will do your best
+and, let us hope, storm and shatter the cocaine stronghold."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+FITZGERALD IMPARTS INFORMATION
+
+Up to the time of the murder of Roscoe, Shafto had kept his experience
+to himself; even with the evidence of his own eyes he shrank from
+suspecting anyone connected with Sophy.  After all, there were plenty
+of Shan ponies in Rangoon, and Krauss's inquiry about the tiger might
+be just a mere coincidence; but now facts were forming up in stern
+array, despite his reluctance to face them.  There was no doubt that
+Krauss had spies and tools, and if that was his grey pony "Dacoit,"
+what was "Dacoit" doing in the jungle, thirty miles from Rangoon?  It
+was suspiciously strange that, after Miss Bliss's mention of a loafer
+who had given information--a loafer toasted by Krauss--an individual
+answering the description had so promptly disappeared.  Well now, Sophy
+or no Sophy, FitzGerald must be told!
+
+Shafto found his opportunity the following night, when he and the
+police officer had the veranda to themselves.  Roscoe, with an actor's
+unquenchable ardour for the theatre, was patronising a play.  The tour
+of "Charley's Aunt" had reached Rangoon.  The MacNab was dining with
+the Presbyterian minister.
+
+After the table had been cleared and cheroots produced, without any
+circumlocution or preface, Shafto plunged into his subject and laid his
+information and suspicions before his friend who, to his amazement,
+replied:
+
+"Oh well, I've had my own ideas for some time, me boy.  I have noticed
+that Krauss is one of the loudest in crowing whenever we make a haul of
+contraband; it has struck me that his enthusiasm is a bit overdone.  I
+believe he is in with a pack of swindlers, but has a wonderful knack of
+safeguarding his own ugly carcass.  His wealth is a well-known fact,
+but its source is distinctly mysterious.  He is not like the usual
+business man, who puts by a few thousands every now and then, made in
+teak or paddy; Krauss has a share in everything that's any good.  Oil,
+rubies, trams, wolfram, rubber, and so on.  The capital he invests in
+these concerns cannot come from ordinary speculation in rice and
+teak--so the question is, where does he get it?"
+
+As Shafto made no reply, FitzGerald put down his cheroot, drew his
+chair closer to the table and, leaning over to his companion, said:
+
+"Look here, me boy, you are a thundering good sort, and I'd like to
+tell you one or two small things--and give you a bit of advice that may
+be useful.  From what you say, I have no doubt that Krauss suspects
+that you have seen something of his game--how much he cannot be sure;
+but one thing is absolutely certain--he won't trust you, and you'll
+find that, in some way or other, he'll have his knife into Douglas
+Shafto."
+
+"Same as the late Richard Roscoe?"
+
+"Let us hope he won't feel obliged to take such strong measures; but I
+wouldn't put it past him to do you a devilish nasty turn."
+
+"This is pleasant but indefinite."
+
+"Well, let me advise you to take cover; do not go about alone after
+dark, or on foot."
+
+"I never do, except over to the Salters."
+
+"Don't stir, even over to the Salters, or when you do go, take Roscoe;
+he and Salter are birds of a feather--a couple of philosophers, clever,
+deeply-read cranks.  I shall notify to my men to keep a sharp eye on
+you."
+
+"So then I'm to be under police protection, am I?"
+
+"I am afraid it will be a distressing necessity; but the fact will
+naturally be known only to you and me."
+
+"So you honestly believe that Krauss is not on the square?"
+
+FitzGerald nodded and then replied:
+
+"He does not associate with the best German people here--I think they
+smell a rat; and the English give him a fairly wide berth.  His manners
+are impossible; even in Rangoon money is not everything, and his record
+is peculiar.  He came away from China stony-broke, picked up a few
+thousands in Singapore and then settled in Rangoon about twelve years
+ago--and Rangoon has suited him down to the ground.  When they first
+arrived Mrs. Krauss was an extraordinarily handsome woman, popular and
+lively; could keep a whole dinner-table going and was always splendidly
+dressed.  On the whole, a valuable, but unconscious tool!  Latterly her
+health has failed and she has subsided.  Besides his German hangers on,
+the oddest sort of guests collect at 'Heidelberg,' though you and I may
+not meet them--men from Calcutta, the Straits and even China.  Not long
+ago I came across Krauss's brown motor in a block in Phayre Street.  I
+happened to glance inside; there was Krauss himself and two fat
+natives, one a notorious _budmash_, and I noticed that, after I had
+passed, a hand _pulled down the blind_.  Why?  In a place like this,
+and indeed everywhere, a man is judged by his friends.  Krauss tries to
+keep in with Rangoon society and poses as a brusque, eccentric sort of
+a fellow, with a rude manner and a good heart.  The days of his grand
+dinner-parties came to an end some time ago.  Now the fat grey spider
+at 'Heidelberg' has to rely more or less on his wife's pretty niece;
+she is bright and popular and attracts a lot of useful people into his
+web.  To see that girl pouring out tea, or sitting at the piano, making
+delicious music, who would suppose that 'Heidelberg' was the
+headquarters of a gang of thieves?  Mrs. Krauss is a back number, her
+health has gone to pieces, and lately I believe she is in a bad way."
+He paused, and surveying Shafto with half-closed eyes, added:
+
+"I suppose you don't know what her complaint is?"
+
+"Oh, yes--acute neuralgia."
+
+"Acute grandmother!" scoffed  FitzGerald.  "Guess again!"
+
+"Well--what?"
+
+FitzGerald leant over, took a long breath, and whispered the word
+"Cocaine."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!" And Shafto burst out laughing.  "Why, man, you're mad!"
+
+"Mad--not a bit of it!  I happen to know where she gets the stuff and
+I've known for a good while, Krauss has no idea that his wife drugs;
+it's all so artfully managed.  That Madras ayah is a rare treasure and
+as cunning as the devil; she ought to be in our Secret Service.  I
+needn't tell you that she is extravagantly paid."
+
+"Well--but, Fitz, I don't believe it; no, and I won't believe it."
+
+"All right, then.  Look here, have you never noticed how brilliant and
+lively Mrs. Krauss is at times, with shining eyes and a colour in her
+cheeks?  Then on other days, if she does appear, she is limp as a wet
+rag, depressed and old; there is a complete lack of all vital force.
+Now tell me how you account for that?"
+
+"Her illness," stammered Shafto; "the climate."
+
+"Neither the one nor the other.  But bar the cocaine habit, Mrs. Krauss
+is all right and straight; she has no suspicion of her husband's ill
+practices, nor he of hers."
+
+"And you suspect both?"
+
+"Why not?  Suspicion is part of my trade.  I think you and I had better
+be seeking our beds; I have seen the _chokidar_ peering round the
+corner of the staircase; I don't know what he is up to; he may imagine
+that we are hatching mischief.  I caught his eye when I was whispering
+just now, and it is more than likely that he has suspicions of us both!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+A ROPE TRICK
+
+This conversation with FitzGerald gave his housemate ample food for
+serious reflection.  If Krauss was a deep-dyed scoundrel, and his wife
+a victim of the cocaine habit, what a home for Sophy!  If he could only
+take her away from it!  But what grounds had he for hoping that she
+would marry him?  In spite of their pleasant meetings, their rides and
+dances, he had never ventured to hint at his real feelings, knowing
+that he was far from being what is called "an eligible match," and
+having a surprisingly humble opinion of his own merits.  He was now
+receiving five hundred rupees a month, which, after all, did not go far
+in expensive Rangoon.  Could a man marry on such an income, or on the
+supposition that what was barely enough for one would be sufficient for
+two?
+
+As far as he was in a position to judge, Sophy's ideas were not
+extravagant, and she would be better almost anywhere than in her
+present abode; but he had not the slightest right to suppose that she
+cared two pins for him; on the other hand, he had a hateful and
+well-founded conviction that not a few of the young men among her
+acquaintances would be glad to claim Miss Leigh as a wife.  There were
+Fotheringay the A.D.C., Gubbins of the Oil Company, and one or two
+others, fluttering about her and scorching their wings.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+After a month of procrastination and delay, the Rangoon Commissariat
+Department, under an energetic new official, decided to embark a
+collection of sixty elephants, which had long been awaiting transport
+from the neighbourhood of Rangoon, to India.  Now a large sailing-ship
+had been chartered to carry this interesting cargo across the Bay of
+Bengal to Vizagapatam, where they would be scattered to work in all
+parts of the country.
+
+The sailing-ship was anchored across the river at Dallah, and, in order
+to reach their destination, the elephants were called upon to swim the
+Rangoon River--sixty, no fewer, mostly young animals which had been
+caught and trained, the property of the Indian Government.  The move
+took place upon Thursday (the Garrison holiday), and a large number of
+people were assembled to witness this unusual departure.  The emigrants
+were ranged up in groups, two huge tuskers appeared to be in charge of
+the business of embarkation, and, to do them justice, carried it out
+with conspicuous success, taking it in turn to convoy select parties
+across the river, here a mile wide.  The "personally conducted" were at
+first delighted to be in the water.  They splashed and played about
+like huge porpoises, and were smacked and kept in order like naughty
+children by their great tusker nurse, and eventually guided to a
+landing.  Some, on the other hand, did not enjoy the excursion, were
+alarmed by the force of the current and turned tail.  These were
+chased, vigorously chastised, herded in the way they should go, and
+escorted to the other side--all save one, which obstinately refused to
+quit terra firma, and was accordingly fastened to a launch, in order to
+be towed across; but the powerful and headstrong brute towed the launch
+inland and, having utterly smashed it and destroyed several bamboo
+sheds, effected its triumphal escape.
+
+Meanwhile the fifty-nine were assembled at Dallah, patiently awaiting
+their fate.  A number of people had collected on the landing-stage,
+close to the big ship, to watch her strange cargo being placed on
+board.  The lower hold of this huge four-master had been entirely
+cleared, and into this receptacle the devoted elephants were lowered by
+a gigantic steam crane.  Meanwhile they were formed up behind a huge
+shed in order that none should witness the scheme of departure, or the
+undignified transfer of its companions.  A selected victim was coaxed,
+flattered, caressed, and then marched proudly down the pier between two
+deceitful and majestic tuskers, a pair of stern old gentlemen that
+would stand no nonsense; soothed and bribed by a generous supply of
+sugar-cane, the unsuspicious traveller was halted directly under the
+crane; a belly-band encircled his enormous waist, and to this was
+attached a hook; then, at a given signal, the astonished animal was
+suddenly hoisted into the air.  And what a sight!  Trunk waving madly,
+legs wildly reaching for foothold, a helpless and ridiculous monster,
+endeavouring to clutch the rigging.  Presently the frantic passenger
+was slowly lowered to the hold, where his own beloved mahout and a pile
+of luscious lucerne awaited his agitated arrival.
+
+Lookers-on found the spectacle of a helpless elephant struggling in
+mid-air excessively amusing, and the immediate neighbourhood of the
+ship was crowded.  Here were the Pomeroys, Maitlands, Morgans, Puffles,
+Mrs. Gregory, Miss Leigh, and numbers of others, including Shafto, who,
+much interested in this novel sight, had taken several snapshots.  Just
+as he snapped the last elephant, he felt the sharp jerk of a rope round
+his ankles, and in another second was swept into the racing Irrawaddy.
+
+As the water surged over his head, the sharp shock and the submersion
+momentarily took away his breath.  Shafto was a strong swimmer, but the
+current was tremendous and not to be denied; it carried him right out
+into the middle of the river, spinning him round and round like a leaf
+in a torrent.  He realised his danger and that his lease of life could
+now be counted by seconds.  His thoughts flew straight to Sophy; with a
+sensation of piercing agony he felt that he would never see her again.
+By extraordinary good fortune a steam launch which was crossing had
+noticed the swimmer's dark head, as well as the shouts and the signals
+from the landing-stage, and promptly overtook him, drew him breathless
+and half drowned on board, and landed him at Dallah.  Shafto had had a
+miraculous escape, for those who fall into the Irrawaddy rarely emerge
+alive; his adventure was much discussed and debated for one whole day
+at Gregory's and elsewhere.
+
+"How on earth did it happen?  Lucky you were clear of the ship,
+otherwise you would have been sucked underneath and never been found,"
+remarked a friend; "we cannot imagine how you tumbled in--did anyone
+_shove_ you?"
+
+"Oh, I just tripped over a rope," he announced, when questioned at the
+Club; but to FitzGerald he confided the truth--the whole truth:
+
+"I was standing pretty close to the edge of the stage--among a lot of
+natives, as it happened--taking snapshots of the elephants, when all of
+a sudden I felt a rope twist round my legs; it gave a sort of sharp
+pull, and the next moment I was in the water!  It's a nasty experience
+to have the Irrawaddy closing over your head; I have its taste in my
+mouth still!  I'll swear that there were hands at the end of the rope,
+and that I saw no rope about when I first came on the pier, for I
+happened to be early--and it was pretty empty.  Later, there was a big
+crowd and a lot of pushing and hustling.  I noticed several Chinamen
+hanging round and pressing together; now that I come to think of it,
+they surrounded me.  The rope was not the usual thick hawser, but
+something thinner and more flexible--more like whipcord such as a
+fellow could carry in his pocket."
+
+"What did I tell you?" said FitzGerald, thumping on the table with both
+his fists.  "We must get a move on and try to corner Krauss; that rope
+was a preliminary experiment, and all but landed you in Kingdom Come!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+MA CHIT
+
+Although Shafto had many acquaintances and continual engagements, he
+never forgot his first friends, the Salters, and still strolled over of
+an evening, accompanied by Roscoe, to sit in the veranda, talk, smoke,
+and listen, until his companions began to discuss such abstract
+questions as, "What is the real driving force of life?" or to argue on
+the philosophy of Buddhism, or Herbert Spencer's "Descriptive
+Sociology" and the "Unknowable."
+
+When conversation turned in this direction Shafto felt entirely out of
+his element and slipped indoors to play games with Rosetta or her
+mother.  Recently it had struck him that Ma Chit appeared to have
+become more or less a permanent member of the establishment, being so
+constantly with her cousin.  She took an enthusiastic interest in
+Rosetta's brick-building, superintended and sharply criticised Mee
+Lay's games of dominoes, and even suggested herself as a substitute.
+Burmese dominoes are black, with brass points, and held in the hand
+like cards.  Mrs. Slater, a keen and clever opponent, indignantly
+refused to relinquish her post to her relative, and was radiant and
+triumphant when she carried off a stake of eight annas.  Shafto would
+have enjoyed these matches, and this contest of wits and luck, had Ma
+Chit been elsewhere, instead of leaning on his chair, looking over his
+hand, laughing, throwing quick glances, and making idiotic remarks.
+Once he had been not a little startled to find her tiny brown fingers
+inserted between his collar and his neck!  He shook them off
+impatiently; he hated such practical jokes, and said so in no measured
+terms.
+
+More than once, he had been solemnly assured, the fascination of this
+girl's personality worked like a charm, and it had become disagreeably
+evident that she wished to cast a spell over _him_.  How often had her
+bright black eyes imparted an alluring tale!  However, he felt himself
+well protected by an impenetrable shield on which was inscribed the
+name of "Sophy," and Ma Chit gracefully posturing with tingling bangles
+and twittering talk, had no more effect upon her prey than on a stone
+image.  No; although she hung over him, tapped him with too eloquent
+fingers, whispered jokes in his ear, and filled his nostrils with an
+exquisite and voluptuous perfume, she was powerless!
+
+One evening he happened to be playing chess with Salter; Roscoe was at
+_pwe_; Mee Lay was putting Rosetta to bed, but Ma Chit was present,
+listening, smiling, and smoking her white cheroot.  At the conclusion
+of a close and hard-fought game, in which Shafto was victorious she
+leant over, gazed into his eyes, and stroked his face with two
+caressing fingers.  As he drew back quickly, she burst out laughing and
+exclaimed:
+
+"But why are you so shy, dear boy?  Always so shy--so odd and so
+foolish?"
+
+Shafto found the siren undeniably pretty and seductive, but at the same
+time irrepressible and odious.  He hated her catlike litheness, her
+undulating walk, and the unmistakable invitation of her whole
+personality.
+
+"Come, Ma Chit, behave yourself!" said her host sternly.  "If you
+can't--you don't come here again."
+
+The beauty received this admonition with a scream of laughter, tossed a
+flower at Salter, wafted a kiss to his guest, and faded away into the
+veranda.
+
+By degrees, thanks to his constant encounters with Ma Chit, Shafto
+avoided the Salters' bungalow, and Roscoe made his visits alone; but as
+it was not more than three hundred yards from the chummery Shafto had a
+painful conviction that, when dusk and darkness had fallen, the
+neighbourhood of his compound was haunted--not by the malignant and
+resident _nat_, but by the graceful and sinuous figure of a little
+Burmese girl!  Once a stone, to which was attached a paper, was thrown
+into his room.  On it was inscribed in a babu's clerkly hand:
+
+"Do come and talk to Ma Chit."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+MUNG BAW
+
+Returning one evening from a lively dinner at the "Barn," Shafto was
+surprised to see a light in his room, and still more surprised to find
+the _pongye_ once again seated on his bed.
+
+"Oh, so you've come back!" he exclaimed aghast, and a shadow of
+annoyance settled on his face.
+
+"I have so," calmly responded this late visitor; "as I was passing I
+thought I'd give you a call in.  I came down a couple of weeks back--as
+I have some small business here and wanted to show myself to a doctor.
+I don't hold with them native medicines and charms, and I'm inclined to
+a weakness in me inside."
+
+"Why, you look as strong as a horse!" was Shafto's unsympathetic
+rejoinder, as he sank into a chair and pulled out a cigarette.  The
+_pongye_ contributed a special personal atmosphere, composed of
+turmeric, woollen stuff and some fiercely pungent herb.
+
+"Looks is deceitful, and so is many a fine fellow," observed the
+_pongye_ in a dreamy voice.  After this pronouncement he relapsed into
+a reflective silence--a silence which conveyed the subtle suggestion
+that the visitor was charged with some weighty mission.  At any rate,
+it was useless for Shafto to think of undressing and going to bed,
+since his couch was already occupied by the holy man, who appeared to
+be established for the night.
+
+Interpreting Shafto's envious glance, he said:
+
+"You'll excuse me sitting on the _charpoy_, but I've got entirely out
+of the use of chairs, and me bones are too stiff to sit doubled up on
+the floor like a skewered chicken."
+
+"Oh, that's all right," said Shafto, who was very sleepy.  "I suppose
+you have just come from Upper Burma?"
+
+"Yes, that's the part I most belong to and that suits me.  I can't do
+with this soft, wet climate, though I am an Irishman.  I'm from Mogok,
+that's the ruby mine district, but what I like best is the real jungle.
+Oh, you'd love to see the scenery and to walk through miles and miles
+of grand trees on the Upper Chindwin; forests blazing with flowers and
+alive with birds, not to speak of game.  Many's the time I've been
+aching for the hould of a gun, but, of course, it was an evil thought."
+
+"Your religion forbids you to take life?"
+
+"That's true; I've not tasted meat for years, but there's not a word to
+be said agin fish or an odd egg."
+
+"Tell me something more about your new faith!"
+
+"Well now, let me think," said the _pongye_ meditatively.  "We have no
+regular service for marriage or burial, and no preaching.  We keep the
+five great rules--poverty, chastity, honesty, truth, and respect all
+life.  There are two hundred and twenty-seven precepts besides.  Most
+men can say them off out of the big book of the Palamauk, and there are
+stacks and stacks--thousands of stacks--of sacred writings, but I just
+stick to the five commandments, the path of virtue and the daily
+prayers.  The singing and chanting is in Pali--a wonderful fine, loud
+language.  Many of the _pongyes_ is teachers, for every boy in Burma
+passes through their hands; but I'm no schoolmaster, though I was once
+a clerk in the Orderly room.  I could not stand the gabble of them
+scholars, all roaring out the same words at the top of their voices for
+hours together."
+
+"I can't imagine how you pass your time," remarked Shafto, "or how you
+stand the idleness--a man like you who were accustomed to an active
+life."
+
+"Oh, I get through me day all right.  In the early morning there's
+prayers and a small refreshment, and I sit and meditate; the young
+fellows, like novices, sweep and carry water and put flowers about the
+Buddha; then we all go with our bowls in our hands, parading through
+the village, looking neither right nor left, but we get all we want and
+more--for giving is a great merit.  When we return to the _kyoung_ we
+have our big midday meal, and then for a few hours I meditate again.
+The life suits me.  It's a different country from India, with its
+blazing sun and great bare plains; there the people seldom has a smile
+on them.  Here they are always laughing; here all is green and
+beautiful, with fine aisy times for flowers and birds and beasts.
+There's peace and kindness.  Oh! it's a fine change from knocking about
+in barracks and cantonments, drilling and route-marching and sweating
+your soul out.  By the way, have ye the talisman I give you?"
+
+"If you mean the brown stone--yes."
+
+"That stone was slipped into my begging-bowl one day."
+
+"Not much of a find as an eatable!"
+
+"That is so, though according to fairy tales the likes has dropped out
+of people's mouths before now.  Ye may not suspicion the truth, but
+it's a fine big ruby!  I believe it was found stuck in red mud in the
+ruby district, and someone who had a wish for me dropped it into the
+_patta_, and I--who have a wish for you--pass it on."
+
+"But if it is so valuable I could not dream of accepting such a gift,"
+protested Shafto.  "You will have to take it back--thanks awfully, all
+the same."
+
+"Oh, ye never rightly know the price of them stones till they are cut;
+but the knowledgeable man I showed it to said it might be worth a
+couple of thousand pounds, and I've come to tell ye this--so that ye
+can turn it into coin--and if ye wanted to get out of Burma, there ye
+are!"
+
+"That _is_ most awfully good of you, but I really could not think of
+accepting your treasure, or its value in money--and I have no wish to
+leave Burma, the country suits me all right."
+
+As he ceased speaking Shafto got up, unlocked a leather dispatch box
+and produced the ruby, which he placed in the large, well-kept hand of
+the visitor.
+
+"Well, now, I call this entirely too bad!" the latter exclaimed as he
+turned it over.  "An' I need not tell ye that I can make no use of the
+ruby, being vowed to poverty--which you are not; and I want to offer
+some small return for what ye did for me last time I was down in
+Rangoon.  I can't think what ails ye to be so stiff-necked; is there
+nothing at all I can do for ye?"
+
+"Well, Mung Baw, since you put it like that, I believe you could give
+me what would be far more use than a stone--some valuable help."
+
+"Valuable help!" repeated the _pongye_, adjusting false horn spectacles
+and staring hard.  "Then as far as it's in me power the help of every
+bone in me body is yours and at your service."
+
+"Thank you.  Now, tell me, have you ever heard of the cocaine trade in
+Burma?"
+
+"Is it cocaine?  To be sure!  It's playing the mischief in Rangoon and
+all over the country."
+
+"I want you to lend a hand in stopping it; if we could only discover
+the headquarters of the trade, it would be worth a thousand rubies."
+
+"I have a sort of notion I could put me finger on a man that runs the
+concern; ever since he come into Burma he has been pushing the world
+before him and doing a great business.  From my position, being part
+native, part British, part civilian, and more or less a priest of the
+country and clever at languages, I've learnt a few things I was never
+intinded to know."
+
+"Then I expect you have picked up some facts about cocaine smuggling?"
+
+"That's true, though I never let it soak into me mind; but from this
+out I promise ye I'll meditate upon it."
+
+"If you can help the police to burst up this abominable traffic you
+will deserve to go to the highest heaven in the Buddhist faith."
+
+"I'll do my best; I can say no fairer.  I'm sorry ye won't take the
+ruby,"--turning it over regretfully.  "Maybe your young lady would
+fancy it?  It would look fine in a ring!"
+
+"But I have no young lady, Mung Baw."
+
+"Is that so?"  He paused as if to consider the truth of this statement,
+cleared his throat and went on: "The other day, when I was down by the
+lake, I saw a young fellow, the very spit of yourself, riding alongside
+of a mighty pretty girl on a good-looking bay thoroughbred?"
+
+Here he again paused, apparently awaiting a reply, but none being
+forthcoming, resumed:
+
+"And now, before I go, I want to give ye what ye can't refuse or
+return--and that's a wise word.  It was not entirely the ruby stone as
+brought me here--it was some loose talk."
+
+"Loose talk, Mung Baw, and you a Buddhist priest!  I'm astonished!"
+
+"Yes, talk straight out of Fraser Street, my son.  Many of our priests
+are holy saints; altogether too good to live; with no thought whatever
+of the world--given over entirely to prayer and self-denial, blameless
+and without one wicked thought; but there does be others that is
+totally different.  'Tis the same in a regiment--good soldiers and
+blackguards.  Some of the _pongyes_, when the prayers is done, spend
+all their days gossiping, chewing betel nut and raking through
+bazaar--_mud_!"  Then suddenly he leant forward and stared at his
+companion as if he were searching for something in his face, as he
+asked: "Do you happen to know a girl called 'Ma Chit'?"
+
+Shafto moved uneasily in his creaking wicker chair; after a moment's
+hesitation he replied:
+
+"Yes, I know her."
+
+"Don't let her put the 'Comether' on you!  These Burmese dolls have a
+wonderful way with them.  She's a gabby little monkey, and they say she
+has chucked Bernard and taken a terrible fancy to you!  I would be main
+sorry to see you mixed up with one of these young devils--for I know
+you are a straight-living gentleman."
+
+"There is not the smallest chance of my being what you call 'mixed up'
+with any young devil," said Shafto in a sulky voice.  "As for Ma
+Chit--she is not the sort you suppose."
+
+"Oh, may be not," rejoined the _pongye_ in a dubious tone.  "Still, I
+know Burma--lock, stock and barrel, and a sight better nor you.  Av
+course, I never spake to a woman and give them all a wide berth--but I
+cannot keep me ears shut.  Listen to me, sir.  These young torments
+have no scruple.  Ma Chit is dead set on you, and that's the pure
+truth.  Now, there's one thing I ask and beg--never take or smoke a
+cigarette she might offer."
+
+"Not likely!  I only smoke Egyptians, or a pipe.  But tell me--why am I
+to refuse Ma Chit's cigarettes?"
+
+"The reason is this, and a good one--these black scorpions employ what
+they call 'love charms.'  Oh yes, laugh, laugh, laugh away!  But one of
+these charms would soon make you laugh the wrong side of your mouth.
+They are deadly, let me tell you; a cigarette loaded with a certain
+drug has been the ruin of more than one fine young fellow.  I
+disremember the name of the stuff--it begins with an 'M,' and is surely
+made in hell itself, for it drives a man stark mad.  Once he smokes it
+he falls into a pit and is lost for ever, body and soul."
+
+"Come, I say, isn't this a bit too thick, Mung Baw?"
+
+"Well, you ask the doctors.  There's a good few cases of lunacy and
+suicide in this country--all caused by a love charm; so when Ma Chit
+sidles up, showing her teeth, and offers you a smoke--you will know
+what to do.  Now," concluded the visitor, scrambling to his feet, "I
+must be on the move.  I am stopping for a while at the big Pongye
+Kyoung, near the Turtle Tank, and if you should happen to be riding
+round that way, we might have a talk on this cocaine business.  If I am
+to go into it, neck and crop, I can't be coming about here--as it would
+excite suspicion."
+
+"All right then; I'll turn up and you will report progress; but how am
+I to spot you among the crowd of priests?"
+
+"Easy enough!" replied Mung Baw, drawing himself up to his full height;
+"I'm the tallest _pongye_ in Rangoon."
+
+"Yes, no doubt.  Burmese are a bit undersized."
+
+"But fine, able-bodied fellows.  I suppose you've seen the wrestlers?"
+
+"Yes.  Now, before you go, can I get you a drink or a smoke?"
+
+"Oh, as for a smoke, I'm thinking your tobacco would not be strong
+enough for me, but I don't say that I wouldn't like a drink, although I
+am a sober man; just the least little taste of whisky and water, as a
+sort of souvenir of old times.  Ye might bring it in here, for I don't
+want them native chaps makin' a scandal about me."
+
+As soon as the _pongye_ had been secretly supplied with a fairly
+moderate souvenir, he resumed his sandals, picked up his umbrella and
+begging-bowl and, with a military salute to Shafto, swept down the
+rickety stairs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+ENLIGHTENMENT
+
+Miss Fuschia Bliss was still in Rangoon and, as she modestly expressed
+it, "crawling round, on approval."  She had brought letters of
+introduction to the Lieutenant-Governor, the Pomeroys, and the
+Gregorys.  Sir Horace and Lady Winter had no young people, so she
+presently passed on to the Pomeroys, who in their turn reluctantly
+yielded their guest to Mrs. Gregory.
+
+Hosts and hostesses were only too glad to secure the company of Miss
+Bliss, a girl who had seen so many strange countries, and noticed so
+much with her sharp eyes, that her inferences and original remarks were
+equally novel and interesting.  Fuchsia's society was invigorating, and
+the American could easily have put in twelve months in Burma if so
+disposed.  But one obstacle--and one only--interposed, and detained her
+from joining her friends in Cairo.  (This is in the strictest
+confidence.)  She was awaiting the moment when that great, big stupid
+Irishman would speak!
+
+Although Fuchsia looked no more than two- or three-and-twenty,
+eight-and-twenty  summers  had passed over her ash-coloured head.  She
+had received an excellent education, had travelled far, and was as
+experienced and worldly-wise as any matron of fifty.  Indeed, in
+natural wit and the art of putting two and two together, she was
+considerably ahead of most of her sex.
+
+Mrs. Gregory enjoyed having young people with her, but her mornings
+were engaged.  She had a hand in the principal benevolent societies in
+the place; was treasurer of this, or secretary of that, apart from her
+house-keeping and large correspondence, so that she was rarely at
+liberty before tiffin; therefore Fuchsia had all the forenoon to
+herself, and spent the time visiting her girl friends or shopping in
+the bazaar.  The heiress had hired a motor, a little two-seater that
+she could drive, and with respect to locomotion was entirely
+independent of her hostess.  No one in Fuchsia's circle received so
+many visits as Sophy Leigh; she was fond of Sophy, and frequently
+turned up at "Heidelberg" to tiffin or to tea, although she did not
+care about the set of people that she met there--stout German ladies
+with somewhat aggressive manners, or second-rate women from the fringe
+of Society.  Everyone of these was, in the eyes of the little American
+democrat, an "Outsider."  Fuchsia was fastidious, an aristocrat to her
+finger-tips, and it was no drawback to Pat FitzGerald that his maternal
+uncle was an earl.
+
+"How could Sophy tolerate these stupid people," Fuchsia asked herself,
+"with their sharp, probing questions and heavy jokes?  Why did Mrs.
+Krauss invite them?"
+
+And here she came to yet another question: What was the matter with
+Mrs. Krauss?  There was something strange and mysterious about her
+ailment; her attacks were so fitful; now she appeared brilliant and
+vivacious, with gleams of her former great beauty, the gracious and
+agreeable hostess; again, her condition was that of sheer indifference
+and semi-torpor.  And who was the officious and familiar ayah, her
+attendant and shadow, an obtrusive creature with bold black eyes and a
+resolute mouth?  Why did she speak so authoritatively to her mistress?
+Why did she wear such handsome jewellery and expensive silk saris,
+heavily fringed with gold, and strut about with such an air of
+importance?
+
+Lily appeared to have enormous influence with Mrs. Krauss--she knew
+something!  She held some secret.  This was the conclusion at which
+Fuchsia the shrewd arrived, after she had paid a good many visits to
+"Heidelberg."
+
+Fuchsia, with her long chin resting on her hand, set her active brain
+and cool judgment to work.  She recalled a certain scene one evening
+when she had driven over in her car to take Sophy to the theatre, and
+was sitting in the veranda half hidden by a screen, awaiting her
+friend, whilst Mrs. Krauss, lying prone upon the sofa, fanned herself
+with a languid hand.  Presently, from a doorway, Lily noiselessly
+drifted in.  She was amazingly light-footed for her bulk.
+
+"Now, it is nine o'clock," she said, addressing her mistress, "and you
+have got to go to bed."  Her voice was sharp and authoritative.  The
+reply came in a low murmur of expostulation.
+
+"I'm going to the Pagoda to-night," continued Lily, "but you will be
+all right.  As soon as you are undressed you shall have your _dose_."
+
+On hearing this promise Mrs. Krauss furled her fan, rose from the sofa
+with astonishing alacrity, and followed her ayah as commanded.
+
+Now the question that puzzled Fuchsia was, what was the nature of the
+dose?  It must have been something agreeable, or Mrs. Krauss would not
+have bounded off the sofa and hurried away--and who would rush for a
+dose of quinine or even the fashionable petrol?  Undoubtedly the dose
+was a drug--some enervating and insidious drug.  This would amply
+account for the lady's lethargy and languor.  The crafty Fuchsia threw
+out several feelers to her hostess on the subject of "Heidelberg"--she
+wondered whether anyone shared her suspicions.  Certainly Mrs. Gregory
+did not, but sincerely lamented her neighbour's miserable health, and
+deplored her obstinacy in remaining season after season in Rangoon.
+
+"It's rather a dull house for poor Sophy," suggested her friend; "when
+her aunt has one of her bad attacks she sees no visitors for days.  Mr.
+Krauss is absent from morning till night--not that I consider his
+absence any loss, for I dislike him more than words can express."
+
+"Well, I can't say that I am one of his admirers," admitted Mrs.
+Gregory; "but I agree with you that Sophy has some long and lonely
+hours; she can come over here whenever she pleases, and she cannot come
+too often, for she is a dear girl, and I would be glad to have her
+altogether.  You know she and I were house-mates up at May Myo, and
+when you live with another person in a small bungalow that is your
+opportunity to get down to the bed-rock of character."
+
+It was about a week after the elephants had been transported across the
+river, and Sophy and Fuchsia were sitting in the latter's bedroom at
+the "Barn."  Sophy was altering a hat for her companion; she was
+remarkably clever in this line, and a surprising quantity of her
+friends' millinery had passed through her fingers.
+
+"Mr. Shafto had a narrow squeak this day week," remarked Fuchsia, who
+was lounging in a chair, doing nothing.  "Did you hear someone say that
+he was _pushed_ in?"
+
+"Oh, no!  By accident--or on purpose?"
+
+"Whichever you please; the result was the same."  Then, after a
+considerable pause, she added significantly:
+
+"Perhaps he knows too much."
+
+"Too much of what?" asked Sophy, looking up.
+
+"Oh, there are many secrets in Rangoon," said Fuchsia, nodding her
+head; "I have grasped that, although I have only been here two months,
+and you a whole year.  Have you never noticed anything?  Have you no
+suspicions about people?"
+
+"No--not of anything that matters.  I suspect that the eldest Miss
+Wiggin rouges and darkens her eyebrows, that Lady Puffle wears a wig,
+and that the Grahams are thoroughly sick of their paying guest.  But
+you are ten times cleverer than I am, Fuchsia, and, according to Mr.
+Gregory, singularly intelligent and acute."
+
+"Acute--rubbish!"  Fuchsia dismissed the idea with a gesture of her
+tiny hand.  "I'm not thinking of wigs, or paint, or such piffle.  Say,
+have you never heard of the cocaine business?"
+
+"Oh, yes; Mr. Shafto is tremendously keen on the subject."
+
+"Pat FitzGerald is mad about it, too, and is having a great big try to
+rope in the boss smugglers.  He has told me the most terrible tales.
+Once the drug--it's cocaine and morphia mixed--gets a fast hold of a
+man, or woman, he or she is doomed!"
+
+"Oh, Fuchsia, surely not so bad as that!"
+
+"It's true; the poor thieve to get a few annas to spend in the dens;
+the rich and educated buy it by stealth, and absorb it at home in
+secret."
+
+"What are the symptoms?" inquired Sophy.  "Have you ever seen anyone
+who took those drugs?"
+
+"Well, I could not say," she answered evasively; "but I am aware that
+the symptoms are unaccountable drowsiness and lethargy, followed by a
+deathlike sleep, and, they say, the most _heavenly_ dreams.  Later, the
+dreamer wakes up, haggard, feverish, and miserable; the skin has a
+dried, shrunken look.  And you can always tell a drug-taker by the
+eyes; the pupil is either as small as a pin's point or else enormously
+enlarged."
+
+Fuchsia glanced sharply at Sophy, who was carefully manipulating a
+large bow.
+
+Was she recalling a domestic picture?  Did any suspicion sink into her
+simple mind?  If such was the case the girl gave no sign.
+
+"These drug-maniacs' lives are a real burden," continued Fuchsia; "they
+become indolent and slovenly; all they want in the whole world is more,
+and more, and more--cocaine.  The effect on some is to clear and
+stimulate the brain and, for a short time, they seem superhuman; but
+soon this marvellous illumination that has flared up dies down like a
+fire of straw, and leaves them nothing but the cold ashes."
+
+"Fuchsia," said her companion, suddenly raising her head and gazing at
+her steadily, "I believe you are thinking of someone."
+
+"Why do you say that?"
+
+"Tell me who it is."
+
+But Fuchsia merely looked down on the ground and maintained an unusual
+silence.
+
+"Do you know anyone that the cap fits?" persisted Sophy.  Then, with a
+quick movement, she put the hat aside and, confronting her companion,
+said, "Surely--surely, you don't mean _Aunt Flora_?"
+
+Fuchsia's reply was a slow, deliberate nod.
+
+"Oh, Fuchsia, this is too dreadful--how can you?  Tell me--why you have
+such a hideous suspicion?"
+
+"All right then, I will," and Fuchsia sat bolt upright.  "I'm older
+than you are, and have knocked about the world a bit, and I can't help
+seeing things that are thrust under my nose and drawing an inference.
+I must tell you that my grandfather was a notable lawyer, and who knows
+but that a scrap of his mantle may not have descended upon me!  Now to
+answer your question right away--you will admit that pretty often your
+aunt is dressed like a last year's scarecrow; that she is drowsy,
+stupefied, and generally inaccessible.  At another time she is real
+smart and vivacious, and puts other women in the shade.  Then suddenly
+she disappears, shuts herself up along with Lily ayah, and not a soul
+may approach her--no, not even you.  Undoubtedly Lily provides the drug
+and is handsomely paid.  I ask you to look at her jewels and her
+diamond nose-ring.  Your aunt refuses to see a doctor, for a doctor
+would diagnose her case the instant he set eyes on her; she also
+refuses to quit Rangoon, and why?  Because she would be torn away from
+what is killing her inch by inch--and that is cocaine!"
+
+By the time Fuchsia had ended this speech Sophy's face was colourless,
+and, as she unconsciously stroked a piece of ribbon between her
+fingers, many facts in support of Fuchsia's verdict flocked into her
+brain and forced themselves upon her comprehension.  She had a
+conviction that what her friend had just told her was neither more nor
+less than a dreadful truth.  An instant of clear vision had come;
+scales had fallen from her eyes; she recalled those strange excursions
+to Ah Shee's stifling den, the purchase of ivories so soon thrown
+aside; undoubtedly this collection of netsukes was a blind--her aunt's
+real object was to procure _drugs_!
+
+"I'm afraid this is an awful blow to you, Sophy," resumed Fuchsia, "and
+you will think I had no business to crowd in; but it is best that you
+should have your eyes opened before it is too late.  What do you think
+yourself, dear?"
+
+There was an agonising pause.  Self-deception was no longer possible.
+With an effort she replied:
+
+"I am afraid what you have told me is terribly true; it was stupid of
+me not to have guessed at something of the sort.  I see things clearly
+now that you have put them before my eyes.  Many puzzles are
+explained--the reason Aunt Flora keeps herself isolated; the reason why
+she has no really intimate friends; the reason why she is so untidy in
+her dress at times and talks so strangely.  I suppose Mr. Krauss knows?"
+
+"No!" replied Fuchsia with emphasis, "I have watched him carefully, and
+I don't believe he has the faintest suspicion, any more than you had
+yourself.  Your aunt's ayah, and possibly the cook, are
+fellow-conspirators, and no doubt the cause of 'the Missis's' long
+strange illness is common talk in the compound."
+
+"What can be done to cure it?  Oh, Fuchsia, _do_ advise me!"
+
+"If I were to offer you one piece of advice you would not take it."
+
+"Well, at least allow me to hear it."
+
+"It is to clear out of the house altogether and return home."
+
+"I shall certainly not take that advice; I was invited to Rangoon to be
+a companion to Aunt Flora, and the moment that I find she has something
+frightful to fight against is surely not the time for me to run away
+and leave her in the lurch.  No, I shall stay here and do what I can."
+
+"Ah, if you only could; but, my dear girl, I'm afraid it is too late.
+I have been questioning Pat FitzGerald--of course without letting him
+know that I had any 'case' in my mind's eye.  From what I have
+gathered, Mrs. Krauss has been taking this drug for a long time--and is
+past all help."
+
+"Then do you mean, Fuchsia, that I am to sit by, utterly helpless,
+whilst my aunt slowly puts herself to death?"
+
+"Of course you might try various things.  You could make it your
+business to find out and destroy the hypodermic syringe--or perhaps
+your aunt takes it in pellets.  I should interview the ayah and inform
+her that you know the nature of her mistress's complaint; threaten that
+you will tell Mr. Krauss and have her discharged.  I expect she gets
+enormous wages and has feathered her nest handsomely.  If you could
+inveigle your aunt into taking a voyage to Australia, that might be of
+use.  But these are just suggestions; in any way that I can help or
+back you up I will.  All the same, I must return to my first statement,
+which is, that no matter how you strive, and hope and fear, your effort
+will come too _late_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+SEEING IS BELIEVING
+
+The recent enlightenment had given Sophy a painful shock; thoughts
+troublesome and insistent buzzed about her all day long and kept her
+awake at night.  At first she had wept and abandoned herself to misery;
+then she summoned her strength and will and made plans, hoping that she
+would have the courage to carry them out.  She resolved to invade her
+aunt's bedroom and discover the true state of affairs.  During the last
+two or three days Mrs. Krauss had withdrawn into seclusion, being
+threatened with one of her so-called "attacks."  On these occasions no
+one but Lily was permitted to cross the threshold of her apartment.
+
+Late on the following evening, when the house was quiet and the
+servants had departed to their _godowns_, or the bazaar, and the
+"missy" was supposed to have retired, Sophy slipped on a dressing-gown
+and soft slippers and made her way into the anteroom, usually occupied
+in the day-time by her aunt, now dimly illuminated by one electric
+light.  Before the door of the next apartment hung a heavy curtain
+which, when drawn aside, revealed a thick darkness, a peculiar odour,
+and the sound of rapid breathing.  Sophy groped with her hand along the
+wall, found the switch, and the room and its contents were instantly
+revealed.  A richly-carved bedstead, a masterpiece of Burmese work,
+stood in the middle of the floor; at either side were small tables, one
+heaped with an untidy pile of books and magazines; on the other were
+bottles, glasses and little boxes.  In turning the switch Sophy had lit
+the bulb which hung directly over Mrs. Krauss's couch, and there, by
+its pitiless glare, she lay fully exposed, sunken in a sleep resembling
+a swoon, her splendid black hair lying loose upon the pillows.  She
+looked woefully old and shrunken, her arms, displayed by an
+open-sleeved silk nightgown, were thin and strangely discoloured.
+
+As Sophy stood surveying the scene the bathroom door opened softly and
+Lily stepped over the threshold.  "Oh, my missy!  Whatever are you
+doing here?" she exclaimed, throwing up her hands.
+
+"I am searching for the hypodermic syringe by which you reduce my
+aunt," pointing to the bed, "to this horrible condition.  Come with me,
+Lily," leading the way to the outer room.  "I have something to say to
+you."
+
+The ayah's face was almost green; she was shaking all over, but after a
+moment's hesitation she ultimately obeyed in sullen silence.
+
+"I was not aware until two days ago," resumed Sophy, "that my aunt took
+drugs and that you supplied them."
+
+"I don't know what the missy is talking about," stammered Lily.
+
+"Oh yes, you understand, and Mr. Krauss will understand.  At present he
+has no idea of my aunt's real ailment."
+
+"Missy going to tell _him_?  Well, if I am sent away to Madras and the
+drug taken from the missis she will soon die--you will see!"
+
+Lily's tone was more triumphant than regretful.
+
+"She will die anyway," rejoined Sophy, "and it were better that she
+should die in her senses than a drugged victim to cocaine.  How long
+has this been going on?"
+
+"Two, three years--maybe four years."
+
+"Four years!" repeated Sophy incredulously.
+
+"Yes, missis plenty sick--no sleep getting; doctor ordering small dose
+sleep mixture; missis liking too much, taking more and more, and more."
+
+"And you have kept her supplied--you get it from Ah Shee?"
+
+"If not me, then some other woman.  I plenty fond of missis and I kept
+her secret."
+
+"And, no doubt, she has paid you well."
+
+"Yes, giving money; but too much trouble to get morphia and cocaine and
+to keep people from talk.  One or two times she took too big dose, and
+then nearly die--but missis will have it all the same--die or no die!"
+
+"Well, now, if I promise you one thing will you promise me another?  I
+will not say a word to Mr. Krauss if you will agree to buy no more
+cocaine."
+
+"I will promise not to give so much; but no more cocaine taking at all,
+missis would shrivel up and go out like one bit of paper in a candle!
+I will do what I can, missy, but missis always taking plenty--two
+grains is nothing."
+
+"I am astonished," said Sophy, "that my aunt has never been suspected
+of taking drugs."
+
+"Missy, you never suspect it yourself, and yet you have lived in same
+house for fifteen months.  It was hard to keep it dark, but all the
+servants know.  Of course, that is no matter, and as for the big
+mem-sahibs, they do not come here _now_."
+
+"It seems so strange," said Sophy, "that my aunt should have sunk into
+this state--all through one little dose of morphia."
+
+"Well, you see, missy, she was ill; it was in the rains; she was
+awfullee melancholy and depressed, and she had not much to fill her
+mind.  She did not sew or ride or make music, like you do.  Mr. Krauss
+was away, she was sick and lonely, and so she got the doctor's
+prescription made up over and over again.  If she could have gone to
+Europe two years ago she might have cured herself of taking the stuff.
+Two--three times she has begun to stop it, but it was no good.  I have
+talked to her and given her wise words and tried to help her--and
+_cheat_ her, but she always found me out; so all I can do or have done
+is to stand between her and the other mem-sahibs and hide her--trouble."
+
+The sound of light footsteps stealing across the veranda caused Lily to
+pause--then she added under her breath:
+
+"It is that Moti ayah, missy; she very cunning, same like little snake
+and we had better go.  I will keep my promise, though it will be plenty
+bother; I am glad that you know--for it will make business more easy
+for me now there is one less to hide it from."
+
+Thus the conspirators parted, Sophy having maintained from first to
+last her mastery of the situation.
+
+It was not long before Mrs. Krauss became aware, more by instinct than
+actual knowledge, that her niece had discovered the real cause of her
+illness.  One evening as Sophy bent over to kiss her and say good
+night, she took her hand in both of hers and, with tears trickling down
+her face, whispered:
+
+"Sophy darling, I've tried--it's no use; whatever happens, keep it from
+_him_!"
+
+And this was the sole occasion on which Aunt Flora ever alluded to her
+failing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+ON DUTY
+
+The veil that shrouded her aunt's secret being now withdrawn, by a
+strange paradox a heavy cloud of darkness descended upon Sophy; she
+seemed to have suddenly passed from a warm glow of sunlight into a cold
+shadow-land of mystery and fear.  Before Herr Krauss and the outer
+world she still carried a buoyant standard of false high spirits.  Her
+rippling laughter and cheerful repartees were to be heard where young
+people were assembled at the Gymkhana, or elsewhere; but this Sophy
+wore another aspect when she sat on duty in her aunt's bedroom, whiling
+away restlessness and want of sleep with reading and talk, and even
+cards.  Many a time the dawn was breaking before she was at liberty to
+go to bed.  No wonder that she looked pale and fagged--no wonder people
+gazed at her keenly and inquired about her health.  It is not easy even
+for a girl of two-and-twenty thus to burn the candle at both ends!
+Riding, dancing, and playing tennis in the daytime, and then sitting up
+half the night, with a restless and fretful patient.  It was _this_
+Sophy who conferred so long and earnestly with Lily ayah, respecting
+methods to be adopted, pretences effected, infinitesimal doses
+exchanged for the usual amount, and the patient craftily beguiled--but
+it is almost impossible to beguile a person who is suffering from the
+fierce craving for a drug; and the want of her normal supply soon began
+to make itself apparent in Mrs. Krauss, and there were not a few
+exhausting scenes.
+
+Sophy found it necessary to take her ayah Moti into her confidence--a
+humiliating obligation (as it happened, Moti had always been in the
+secret), and among the three it was arranged that the mistress of the
+house was to be watched and never left alone.  Occasionally Mrs. Krauss
+had disputes and dreadful altercations with Lily; but by degrees she
+appeared to acquiesce; her strength was unequal to a prolonged
+struggle, and the victim of cocaine would throw herself down on her bed
+and moan like some dying animal.  These moans pierced the heart of her
+unhappy niece.
+
+Herr Krauss was seldom at home, but, when in residence, his personality
+obtruded itself in all directions, and it was surprising to Sophy that
+he never noticed any cause for anxiety in his wife's appearance, she
+looked so ill and emaciated; it was true that he was preoccupied with
+important affairs, and that he only saw her of an evening when the
+lights were shaded.  She still appeared in the afternoon and at dinner,
+particularly if they were alone.  When she received visitors,
+especially her German neighbours, Sophy felt exceedingly uncomfortable.
+It seemed to her--although this might be imagination--that the ladies
+exchanged coughs and significant glances, and noticed the trembling
+hand with which Mrs. Krauss helped herself to cake, her sudden lapses
+into silence, her abrupt interruptions and cavernous yawns.  For years
+Mrs. Krauss had been at home once a week to her German neighbours.
+They are a gregarious nation, and the "Kaffee-Gesellschaft"--an
+afternoon affair, beginning at four o'clock--is greatly beloved by
+German women.  Here they enjoy strong coffee, chocolate flavoured with
+vanilla and whipped cream, and every description of rich cake.  These
+coffee parties are generally an orgy of scandal, and that at
+"Heidelberg" was no exception.  Whether Mrs. Krauss was well or ill,
+the guests never failed to arrive.  It was a standing institution and
+enjoyed their approval and countenance.
+
+One bright hope upheld Sophy; Herr Krauss now talked of returning
+home--that is, to Germany.
+
+"Business is booming, my dear old lady; I shall close down, and we will
+all depart.  You have been in Burma too long, but in six months we
+shall be aboard the mail boat and watch the gold Pagoda gradually
+sinking out of sight.  I shall take a handsome place in the
+neighbourhood of Frankfort, and entertain all my good friends.  Then we
+will make music, and eat, drink, and be merry."
+
+His talk was invariably in this hopeful strain; he never exhibited the
+least anxiety with regard to his wife's illness; it had become her
+normal condition, and he spoke of it as "that confounded neuralgia" and
+cursed the Burmese climate.
+
+Sophy listened and marvelled, and yet she herself had been equally
+dense.  Neuralgia covers various infirmities, just as the cloak of
+charity covers a multitude of sins.  She had become excessively
+sensitive and suspicious, a sort of domestic detective--a post that was
+by no means to her taste.  She had thought long and earnestly over the
+situation, and from her reflections emerged the solid word "Duty."  It
+was her duty to fight for her aunt, to contend against the demon
+drug--and fight she did.  Oh, if she could only maintain the struggle
+until her charge was en route home, what a victory!
+
+Mrs. Krauss never alluded to her illness--a remarkable contrast to many
+invalids; but one afternoon, as Sophy sat beside her in the dimly-lit
+lounge, she suddenly broke an unusually long silence:
+
+"Life is very difficult, Sophy, my dear; death is easy, and I shall
+soon know all about it."
+
+"Oh, Aunt Flo, why do you say this?"
+
+"Because, before long, I shall die.  Karl is full of great plans and
+talks of our wonderful future.  I see no future for myself in Europe; I
+shall remain behind when you and he go down the Irrawaddy--but I am not
+afraid.  On the contrary, I look forward."
+
+"As for death, I hope you are mistaken, Aunt Flora, but I confess that
+yours is a most enviable frame of mind."
+
+"It is, dear, I suppose, from living so long in the East, I have
+imbibed some of the people's ideas.  In all the world these Burmans
+cannot be matched for their radiant cheerfulness--they make the best of
+the present, and, as they say, 'merely die to live again.'  There is
+not one of them who does not believe in and speak of his past life, and
+look forward to a future existence; this is why they wear such an air
+of happiness and contentment."
+
+"And do you really believe there is anything in this comfortable faith,
+Aunt Flora?"
+
+"Yes, my dear, I have a sincere confidence that my soul, not this
+miserable wicked body, will live again, and be given an opportunity of
+being better in another world."
+
+"Well, at any rate that is a consoling creed.  For my own part, I know
+little about Buddhism, but I can see that the Burmans are a religious
+people, much given to worship and offerings, and with a good deal of
+gaiety in their ceremonies; but, Aunt Flora, although they are
+delightfully picturesque, and so merry and cheerful, as a mass they are
+terribly pleasure-loving and lazy; no Burman will work if he can help
+it; even the women are difficult to get hold of.  Mrs. Blake, who is in
+the District, told me that her ayah, who never exerted herself, had put
+in for a _year's_ holiday and rest."
+
+"But what had that to do with religion, my dear?"
+
+"Just this--that they are as a race too indolant and easy-going to
+study any big question, or to take the trouble to think for themselves."
+
+"But what about the hundreds and thousands of holy priests who spend
+all their lives in profound meditation?  What do you say to that?  Come
+now."
+
+"I say that they live a life of incorrigible idleness; they have no
+need to maintain themselves; they just eat, and sit, and muse;
+everything is supplied to them, including their yellow robe and betel
+nut.  Their religion is selfish."
+
+"Well, well, I'm too stupid to argue, my dear child, my brain is like
+cotton wool; but I have my hopes, my sure hopes.  Karl is different.
+He is cultured, he reads Marx and Hegel, and says we are like cabbages
+and have no future; when we go it is as a candle that is blown out.
+Oh, here are visitors!  What a bore!  I shall not appear!  Run and tell
+the bearer."
+
+"Oh, but these are your own special old friends, Mrs. Vansittart and
+Mrs. Dowler.  _Do_ let them come in; they will amuse you--poor dears,
+you know they always call after dark."
+
+These visitors, friends of former days, were social derelicts, who had,
+so to speak, "gone ashore" in Rangoon.  One was chained to Burma by
+dire poverty and a drunken husband; the other, who had been a wealthy
+woman of considerable local importance, was now a childless widow,
+supporting herself with difficulty by means of a second-rate
+boarding-house.  To these old friends, and in many other cases, Mrs.
+Krauss had proved a generous and tactful helper.  Both visitors were
+wearing costumes which had been worn and admired at "Heidelberg" and
+were still fairly presentable.
+
+After a stay of an hour the ladies withdrew, leaving their hostess well
+entertained but completely exhausted.  Then they hastily sought out
+Sophy in order to express to her, in private, their horror at the
+terrible change in her aunt.
+
+"Her spirit is there all right," said Mrs. Dowler (who had a
+hundred-rupee note in her glove), "but oh, my dear Miss Leigh, _how_
+she's wasted!  I felt like crying all the time I was sitting with her."
+
+"Yes, she should see a doctor, and that this very day," added Mrs.
+Vansittart.
+
+"Oh, but you know Aunt Flora," protested Sophy; "she cannot bear
+doctors, and Lily, her ayah, knows pretty well what to do."
+
+"Tell me, Miss Leigh, what is the real truth about your aunt's
+illness?" said Mrs. Dowler, suddenly dropping her voice to a mysterious
+whisper.  "It has been so long and so tedious--off and on for at least
+three years.  She has been worse the last four months, and indeed ever
+since you went up to May Myo.  It is not a malignant growth, please
+God?"
+
+"Oh, no, nothing of that sort; just weakness and this relaxing climate."
+
+"She should have returned home years ago," said Mrs. Vansittart; "and
+when she does go--oh, it will be a bad day and a sad day for me and
+many others, not to speak of all the animals she has befriended.  She
+is wonderfully sympathetic to dumb creatures and indeed to everybody."
+
+"That's true," echoed her companion, "no one knows of your aunt's good
+deeds and charities, not even her own servants, and that is saying
+_everything_.  Her hand has raised many an unfortunate out of the dust."
+
+Thus whispering, advising and hoping and bemoaning, the two ladies were
+conducted by Sophy to their jointly-hired _ticka gharry_, and were
+presently rattled away.
+
+Sophy, too, had her own particular visitors, Mabel Pomeroy, Mrs.
+Gregory and Fuchsia--Fuchsia, almost daily.  To her it seemed that
+Sophy's confidences were frozen; she rarely mentioned her aunt, and
+gave evasive answers to her friend's probing inquiries.  At last the
+brave American spoke out:
+
+"You are frightfully changed, my Sophy girl--changed in a month.  You
+have become so dull and absent-minded, and have lost all your pretty
+colour.  Of course, _I_ know the reason, but you can do no good--no,
+not a scrap.  You had much better have gone home when you discovered
+the secret--you are as thin as a walking-stick, and look as if you sat
+up all night and never went to bed."
+
+"Well, even if I did and, mind you, I'm not saying that I do, it is no
+worse for my health than dancing all night, is it?  I'm very fond of
+Aunt Flora, and I'd do more than that for her."
+
+"She has added years to your life; the gay flitting-about Sophy, with
+her pretty kittenish ways and harmless claws, has been thrust in a
+sack--and drowned!"
+
+"Well, I do think you might have given her Christian burial," protested
+Sophy with a laugh.
+
+"Christian burial brings me to the Marriage Service.  What do you
+think--that great stupid Irishman, has at last blundered out a
+proposal, and in me," rising and making a curtsey, "you behold the
+future Mrs. Patrick FitzGerald."
+
+"Oh, Fuchsia!" jumping up to embrace her, "I do congratulate you, and I
+do hope you will be very happy."
+
+"Yes, I believe we shall.  I have money and he----" she hesitated, and
+Sophy added:
+
+"Has a warm, kind heart."
+
+"Oh, well, I was about to say _looks_, but I'll throw in the heart as
+well!  Next week I am going up to Calcutta to see about the trousseau
+and business.  I'm real sorry to be the means of smashing up the
+Chummery Quartette."
+
+"And when does the blow fall?"
+
+"Not for some time; Patsy has asked for a long day."
+
+"Fuchsia!"
+
+"Well, no, it's not that; but he's obliged to finish some inspections.
+He really is fond of me--I dare say he's not as fond of me as Shafto is
+of someone!  But _his_ is a more serious, rigid character.  If someone
+would smile, he would melt like a shovelful of snow on a coal fire!"
+
+"My dear Fuchsia, do give your imagination a rest."
+
+"Maybe you are right, and my tongue, too.  I've only just one thing
+more to say," she paused and walked into the veranda in silence.
+
+In silence Sophy followed her down to the car and, as she tucked in the
+knee-sheet, she raised her eyes and asked:
+
+"What is this wonderful last word?"
+
+"That I think 'Sophy Shafto' would be a nice easy name to say."
+
+In another second Fuchsia's car had panted away and nothing remained of
+her visit but a cloud of red dust.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+SOPHY
+
+Sophy had a difficult part to act--in fact no less than three separate
+roles: one with her aunt, one with Herr Krauss, and a third in public.
+Those who saw Miss Leigh dancing and playing tennis at the Gymkhana,
+little guessed how she spent the remainder of the day, soothing and
+interesting a fretful invalid, or sitting up half the night on
+duty--and on guard.  Herr Krauss was frequently from home, being
+incessantly engaged in winding up his affairs.  Business took him one
+week to Moulmein, the next to Calcutta.  This fat, elderly man
+displayed a sort of volcanic energy; he lived in a fever of repressed
+excitement and scarcely gave himself time to gobble his huge meals.
+Numbers of people--principally natives--pressed for interviews; one or
+two arrived in fine motor-cars; evidently it was not a European
+business that appeared to absorb all his time and faculties.  However,
+whatever its nationality, Herr Krauss was happy and exultant; there was
+an expression of assured triumph upon his frog-like visage.
+
+Naturally this triple life left its mark on Sophy, though she kept her
+miseries and responsibilities to herself.  Mrs. Gregory and other
+friends put their heads together and decided that she looked ill and
+careworn; and the ever-active Fuchsia laid certain information before
+Shafto, with the result that the following day he arrived at
+"Heidelberg" to make a formal call.  Of late he found that he could
+never have a word with Miss Leigh; she rarely rode in the morning and
+was seldom to be seen at the Gymkhana, and so he, as Fuchsia had
+suggested, "bearded the lioness in her den"--that is, he called at
+"Heidelberg" between the orthodox hours of four and five.
+
+"This is very formal," exclaimed Sophy, as he entered the somewhat
+dusky drawing-room; "visiting hour and visiting card complete.  What
+does it mean?"
+
+"It merely means that I wish to see you," replied Shafto; "I can never
+get a look in elsewhere.  One would almost think that you avoided me
+and wanted to cut me."
+
+"What a ridiculous idea!" she exclaimed, sitting down and motioning him
+to a chair.
+
+"Well, it does seem ridiculous that we see so very little of you.  I
+hope you are not ill?"
+
+"No, indeed, why should I be ill?  Do I look like an invalid?"
+
+"Since you ask me, I don't think you seem particularly fit.  How is
+Mrs. Krauss?"
+
+"Oh, much the same.  Sometimes she is able to be out in the car and
+sits in the veranda; other days she cannot appear at all."
+
+"And you and Herr Krauss are _tête-à-tête_!  How do you get on
+together?"
+
+"Oh, pretty well.  I only see him at breakfast and dinner, and we talk
+about food and cooking and the servants.  It's all right when he is
+alone, but when he brings friends to dinner it is rather disagreeable.
+I understand German now and am able to make out the hateful things they
+say about us as a nation.  Naturally I stick up for my own country.  I
+talk to them in English--they gabble to me in German, and we make an
+awful clatter.  Herr Krauss looks on, or joins in, and roars and bangs
+the table.  I am fighting one to five, and with my back to the wall!
+They are full of facts that I cannot dispute--not being posted up in
+statistics.  When I attempt to bring forward our side they interrupt
+and shout me down.  Now we have declared open war.  Last night I got up
+and left them in possession of the field, and I have told Herr Krauss
+that the next time he has a session I prefer to dine alone.  He treats
+it as a splendid joke and says I am a silly, ignorant _Backfisch_."
+
+"Of course, a lot of it is trade envy," said Shafto; "but the Germans,
+to give them their due, are energetic, thrifty and pushing, and are
+taking places in the sun all over the world.  Have you heard from Mrs.
+Milward lately?"
+
+"No, not for some weeks; she writes such amusing letters."
+
+"So I should imagine.  She has a wonderfully elastic mind, and says and
+does the very first thing that comes into her head.  Do you remember
+one day on the _Blankshire_ when, half in joke, she said that we were
+two young lambs about to be turned out in strange and unknown pastures,
+and if one of us got into any difficulty the other was bound to help?"
+
+"Yes, I remember perfectly well.  It was after Mr. Jones, the
+missionary, had been giving us a lecture on what he called 'Pitfalls in
+the East.'"
+
+"Well, now I warn you that I'm going to be officious and interfering.
+I have a notion that you are in some difficulty.  What Mrs. Milward
+said in joke I repeat in deadly earnest.  If you are in any sort of
+hole, let me lend a hand."
+
+"But why should you imagine that I am in any difficulty or, as you call
+it, 'a hole'?"
+
+Sophy tried to carry it off gaily, but her eyes fell.
+
+"Because you look so changed and depressed and seem to have lost your
+spirits.  Perhaps, as you have no bodily ailment, there is something on
+your mind?"
+
+"And who can minister to a mind diseased?" she quoted with a smile.
+"No, I'm really normal and absolutely sane."
+
+"I wish you wouldn't put me off," he protested; "I know there _is_
+something."
+
+"Even if there were, do you expect me to make you my Father Confessor?"
+
+"No, indeed; but I do think you might give us a hint--I mean your
+friends--of what it is that has come between us."
+
+For a moment she found it difficult to answer.  At last she said:
+
+"Well, there _is_ something, I admit; something that claims all my
+time.  I am sorry I cannot tell you more, for it is not my own secret."
+
+"I see--it belongs to another."
+
+Evidently Sophy had discovered the truth at last--a truth that was
+withering her youth and crushing her to the earth.  His quick eye
+understood the signs of strain and fatigue; all life and light had
+faded from her face, and he realised that she was, as Fuchsia had
+described, "terribly changed."
+
+For a moment neither of them spoke; she fidgeted with a turquoise
+ring--it was much too loose, or her fingers were much too thin, for it
+suddenly slipped, dropped into her lap and then rolled far away upon
+the floor with an air of impudent independence.
+
+Shafto, as he searched for and picked up this ring, felt something
+forcing and driving him to speak and, after a moment's reflection, he
+made up his mind to dare all.
+
+"I believe I know your secret," was his bold announcement, as he
+restored her property.
+
+"You!" she ejaculated.  "That is impossible."
+
+"At least, I can guess," he said, dropping his voice.
+
+Then he got up and, standing before her with his hands in his pockets,
+looked down at her steadily and continued:
+
+"It has to do with a drug."
+
+At the word drug she winced visibly, and her pale face changed.
+
+"The drug is cocaine," he went on slowly, "and the victim is--a lady in
+this house."
+
+Sophy's white cheeks were now aflame; bright tears stood in her eyes;
+she was passing through a painful crisis.  To assent would amount to a
+betrayal.  Should she put him off with a _lie_?  There seemed to be an
+interminable pause before she spoke.
+
+"Why do you say this to me?" she asked in a low voice.
+
+"FitzGerald has means of finding out curious facts, and sometimes he
+tumbles into a thing by accident; he is mad keen to scotch this cocaine
+business, and incidentally discovered that one of Ah Shee's best
+customers was--_you know who_.  She has been procuring the stuff for
+the last three years.  I believe you have only recently found out the
+hideous fact, and this accounts for what anyone can see with half an
+eye--your look of care and anxiety.  I am well aware that I have
+undertaken a dangerous mission in coming here to tell you this.
+Possibly you may never speak to me again; but I take the risk, because
+I do want so very, very badly to be of some use and to stand by you."
+
+There was nothing for it but to accept the situation, and at last she
+said:
+
+"The only way in which you can help me is by keeping silent."
+
+"How long have you known?"
+
+"About six weeks."
+
+"So now I understand why we see you so seldom at tennis or the
+paper-chases."
+
+"Yes; and now that you _do_ understand, perhaps you will help me and
+put people off when they ask tiresome questions."  She spoke with a
+catch in her voice.  "I scarcely ever leave my aunt.  I read and talk
+and play the piano, and do my best to keep her amused; I am very fond
+of Aunt Flora."
+
+"You must be!" he exclaimed sharply.
+
+"But, indeed, she is not so much to blame as you suppose.  Think of her
+loneliness and illness!  Years of this relaxing climate and intense
+depression tempted her to seek relief, and once she had touched the
+drug it gripped her like a vice and made her a prisoner."
+
+"Whom you are struggling to release?  Does Herr Krauss know?"
+
+"No; he has no suspicion.  No more had I till recently.  Lily, the
+ayah, Mr. FitzGerald, you and I, are all that are in the secret."
+
+"It is much too heavy a load for your shoulders.  Won't you tell Mrs.
+Gregory?  She is so practical and so safe, and full of clever
+expedients and energy."
+
+"No, I shall not open my lips; how could I?  Mrs. Gregory is my loyal
+and kind friend; but once I began to take people into my confidence, I
+could never tell where it would end; soon it might be all over Rangoon
+that my aunt takes drugs.  As it is I am making a little headway; we
+have diminished the quantity, and I have great hopes that the craving
+is _less_.  Of course, I am obliged always to be on guard; that is why
+I am so rarely able to leave home.  Herr Krauss talks of retiring in
+four months, and if I can only keep Aunt Flora safe until _then_, the
+day of our departure means the day of her escape.  And now, please, let
+us talk of something more cheerful.  I suppose you have heard about
+your friend, Mr. FitzGerald, and Miss Bliss?"  And she threw him a
+charming confidential smile.
+
+"Oh yes, rather!  FitzGerald was in the most awful funk and talked of
+writing his proposal, but I choked him off, and told him that it was a
+cowardly way of putting his fate to the touch--the telephone would have
+been better--and that he must face the music like a man."
+
+"You wouldn't be in the least nervous in similar circumstances."
+
+"No, honestly, I would not, if I believed the girl cared two straws
+about me.  Anyone that wasn't stone blind could see that Miss Bliss
+liked FitzGerald; he is a rattling good sort, and I believe they will
+suit one another splendidly."
+
+But Shafto had not come to "Heidelberg" to discuss FitzGerald and his
+affairs; he wanted to talk to Sophy about herself.
+
+"I do wish you would confide in Mrs. Gregory," he urged.  "She is a
+tower of strength.  I don't think you are strong enough to tackle the
+situation here."
+
+"Oh, yes I am," she answered, rising; "it's just a question of
+will-power and holding out.  It was good of you to come like this, but
+now I'm afraid I must send you away.  This is the time I always sit
+with my aunt."  As she spoke she approached nearer to the long glass
+door and, coming out of the gloom of the drawing-room, he saw by the
+unsparing light the startling alteration in her appearance; she looked
+so thin and worn, her eyes so large, her face so small--her whole
+appearance wilted!  When he thought of Mrs. Krauss, with her deadly
+secret, her vampire hold on this girl; then of Krauss and his secret,
+he could no longer restrain himself.  All those influences which stir
+the deepest emotions of the heart were silently operating on Shafto's.
+His face assumed a set expression and had grown suddenly pale.
+
+"Sophy!" he exclaimed.
+
+The word sent her heart galloping.
+
+"I am sure you know that I--I adore you, but somehow I've never
+ventured to tell you this till now----"  He paused, as if the words
+stuck in his throat, and meanwhile a huge brown insect of the bee tribe
+entered, booming alarmingly, and knocking itself about the room.  "But
+now I've got to speak out and take risks.  There is a terrible cloud
+over this house--a cloud of shame!  I know I am saying all this most
+awfully badly, but I ask you to let me take you away from
+'Heidelberg.'"  He broke off abruptly and stood looking into her eyes.
+
+Sophy, no longer pale, returned his gaze steadily.  It was not now a
+question of her aunt's secret, but of her own future.  She cared very
+much for her companion--why deceive herself?--and with the instinct
+common to her sex, had been aware of his feelings for a long time.  All
+the same, she could not desert her post.  She put up her thin hand (it
+was trembling, Shafto could see) with the gesture of one who was
+thrusting aside temptation.
+
+"I don't understand about the cloud, but even so, my place is here.
+Surely you will see that--and--I am, all the same, very--grateful.
+I"--her voice shook and sank almost to a whisper---"I am glad that you
+care for me."
+
+At this moment a curtain was hastily swung aside and Lily appeared.
+
+"Missy, the mem-sahib asking for you now; please to come quickly," and
+with a swift glance at her "missy" obeyed; the _purdah_ fell heavily
+behind her slim, white figure and Shafto was alone.  His mission had
+been fruitless, and yet when he rode away from "Heidelberg" in his
+heart he carried the flower of Hope.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+ALL IS OVER
+
+That same evening, as Sophy was sitting alone in the veranda after
+dinner, Lily ayah appeared, her fat arms uplifted in eloquent appeal.
+
+"Oh, missy--you come with me--I think our mem-sahib soon, soon _die_!"
+
+"Die!" exclaimed Sophy, springing to her feet.
+
+"Yes, somehow these drug people are too clever--she has got cocaine.  I
+think that water man bring it; anyhow, mem-sahib has taken one big, big
+dose, and lies as one gone from the world."
+
+"Send at once for Herr Krauss--he is in his office," and Sophy ran
+towards her aunt's room and found, as Lily had described, that her
+relative was passing away; indeed, save for her faint breathing, one
+would have supposed that she had already crossed the border.
+
+Herr Krauss cast one hurried glance, thundered out of the room, and
+rang up the telephone; then he returned and stood gazing at his wife,
+his face working with emotion.
+
+"What has happened?" he asked, turning abruptly to Sophy.  "_Why_ is
+she like this?  What does it mean?"
+
+"I cannot tell."  A reply which could be taken in two ways.
+
+"It must have been some sudden attack--her heart, I suppose.  Marling,
+the nearest doctor, will be here instantly."  And as he spoke a
+square-shouldered, severe-looking man entered.  Without a word, but in
+a most business-like manner, he made an examination of the patient,
+felt her pulse, turned back her eyelids, and then ejaculated an ominous:
+
+"Ha!"
+
+"What is it?" inquired Krauss; "what is the matter with my wife?  Is it
+serious?"
+
+"Don't you know?" demanded the doctor, turning on him sharply, "it is
+cocaine poisoning--the last stage."
+
+"Cocaine!" echoed Krauss, and his large buff-coloured face turned to a
+leaden hue.  "You are mistaken.  That is not _possible_!"
+
+"Well, if you don't believe me, get another opinion," retorted the
+doctor brusquely.  "Judging from the slight examination I have made,
+your wife has been taking the drug for _years_."
+
+"Impossible!" almost shouted Krauss.
+
+"Not at all," rejoined the doctor.  "Cocaine has been poisoning people
+in Rangoon by hundreds.  Mrs. Krauss is not the only victim."
+
+Krauss, great heavy man that he was, was now trembling so violently
+that he was obliged to lean against the wall for support, and, pointing
+to the bed, he said:
+
+"I had not the slightest suspicion--Gott bewahre, I had not.  I thought
+her ailment was neuralgia.  I will pay any money, no matter what fee.
+Surely, you can do something for her?"
+
+"I am afraid not; Mrs. Krauss is beyond help, and can never recover
+consciousness.  She has been taking quantities of the drug for a long
+time.  Look at her arm!"--turning back the sleeve and revealing an
+emaciated tell-tale limb.
+
+"Did _you_ know?" said Krauss, appealing to Sophy, who stood at the
+other side of the bed.  The words came in short savage jerks.
+
+"Yes," she replied, "I only discovered it six weeks ago."
+
+"And never told _me_!" glaring at her with a furious expression.
+
+"No--because Aunt Flora implored me to be silent.  I was doing my best
+to stop it and minimising the doses."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the doctor, "that accounts for this.  She has been
+starved and, with the cunning of these morphia maniacs, found means to
+get a supply, and has absorbed an enormous quantity."
+
+"Ach Gott! it seems incredible," moaned Krauss, now rising and coming
+towards the bed, and lifting his wife's limp hand.  "What could have
+made her take to it?"
+
+"Illness--loneliness--depression; this enervating climate; having
+nothing particular to do; an idle woman of forty has no business in
+Burma."
+
+"But surely you have some remedy?--something that will bring her to?
+Gott in Himmel! you don't tell me that she will _never_ see me, or
+speak to me again!"
+
+"No; cocaine is one of the most powerful drugs--the greatest curse in
+our pharmacopoeia.  It is better that she should go like this.  Even if
+she were to survive for a week, she would be a mere inanimate shadow."
+
+"Oh, my poor Flora, my heart's joy!  You must not go; you shall not
+leave me without one word!"  And Herr Krauss tumbled down upon his
+knees and sobbed stertorously.
+
+The doctor, who was surveying him with frigid amazement, suddenly
+turned and, seizing Sophy by the arm, said:
+
+"You can do no good here now; this is no place for you."
+
+Leading her to the door he closed it inexorably behind her.
+
+Half an hour later she was joined by Lily, her round face wet with
+tears.
+
+"All is over now, Miss Sahib.  My missis always so good to me--my
+missis done die."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+MUNG BAW LIES LOW
+
+In some mysterious manner the cause of Mrs. Krauss's death was hushed
+up; there was no inquest, and the announcement in the Rangoon Gazette
+merely stated: "On the 8th inst., Flora, the beloved wife of Herr Karl
+Krauss, suddenly, of heart failure."
+
+Sophy had been carried off to the "Barn" a few hours after her aunt had
+passed away, and never again entered "Heidelberg."  The funeral was
+large, expensive, and imposing, and included a crowd of rather
+unexpected and decidedly shabby mourners, who brought with them
+offerings of cheap, home-made wreaths and crosses, and wore faces of
+sincere and unaffected grief.  Strange to say, the grave prepared to
+receive Mrs. Krauss was next to that in which lay the remains of
+Richard Roscoe.  The two cocaine victims rested side by side in death,
+drawn together by the long arm of coincidence.
+
+It had been decided that Sophy was to remain at the "Barn" and
+accompany Mrs. Gregory when she went home in August.  She quickly
+recovered her looks and spirits amid bright society and cheerful
+surroundings.  There had been an auction at "Heidelberg," everything
+was disposed of; the accumulation of twelve years was scattered to the
+winds, the servants were disbanded, and the house was closed.
+
+Herr Krauss sent Sophy a quantity of his wife's jewels, with a letter
+thanking her for all her care and attention, but she only retained a
+ring that had been worn daily by her aunt, and returned the remainder,
+which was afterwards disposed of in Balthazar's Sale Rooms and fetched
+a handsome sum.
+
+It was said that Herr Krauss had felt his wife's death acutely; he had
+left Rangoon without the ceremony of farewells, departing no one knew
+whither.
+
+Time slipped by, and so far had brought no trace of the cocaine gang.
+On several occasions Shafto had ridden round by the big Kyoung behind
+the Turtle Tank and met with no success--nothing but a shake of the
+_pongye's_ shaven head.  On his first visit he had dismounted, given
+his horse to its _syce_, and boldly approached the monastery, outside
+of which an imposing group of _pongyes_ was assembled.  The attitude of
+some was lofty and disdainful; others, with a friendly glance,
+acknowledged the stranger's ceremonious greeting.  Towering
+majestically among his fellows stood Mung Baw, who, throwing them a
+hasty explanation, advanced to welcome Shafto with a soldierly tread
+and a jaunty swing of his yellow robe.  Then taking him aside he began
+to talk to him in a cautious undertone:
+
+"I am sorry to tell you I have no _kubber_ yet.  If I had some female
+acquaintance it would so as easy as 'kiss my hand,' but I cannot break
+my vow or spake to a woman."
+
+"So you have no clue?"
+
+"There's dozens of clues, if I could get hold of one; that's what
+aggravates me and has me tormented.  But I'll worry it out yet, and
+that's as sure as me name is Mick Ryan."
+
+"I thought it was Mung Baw."
+
+"So 'tis mostly--and officially, but this business I'm on is a white
+man's job, and if it's to be done, I'll do it."  As he spoke he removed
+his clumsy horn spectacles, and Shafto realised that the eyes gazing
+unflinchingly into his own were those of an enthusiast, and possibly a
+hero.
+
+Seen in tell-tale daylight, and without his disfiguring glasses, the
+_pongye_ looked years younger; hitherto Shafto's impression had been
+that his strange acquaintance was a man of fifty.  Five-and-thirty
+would be nearer the mark.  His eyes were a shade of deep indigo blue,
+with thick black lashes, high cheek bones were possibly a legacy from
+his Cingalese grandmother; a square, well-shaped head, firmly set upon
+a fine pair of shoulders, a square chin and jaw, and a well-cut mouth
+with shining white teeth, were his inheritance from the West.
+Undoubtedly if Mung Baw's religion had not compelled him to sacrifice
+every hair on his body--including his eyebrows--he would have been an
+uncommonly good-looking fellow, but an absolutely bare face and bald
+cranium was a heavy handicap--were he Apollo himself!
+
+At least thrice a week Shafto, in the character of a private inquiry
+officer, rode slowly round by the Kyoung and had a word or two with the
+tall upstanding priest.
+
+One evening the latter beckoned to Shafto to dismount, and, leading him
+apart, assured him that he was creeping on at last.  "As soon as I know
+what I think I know, I'll send you a bit of a _chit_.  It's an awful
+traffic, this infernal trade, now I've seen into it, cheek by jowl;
+these drugs is worse and crueller than wild animals, and we can't kill
+them."
+
+"No, worse luck!" assented Shafto; "they kill us.  I say, Mung Baw,
+don't your friends in the monastery wonder why I so often ride round
+this way and look you up?"
+
+"Oh, yes, some does be as curious as a cat in a strange larder, but I
+have it all explained to their satisfaction."  Then, dropping his
+voice, he added mysteriously: "They think I'm _convarting_ you!"
+
+"What--to Buddhism!"  And Shafto burst out laughing.
+
+"Faix, ye might do worse."
+
+"Possibly; but I am all right as I am."
+
+"That's a good hearing.  Well, I'm not for troubling anyone's mind,
+shure; aren't we all," with a sweep of his powerful hand, "shtriving to
+reach the same place, and if it's what I expect, I'll hope to meet ye?
+There's the gong for prayers, and I must fall in."
+
+Two days later Shafto received a letter written in a neat clerkly hand.
+It said:
+
+
+"If you will be at the Great Goddema in the woods beyond the Turtle
+Tank by five o'clock to-morrow, Tuesday, you may hear news,--M.R."
+
+
+The Great Goddema in the woods is a gigantic image in alabaster,
+encompassed by palm ferns, and half clothed in flowering creepers.  The
+day of this particular shrine has sunk below the horizon; worshippers
+are absent and the flowers laid around and about are entirely the
+contribution of Nature herself.  Some day the shrine will disappear
+altogether, buried, like many others, in appreciative vegetation.
+
+As Shafto approached the rendezvous, he saw the _pongye_ seated on the
+steps, engrossed in a book with a red cover, which he hastily thrust
+into some inner pocket as he rose to his feet.
+
+"Ye might not think it, but I'm a great reader," he explained
+apologetically.  "It passes the time and is no sin; the saints
+themselves were wonderful writers and readers.  A friend here gets me
+books out of the public library, and then I borrow when I can."
+
+"What have you got hold of now?" inquired Shafto.
+
+"'Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World,' and before that, 'Jungle
+Tales.'  I could tell a good few myself; animals and birds does be very
+friendly and confidential with me; but it's not books I brought you
+here to talk about, but cocaine and opium."
+
+"Yes, rather.  Have you any news?"
+
+"I have so.  I've found out what I may call the head lair of the
+divils."
+
+"Good for you--how splendid!  How did you manage it?"
+
+"Bedad, it was a terrible touch-and-go business, as you shall hear.
+You see, I should first explain how I get so much liberty to go
+mouching round the bazaars and wharves.  Being for so long weak in the
+head--and also of another country--allowances are made, and I'm looked
+on as an oddity, and yet well respected, for I'm clever with cures and
+language.  Well, I used to poke about among a lot of scum that has no
+respect for any cloth whatever--no, nor for life itself; and all the
+time I felt in me bones I'd surely find what I wanted among a crew
+that's just the sweepings of creation!
+
+"There was one particular low wharf I used to hang round by way of
+watching fellows netting fish; and one warm afternoon, as I was
+meditating there, the chance looked my way.  Two half-drunken Chinamen
+come along quarrelling and sat down near me, and I 'foxed' I was sound
+asleep.  They argued about shares and money, and jabbered away very
+angry, telling me all I wanted.  By and by, when they cooled down a
+bit, they saw me, an' this was what ye may call a critical moment for
+Mick Ryan."
+
+"No doubt of that.  Go on!"
+
+"At first one of them was undecided as to whether I was asleep--or not.
+The other brute said: 'No chance take, stick knife in throat, and shove
+into the water.'  You know what these thieves are with their long
+blades.  I tell ye, Mr. Shafto, they might have heard me heart
+thumping!  However, my good angel, Saint Michael himself, had his eye
+on me, for it turned out that neither of them had a _dah_ with him.
+Then they come and leant over me, breathing into me face with their
+filthy rank breath, reeking of napie and pickled eggs, and I snored
+back like a good one!  I snored for my very life, and I done it so
+natural, they were well satisfied; and I being such a big man and heavy
+to shift, they give up the notion of slinging me into the Irrawaddy and
+went off still quarrelling.  I stayed on without a move out of me for a
+full hour; then I got up yawning my head off, and walked away with the
+_clue_ in me hand!"
+
+"Is the den in Rangoon?  There's many a queer place here?"
+
+"No, not in Rangoon itself, but some way up the river; about twenty
+miles beyond Prome there is a deserted village that was cleared out by
+cholera twenty years ago.  They say a big cholera _nat_ lives there,
+and no one will go next or nigh it.  There's a pagoda, a Kyoung, and a
+rest house, all smothered in jungle, and a nice little bit of a
+convenient landing, and 'tis there the Cocaine Company does its
+business--I learnt all their tricks.  The Chinamen gave me a lot of
+news; it seems they smuggle opium, too, and distribute the stuff up and
+down the river by boats; on land by pack animals and the railroad.  Oh,
+it's a wonderfully handy situation; they couldn't have picked a better!"
+
+"And what about the people who run it?" asked Shafto.
+
+"Well, the head of them all is gone; he was, as you may have
+suspicioned yourself, that fellow Krauss.  No one knows what's become
+of him.  Some say he's in Calcutta; more think he's dead--died aboard
+ship; but that may not be true.  Them sort of ruffians generally live
+to a great age.  Someone may have put him out, or rather done him in.
+There were two or three chaps what I've heard talkin' terrible bitter
+agin him; and one fine young man, Ar Bo, who is back from the
+Andamans--where he got sent to for three year, on account of this
+cocaine business--told me that he met a lot of clever fellows from all
+parts of the world; up to every dodge they were, and one of them
+instructed him in the way of killing a man stone dead--and not leaving
+a spot on him!  I believe it's some little trick with the head, where
+it joins the spine.  This chap confessed that he had tried it on
+several with success, and it wouldn't surprise _me_ if he had made an
+experiment on Krauss!"
+
+"But what about the cocaine?" said Shafto.  "How, are we to set about
+getting a haul?"
+
+"Ye'll have to go aisy, or rather Mr. FitzGerald and the polls must
+work by stealth; he can take a good few disguised, as it were on a sort
+of pilgrimage, but well armed, and passing through this village as it
+were accidental; and with a couple of boats on the river I think they
+might scare the lot.  I'd like to go with them meself, for a bit of
+sport--only for me yellow robe, it wouldn't look well for me to be seen
+mixed up with cocaine, thaves and the polis."
+
+"No, I suppose not," agreed Shafto.  "You have to think of your cloth.
+Well, if you will write me down a few details on this slip of paper in
+my notebook, I will give it to Mr. FitzGerald at once, and I can't tell
+you how thankful he will be to get hold of it, or how grateful to you
+we are."
+
+"Oh, I don't want no thanks for what has been a real pleasure.  Haven't
+I seen with me own two eyes all the terrible harm this drug-takin'
+leads to?  And if I've been in a small way the means of puttin' a stop
+to some of it, I'll be a proud man."  He paused to clear his throat,
+and continued: "I suppose, you have not seen anything of Ma Chit
+lately?"
+
+"No."
+
+"She keeps you from goin' to the Salters, doesn't she?  She's always
+sittin' about there on the steps, heart-broken, because she can't get a
+word wid ye!  Of course, I'm not surprised she's took a fancy to ye."
+
+"Fancy!  Rot!" burst out Shafto.  "I can't stand these cheeky Burmese
+girls.  I only hope I may never set eyes on Ma Chit again."
+
+"Well, then, as likely as not ye won't," remarked Mung Baw soothingly.
+"She has a rich relation up at Thayetmyo, and she's swithering between
+love and money.  Perhaps, after all, money will carry the day.  Well,
+now, I must be goin' to me duties--and me devotions, and I'll bid ye
+good evening."
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+The conversation at "Heidelberg" interrupted by Lily had been resumed
+on a suitable occasion in the gardens of the "Barn," and Sophy and
+Shafto were now provisionally engaged.
+
+"I'm a wretched match for you, Sophy," he declared; "I don't believe
+your mother will allow it.  I've no prospects."
+
+"Never mind prospects," was her reckless reply.  "We shall have enough
+to live on.  I have a hundred a year of my own, and I'm quite a good
+manager, with a real taste for millinery.  If the worst comes to the
+worst, I shall open a shop in Phayre Street and make our fortune!"
+
+It was mail day and Shafto, who now dined at the "Barn," was unusually
+late in appearing.  He looked rather excited and out of himself as he
+entered with many apologies.  After dinner he and Sophy paced the drive
+in the silver moonlight, and she began:
+
+"I could hardly sit still, or eat a morsel, for anyone could see that
+you were bursting with some great news.  What is it?"
+
+"I have two pieces of news, and I'll give you first of all one that
+concerns ourselves.  I saw in the _Mail_ some weeks ago that my uncle,
+Julian Shafto, was dead.  He had no family and left no will; and I
+found a letter to-day at the office from a lawyer, informing me that I,
+being next of kin, am heir-at-law, and succeed to the property and a
+fairly large income."
+
+"Oh, Douglas, how splendid!  It sounds too good to be true!"
+
+"I never saw my uncle; he and my father had a disagreement before I was
+born, and had no communication with one another.  He did not even send
+us a line when my father died.  I fancy he was a hard-bitten old
+bachelor.  I've not seen the family place, Shafton Court, and don't
+know much about it, except I remember my father saying there were one
+or two fine pictures, a fair library, and, what did not interest him,
+first-rate partridge shooting."
+
+"Oh, what a piece of good fortune!  Do let us go in at once and tell
+Polly."
+
+"But would you not like to hear my other piece of news, which is even
+better?"
+
+"It could not be better; but do tell me quickly."
+
+"FitzGerald has brought off a splendid _coup_ up the river--run in the
+cocaine gang and collared no end of drugs.  He is to receive the thanks
+of the L.G. and the Government reward."
+
+"How did he discover it?"
+
+"A man I know really put him on the track.  The cocaine lair was in a
+village, so deserted and tumble-down and haunted, that no one suspected
+it, or went near it.  A _pongye_ Kyoung, said to be infested by
+malignant _nats_ and hundreds of snakes, was the head office.  Rather a
+clever dodge."
+
+"Do you think this will put an end to the traffic?"
+
+"No; but it will give it a tremendous set-back; where there is a
+demand, there will always be a supply, but for a considerable time--at
+least a year or two--cocaine will be scarce.  They caught a good many
+of the small fry, but as usual the big fish escaped--all but one
+wealthy Mahommedan, but he is bound to wriggle out somehow.  Another
+point in favour of the short supply of cocaine is the disappearance of
+Krauss."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Sophy.  "Oh, Douglas, surely you don't mean that _he_
+was in it?"
+
+"In it--I should think so.  Up to his neck!"
+
+"Oh, but are you certain?"
+
+"Quite certain!  This will explain his many mysterious journeys, the
+gangs of natives who were always hanging round his office, and his
+suspicious opulence.  You may have noticed that he had no friends among
+the better class of Rangooner; whether British or German; they all
+suspected him of dirty hands.  He had no conscience and was absolutely
+unscrupulous.  It was a strange Nemesis that his wife--to whom you say
+he was devoted--should kill herself with the very drug he was
+smuggling."
+
+"Yes, poor Aunt Flora," murmured Sophy; "that is a dreadful tale, which
+I shall always keep from mother.  I think if she were to know it, it
+would nearly break her heart."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+THE BOMBSHELL
+
+In spite of the claims of his own affairs, Shafto did not immediately
+resign his post at Gregory's, for it happened to be an unusually busy
+season; there was a heavy paddy crop and, owing to fever, the staff
+were short-handed; therefore, for the present he decided to stick to
+the ship, especially as Sophy was, so to speak, on board.
+
+Mrs. Gregory and Sophy were returning to England at the end of August;
+naturally he booked his passage for the same date, and it was a happy
+coincidence that he and his fiancée were once more to be shipmates on
+the _Blankshire_.  Meanwhile they were enjoying the time of their
+lives; the rides or strolls in the grounds or in Dalhousie Park, and
+dances at the Club, were delightful, and their world was sympathetic
+and smiled upon the engagement.
+
+Mrs. Gregory loved a wedding.  Her rooms, appointments and well-drilled
+staff readily lent themselves to such festivals, and why, she asked,
+should Sophy not be married from the "Barn," take a trip up the river
+for her honeymoon, in order to see something of the real country, and
+buy her trousseau after her arrival in London?
+
+Fired with this project, both she and Shafto dispatched long and
+plausible letters to Mrs. Leigh; but Mrs. Leigh declined to entertain
+the idea and, in equally long and eloquent effusions, set forth the
+fact that she had seen nothing of her youngest daughter for nearly two
+years and claimed a share of her company ere she was carried away to
+another home.  She had, however, given a cordial assent to Sophy's
+engagement, and declared that she would gladly accept Douglas Shafto as
+a son, but Sophy must be married from home and in the old church at
+Chelsea.
+
+As Mrs. Gregory returned this letter, she said:
+
+"Well, Sophy, you must only take a sort of pre-honeymoon tour; we will
+go up to Mandalay, and maybe explore a bit of the Shan hills; I shall
+coax George to come--he has not had a holiday for ages.  Douglas must
+get a fortnight off duty, and Martin Kerr, our donnish old cousin, who
+is arriving from Calcutta in a day or two, may accompany us; he is a
+bachelor, very well off, and has lived all his life like a hermit crab
+in his college in Oxford.  Lately he had a bad breakdown, and was
+ordered an immense rest and change; so now he has ventured out to blink
+at the universe beyond Carfax and the High, I expect he will find us
+shamelessly trivial and ignorant.  How his eyes will open when they
+look upon this glaring world and behold some glaring facts!  I shall
+invite Miss Maitland to join our party; she is of a nice suitable age,
+and I shall pair her off with Martin; we will take George's _durwan_,
+as courier, for he has Upper Burma at his finger-ends, and will see
+that we are comfortable."
+
+The projected tour proved entirely successful; Mandalay was reached in
+thirty hours.  From Mandalay, after a few days' halt, the explorers
+fared to farther and less trodden fields, visited the ruby mines, and
+the wonderful remains of Pagan; occasionally they found the
+accommodation at _zayats_, or rest houses, a little rough, but this was
+handsomely discounted by novel sights and experiences, a full view of
+the Burman at home, and the easy joys of village life.  First of all,
+there was the morning procession of the stately _pongyes_, carrying
+their empty begging-bowls, and looking neither to the right nor left;
+there were delicious hours in the forests; boating and fishing
+expeditions on the rivers, or rides to the ruins of ancient cities,
+half buried in jungle.
+
+Shafto and Sophy saw so many novelties that they were almost
+bewildered, but not nearly so much bewildered or impressed as was the
+Professor, when first introduced to the library of an ancient
+monastery, in comparison with whose age his beloved Bodleian was a mere
+infant.  Here the volumes were written on palm leaves, then rubbed over
+with oil to toughen and preserve them; the edges were richly gilt and
+fastened together by drilling a hole at one end, through which a cord
+was passed, then they were placed in elaborate lacquer boxes.  There
+were countless numbers of such books, devout and mystic, all inscribed
+in Pali; they included the "Three Baskets of the Law," also the Laws of
+Manu, which dated from the fifth century before Christ.  Professional
+scribes were kept constantly employed in re-copying and restoring these
+precious tomes, as the palm leaves only last about a hundred years,
+after which they become brittle and difficult to decipher, and the
+copyists have an endless task.
+
+The Professor, attended by an interpreter, haunted the library, made
+eloquent signs to the _pongyes_ in charge, and was permitted to examine
+and make notes of the rarest of their frail treasures, for which favour
+he duly made a generous acknowledgment.
+
+Thanks to Mr. Gregory's courier, the travellers found comfortable
+quarters in his own ancestral village, and here they were able to watch
+the inhabitants both at work and play.  They saw the oxen treading out
+grain, men working an oil mill, or caging fish; women weaving gay
+material, and children plaiting straw mats; so much for day-time
+occupations!  At nights there were songs, dancings, gamblings, and
+games; these included chess, played somewhat differently from what it
+is in Europe, but still the same chess as when it crossed the frontiers
+from China.  There was a king, but instead of a queen a general,
+instead of bishops, elephants; and some of the moves were unusual.
+
+Mr. Gregory, who rather fancied himself as a chess-player, boldly
+challenged one of the elders and, with the entire village as solemn
+spectators, suffered, alas! a humiliating defeat.  Then Shafto took a
+hand at dominoes, at which, thanks to May Lee, he was an expert;
+fortunately he came off conqueror, and thus restored to some extent the
+credit of the party.  These games were played by torchlight, the local
+band--harp, dulcimer, two drums and clappers--discoursed at intervals;
+here the inhabitants, unlike those of Rangoon, were early birds.  By
+ten o'clock lights were extinguished, the crowd had dispersed, and a
+serene silence fell on the soft, purple night.
+
+The College Don had thoroughly enjoyed this excursion into primitive
+life in Upper Burma; he also enjoyed the stimulating company of Miss
+Maitland; and in this delightful, highly coloured atmosphere,
+surrounded by agreeable companions, he fished, joked, flirted, and
+appeared to have shed his formal Oxford manner, along with his Oxford
+trencher and gown.  He remembered Shafto's father and, on the strength
+of this memory, the two became excellent friends, and Shafto gave him
+assistance in the way of adjusting his puttees, helping him over
+awkward places, advising him what food to avoid and what insects to
+destroy.
+
+The trip lasted for three weeks and the party returned to Rangoon
+delighted with their tour, and bringing with them quantities of
+snapshots, not a few small trophies and mementoes--which included the
+great Shan hat, purchased by the Professor--and amusing anecdotes of
+their varied adventures.
+
+"I feel as if I'd had a bird's-eye view of the real country," said
+Sophy to her friend.  "Those great calm seas of green rice, bounded by
+dark woods, with a white pagoda peeping through here and there; the
+fierce strong rivers flowing through overhanging forests, and the deep
+red sunsets, turning old ruins into flames, and then the golden days
+and silver nights, and all the nice friendly simple people.  Douglas
+and I feel quite sad at the idea of saying good-bye to Burma."
+
+"Well, my dear, the matter lies in your own hands," said Mrs. Gregory
+briskly, "and after you are married, you can return to Rangoon; there
+is a fine big empty house in Halpin Road; we might go over and inspect
+it some morning."
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+The assassination of the heir to the Crown of Austria and his Duchess
+had caused a profound sensation in Europe; ripples of this far-reaching
+tragedy had spread to the East; the Rangoon bazaar, like every other
+bazaar, was full of thrilling whispers, and various prudent traders
+were figuratively drawing in their horns and preparing for big trouble
+across the "Kala Pani."
+
+It was the first week in August and on Wednesday; there had been a
+break-neck and exciting paper-chase, with the finish at Government
+House.  Here a profusion of refreshments was displayed and all the
+world, more or less, was present; the men drinking pegs, the ladies
+iced coffee, gossiping, discussing the recent performance and various
+local matters.  All at once a Government _peon_ ran quickly through the
+crowd, a telegraph _peon_, then a motor arrived with two men
+(officials) who had not taken part in the paper-chase.  Sir Horace
+Winter, the Lieutenant-Governor, and his military secretary disappeared
+abruptly indoors, and there was a sudden pause in the continuous
+chatter.
+
+More than one of the guests experienced a curious thrill, as if there
+was something electric in the air; then from nowhere in particular the
+word "War" was whispered.  "Great Britain has declared war on Germany."
+This seemed incredible; people stared at one another aghast, and boldly
+declared that "it was just a bazaar shave and a mistake," for out in
+the Far, Far East there had been no preliminary muttering of the storm
+which was about to burst and drown half the world in tears.
+
+Nevertheless, the news was horribly true.  "War" had come; war, after
+so many years of European peace and prosperity; and newly aroused,
+startled countries found themselves face to face with the malignity of
+the unknown.
+
+Presently the Lieutenant-Governor reappeared and verified the whisper.
+Wires were already active; the 29th Punjaub Infantry had been ordered
+from Mandalay; guests pressed round, eagerly snatching at scraps of
+information; Germans and British glanced curiously at one another, and
+presently the gathering dissolved--to talk, to write, and to cable.
+
+For several days nothing remarkable occurred, save that the outgoing
+mail carried a number of British who had booked their passages at the
+last moment.  Officers on leave were recalled, a few big business
+houses were closed and, in the District, many German mills and a large
+influx of stalwart young employés, who had been working in them and
+could not speak a word of English, suddenly flocked in, prepared to
+embark for Europe, to fight for the Fatherland.
+
+Every berth in the _Blankshire_ had been secured, and the night before
+she sailed the well-known German Club gave its parting dinner; a wild
+affair, with unlimited quantities of champagne, loud patriotic
+speeches, songs and shouts of "Deutschland über Alles," and finally a
+smashing of glass, a breaking of furniture, and the customary wrecking
+of the premises.
+
+In her frequent journeys from Rangoon, the popular _Blankshire_ had
+never been so crowded as on the present occasion; every berth was
+taken, chiefly by German passengers, who had also bespoken the chief
+seats at table and the best positions for their deck chairs; such was
+the crush that there would be no room whatever for casual travellers
+from Colombo or Port Said.  The British, who were in a comparatively
+small minority, realised what a very bad time lay before them, when
+they and their country's enemies must pass weeks and weeks in close
+proximity.  Many had caught the previous steamer, but the remnant
+included Mrs. Gregory, Sophy, Shafto and MacNab--who was actually
+paying the passage out of his hoarded funds, and sternly resolved to
+join the Cameronians.  The party were figuratively swamped by the
+multitude of Teutons, who had swarmed on board, already looking
+truculent, arrogant and victorious--drinking and toasting one another
+noisily in vast libations at the bar.  On the wharf an immense
+gathering of natives assembled to speed numbers of kind and generous
+patrons, who (with an eye to the future) had distributed a considerable
+amount of largesse and flattery, as well as silk and satin finery.
+What with the Germans and their native friends, egress from and ingress
+to the steamer were almost impossible; the gangway was choked, and the
+shouting and hurrahing actually drowned the noise of the donkey-engine.
+
+Many friends had come to see the last of Mrs. Gregory and her party;
+the military and official element were bound to remain in Rangoon.
+Sophy was talking to Miss Maitland and Ella Pomeroy, when a fresh
+influx of joyous and exultant Germans came pouring down the gangway
+with the force and violence of a human cataract.  Sophy and her friends
+were thrust rudely apart and, from where she had been pushed against
+the bulwarks, she saw Frau Wurm pass by, also Frau Muller, who threw
+her a glance that seemed to distil hatred.  She was immediately
+followed by Bernhard, looking extraordinarily elated and deeply
+flushed.  Catching sight of Sophy he halted, clicked his heels
+together, and said, with a sort of savage courtesy:
+
+"Ach, so here we are again, you and I, Miss Leigh, on the old ship that
+brought us out!  I am delighted to have your company."
+
+Sophy looked round for some means of escape, but she was helpless,
+being tightly wedged in between two bulwarks--the bulwark of the
+_Blankshire_ and Bernhard's solid form--and separated from Mrs. Gregory
+by a seething crowd of jubilant Teutons.
+
+"So 'Der Tag' has come at last!" he continued, staring into her face
+with arrogant blue eyes; "and we are on the eve of great events.  I am
+about to join my Brandenburger regiment--every German is a soldier--we
+have several hundred reservists on board."
+
+Sophy at last found her voice and murmured: "No doubt!"
+
+"I caught sight of Shafto just now.  Why is _he_ going home?"
+
+"To serve his country."
+
+"Ah, bah!  Better stick to his pen; it takes two years to make a
+soldier; in ten days we shall be in Paris, in a month in London.  And
+why not?  You have no army; we are a nation of fighting men, and you
+are a nation of shopkeepers!"
+
+"Of course we are not prepared; we would not listen to Lord Roberts;
+and, on the other hand, you have been arming and drilling and
+shipbuilding for the last forty years!"
+
+"Ah, well, meine liebe fräulein, we must spread our borders!  Who could
+expect the greatest nation in the world to remain cooped up in the
+North Sea?  We demand and we will have space, power, and the sun.  We
+understand patriotism and the love of country."
+
+"The love of other people's countries," interposed Sophy sharply.  "You
+Germans are everywhere--like the sparrows."
+
+"To other nations we bring valuable lessons in industry and Kulture,
+prudence, thrift, and energy; other countries are only too fortunate to
+receive us.  We have brains, bold hearts, and discipline--and know how
+to use them.  Old Blücher, who won Waterloo, may yet find his
+aspirations fulfilled."
+
+"Ah, you mean the sack and plunder of London?"
+
+He nodded an impressive assent, and then said:
+
+"When I am there I shall call on you, and show you my loot!"  As he
+spoke he lent towards her, his eyes exultant, his breath heavy with
+champagne.  Sophy instinctively recoiled and said:
+
+"Pray do not trouble."
+
+Bernhard gave a loud, boisterous laugh.
+
+"It will be 'Missy can't see.'  By the way, talking of loot, do you
+know that Herr Krauss is dead?"
+
+"Dead!" she repeated.  "No; I heard he had gone to Java."
+
+"He has gone to his grave.  Last night I was told that his body was
+found floating near the landing-stage at Moulmein; there were no marks
+on it, no signs of a violent end; and yet he was the last man in the
+world to commit suicide."
+
+"Yes," assented Sophy; "he had so many plans and schemes for the
+future."
+
+"They say a little bunch of coarse black hair was found in his clutch;
+however, at the inquest they brought in a verdict of 'Found Drowned.'
+It saved trouble.  I wonder who will get his money.  He was enormously
+rich."
+
+"With ill-gotten gains."
+
+"Well, he must have some German kin to claim his fortune, and I'll make
+it my business to find out all I can when I return here."
+
+"So you are coming back?"
+
+"Why, of course--possibly in six months.  I leave my house and
+belongings all standing.  Business is but temporarily closed.  Burma,
+as old Krauss used to say, is 'the land of opportunity.'  When next I
+see the Golden Pagoda, the whole of this rich and fertile country will
+belong to _us_."
+
+"You are sanguine!"
+
+"Sanguine!  I am certain; and why not?  Look at our wonderful trade!
+And the Burmese themselves like us a million times better than you
+English."
+
+"Simply because you bribe them with money and presents."
+
+"But look at the crowds," waving his hand towards the masses, "who have
+come to say '_Auf Wiedersehen_'; thousands and thousands."  Then he
+turned his bold arrogant eyes on Sophy and said: "Your country has no
+chance against us, Miss Leigh; we shall crush you like pulp--your
+money, treasures and trade will all be ours.  Hullo!" he exclaimed,
+"what are these police doing?  Mounted police, too!  Any escaped
+convicts on board?"
+
+As he stood and watched, the swaying masses were parted with authority
+and a large force ranged up on the quay.  Officers and officials came
+on board, armed with an order from the Lieutenant-Governor.  Among the
+first strode FitzGerald in full uniform, not the everyday genial
+Patrick, but a smart stern guardian of the law.  Approaching the
+bragging Bernhard, he said, with frigid severity: "Be good enough to go
+ashore, Herr Bernhard."
+
+"What!" stammered his prisoner, who had become livid.  "What the devil
+are you talking about!  How dare you interfere with me?  Or give me an
+order?"
+
+"Official order," rejoined FitzGerald, entirely unmoved.  "All men of
+German nationality to disembark immediately and be interned."
+
+Sophy now made a forcible and frantic effort to effect her escape from
+this hateful situation, and struggling through the crowd eventually
+managed to join her own friends.
+
+Disembark--to be interned!  What a thunderbolt!  All at once Bernhard's
+flushed countenance became livid, his eyes glared savagely, and there
+suddenly spread a choking, suffocating expression on his large handsome
+face.  The noise and clamour of hoarse angry voices became almost
+stupefying, but in the end the Teutons were compelled to accept the
+inevitable, and gradually streamed ashore, carrying their hand baggage,
+parcels of delicatessen, and other comforts intended for the voyage.
+The heavy baggage was hastily landed, for the _Blankshire_ had steam up
+and was bound to catch the tide.
+
+A more than half-empty ship, she now slipped from her berth and turned
+her bows towards home.  As she glided slowly by the wharf, Shafto and
+Sophy waved vigorous farewells to their numerous friends, Burmese and
+European.  There was Roscoe, there were the Salters and Rosetta.  Apart
+from all, a solitary little figure stood prominent on a heap of rice
+bags.  It was Ma Chit, waving a pink silk handkerchief.  For once she
+was not smiling, her piquant face was grave, and the eyes fixed upon
+Shafto conveyed an eloquent and heartbroken farewell; presently she
+cowered down and hid her face.
+
+"That was a wonderfully smart _coup_!" said a ship's officer to Mrs.
+Gregory and Sophy.  "Those German fellows that were trampling all over
+the ship as if she was their own property were neatly caught.  They
+will be shipped off to India out of harm's way, and within a week or
+two, I fancy, will find themselves at Ahmednuggur."
+
+The interned passengers had left ample space and a grateful sense of
+relief and freedom.  As the _Blankshire_ throbbed down past "the
+Hastings" Shafto and Sophy stood side by side, taking their last look
+at the Great Pagoda, which gave an impression of being swathed in a
+mantle of dazzling gold, and dominated all its surroundings.
+
+"It seems only the other day we were coming up the river in this very
+old boat," he said; "a year and ten months ago, and how much has
+happened in that time! Well, we have had strange experiences, seen many
+places, and made many friends.  Here is one of them now," indicating
+Mrs. Gregory; "I expect she feels a bit down, after parting with old
+George, although he does follow in three months; so do you try to cheer
+her, while I go below and hurry up the tea."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+THE TUG OF WAR
+
+One evening, after they had been several days at sea, as Sophy and
+Shafto were gazing down at the steerage passengers, she said:
+
+"I have noticed such an odd person watching you--he looks as if he knew
+you!"
+
+"Knew me!" repeated Shafto.  "What is he like?"
+
+"A tall, broad-shouldered, lanky man--there he is, leaning over the
+side, wearing a blue serge suit and a soft felt hat."
+
+Shafto stared for a moment, then he said:
+
+"By George!  I _do_ know him--though I can hardly believe my eyes.
+I'll go and speak to him and find out what this means," and he hurried
+away below.
+
+"Hullo, Mung Baw!" he exclaimed.  "Say, this is something like a
+surprise!  What are you doing here?"
+
+"Much the same as yourself, sir.  The Tug of War is drawing us all
+home.  I have left Mung Baw and the yellow robe behind me, and I'm now
+Corporal Michael Ryan.  I'm going into the Army again.  Why, I'm only
+thirty-four when all's said and done.  Of course, the shaven head ages
+a fellow, but I'll grow me hair on me passage home and, maybe, a
+moustache as well; someone told me that kerosene oil is a grand thing.
+And you are going to join up too, sir?"
+
+"I hope so; I put in two terms at Sandhurst, so I shall have a try.  I
+should like to get into the Flying Corps."
+
+"And what will herself say," with a glance towards Sophy on the main
+deck, "to all this fighting and flying?"
+
+"Oh, Miss Leigh won't stand in my way--she intends to look for a job,
+too.  Tell me, Michael, do you really believe they will take you back
+into the Service after your adventure in Upper Burma--and seven years'
+absence without leave?"
+
+"Well, since ye ask me, sir, in my opinion they might do worse;
+annyhow, I'll have a good try.  I might get a sort of doctor's
+certificate--_mental_ you know.  I'm a first-class shot, though
+naturally a bit out of practice; and very hefty with the bayonet.  I'd
+like well to stir them Germans up, ever since one great ugly brute went
+out of his way to give me a kick.  I was black and blue for weeks.  Did
+you hear them the day before they were took off--just screeching mad,
+shoutin' and drinkin', as if the world was their own.  Well, annyhow, I
+can enlist as full private; I'm sound in wind and limb and, I tell ye,
+we want all the men we can get, for I heard them Germans talkin' very
+big in Rangoon, saying they'd eat us all up within the next three
+months--body, sleeves and trimmings!"
+
+"Easier said than done," rejoined Shafto; "although they have a
+splendid army--and thousands of big guns."
+
+"I'd like well to have a hand in real fighting--none of your autumn
+manoeuvres, but the proper thing; and after I put the war over, I'll go
+and see Ireland.  It's strange, although I'm Irish, I've never put a
+toe in the country, and never been nearer it than a black native.  My
+father's people were reared in the Galtees; it's my Irish blood that's
+uppermost now and driving me home.  I've often heard the boys talkin'
+of the grand purple mountains, the wonderful greenery everywhere, and
+the lovely soft, moist air."
+
+"Well, Michael, I hope you may see it all some day.  What put it into
+your head to throw off the yellow robe and take this sudden start?"
+
+"It was the barrack talk, sir; I heard them chaps cursin' and groanin'
+that they were stuck fast in Rangoon and had no chance of gettin' a
+look in, and says I to myself, what's to hinder _you_ from goin'?"
+
+"But how about the passage money?" inquired Shafto.  "I thought you
+were vowed to poverty and had nothing in your wooden bowl?"
+
+"I had the ruby that you gave back to me.  I believe it was a rare fine
+stone.  I had it in me mind to offer it to the Pagoda; it was well I
+waited, as things turned out; a friend sold it for me in the bazaar--he
+got four hundred pounds of English money.  He says it was worth some
+thousands; it was bought for a Pagoda, annyhow, and I have a nice big
+sum lodged in a London bank, and when the war is over, please God, it
+will help to settle me in a small place in Ireland.  I took me passage
+and bought some kit, and I have a few pounds in hand--so that I won't
+be stranded.  At first I felt the clothes terrible awkward, especially
+the trousers, after living in a petticoat so long; and I did not know
+what to be doin' with a knife and fork--and leadin' such a quiet,
+cramped sort of life I lost the use of meself; but I tramped up and
+down the decks for a couple of hours of a morning, and a nice young
+fellow in the pantry has lent me a pair of dumb-bells.  By the time I
+get to England I'll be well set up with a black moustache--and mabbe,
+ye'll hardly know me!"
+
+"How did you get rid of the yellow robe?"
+
+"Oh, easy enough, and without any ceremony of disgrace whatever.
+Shure, half the Burmans you meet have worn it for, p'r'aps, a year or
+two--but it's not everyone who has the vocation."
+
+"I can't understand your ever taking to it."
+
+"Can ye not, sir?" rejoined the _ex-pongye_, laying a muscular hand on
+the bulwark and fixing a far away, abstracted gaze upon the lazy green
+sea.  "I may as well tell ye that the first story I made out to ye was
+not altogether the truth.  I had in me mind a mental reservation.  I
+just slipped out of Army life and hid meself in the forests--all along
+of a little girlie."  His lower lip trembled as he added: "She died,
+sir--and I was just broke over it."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Shafto.  "Well, such things have happened before."
+
+"It was like this, sir," now turning and fixing a pair of tragic dark
+eyes on his companion, "I was engaged to be married--same as yourself.
+She was the daughter of a sergeant in the arsenal in Madras; her father
+and mine were old friends, and when mine was killed in Afghanistan, me
+mother just dwindled away and broke her heart.  Sergeant Fairon and his
+wife was real good to me and took me home; she mothered me and he
+'belted' me, and they helped to start me for the Lawrence Asylum
+Orphanage.  I was about eight years of age then, and this little girl
+was two.  After a good spell I come back to St. George's Fort, a
+grown-up man and a corporal.  Polly, she was grown up, too--and the
+prettiest girl you could see in a thousand miles; we fell in love with
+one another, and Sergeant Fairon had a sort of wish for me, being, they
+said, the very spit of me own father, and though I knew in me heart
+Polly was a million times too good for me and I was not fit to wipe her
+shoes, still, I made bold to ask him for her and he said 'Yes.'  I knew
+I'd get permission to marry, for my name was never in the defaulters'
+book, and Polly was fair as a lily--not one of your yellow 'Cranies'
+the Colonel was so dead set agin.  Well, I was just too happy to be
+lucky, saving up me pay and Mrs. Fairon buying a few bits of house
+linen for us, and Polly making her trousseau, when the regiment was
+shifted all of a sudden from Madras to Mandalay and our plans were
+knocked on the head."
+
+"Yes, that was bad luck," said Shafto sympathetically.
+
+"Still and all, I was full of hope, expecting my stripes and hearing
+every mail from Polly, when one day the letter corporal handed me an
+envelope with a deep black edge; it was from Sergeant Fairon telling me
+Polly was dead; taken off in three hours with cholera.  He enclosed
+half a letter she was writing to me when she was called.  Well, sir, I
+would not believe it!  No; I held out agin it for days; but of course I
+had to give in.  At first the grief was just a little scratch; but
+every day the pain went deeper and deeper, as if some one was turning a
+knife in my heart.  To think I'd never look upon her again or hear her
+voice, and her gay laugh, it seemed impossible--but, in the end, I
+_believed_, and I felt as if I was groping about in black darkness!
+What had I to live for?  What was the good of going on?
+
+"At times I thought of my rifle, but I put that idea aside because of
+the regiment and the scandal in the newspapers--still, I was always
+meditating some way _out_.  I think now, if I'd opened my mind to one
+of my pals, it would have been easier, and I'd not have felt it so
+cruel hard; but somehow I'd never breathed the name of Polly to one of
+them--I held her like a holy thing apart.  I could not stand the talk
+and the coarse chaff of the barrack-room, so I kept my trouble sealed
+up, till at last it grew too big for me, and I made up my mind to do
+away with myself, where no one would be a penny the wiser.  I got a
+couple of days' leave--by way of seeing a pal at Tonghoo--and I went up
+the river and away into the Jungles, and wandered about looking for
+some venomous reptile to put an end to me in a natural way!  But, if
+you'll believe me, sir, divil a bite could I get--not after searching
+for half a day; and, av coorse, had I been looking without intention,
+I'd have found dozens.
+
+"What with walking miles in the blazing sun and nothing to eat, I
+believe I fell down with a stroke, and some wood-cutters found me and
+carried me into their village--a big place with a great thorn hedge and
+gates to keep off the Dacoits.  The head man they call a Thugyi took me
+over, and his women nursed me; he was a rich fellow with four yoke of
+oxen, and so no expense was spared; and there I lived for many a long
+day, very strange and out of myself.  I could not remember who I was,
+nor where I came from; all the clothes I had to me name was a shirt and
+a pair of drawers.  By degrees, thanks to great charity and kindness, I
+come round, I remembered everything only too well, and then I buried
+Mick Ryan in the jungle and became a _pongye_.  The peace and quiet ate
+into me very bones, and I took on the yellow robe.  The rest and the
+holy life tamed me and did my soul good; and many an evening when I'd be
+roaming in the forests, among the splendid tall trees and beautiful
+flowers, with the birds and animals around me so tame and at their
+ease, I'd have a feelin' that Polly was walkin' alongside of me, the
+face on her shining with the light of heaven!  But," drawing himself
+erect, "excuse me, sir, for bothering you with all this foolish, crazy
+sort of talk."
+
+"Not at all," said Shafto.  "Thank you so much for telling me your
+story.  I am truly sorry for you, Ryan; it was hard lines losing your
+Polly.  Do you mind telling me some more?  After you had recovered your
+memory and become a _pongye_, what happened next?"
+
+"Well, after a while, I chanced to see English papers and hear outside
+news, an' I got a cast in a cargo boat down the river.  I had a sort o'
+longin' to see the soldiers, the love of the Service is in me blood, so
+now and then I was drawn to Rangoon to get a sight of the khaki and to
+hear the barrack yarns.  Ye see, one quarter of me is Cingalese--I
+suppose me grandfather on one side was a Buddhist, and that is how
+_pongye_ life came so pleasant and aisy to me.  The three quarters of
+me is an Irish soldier, an' every day the soldier within me grows an'
+the _pongye_ dies away."
+
+"And you will never return to Burma?"
+
+"Never, no.  I have laid out to go to Ireland and spend the rest of my
+time there when the war is over."
+
+"Ah--I wonder when the war will be over?" said Shafto.
+
+"God alone knows!" exclaimed the _pongye_.  "They were talking in the
+bazaar of the end coming about Christmas.  I think meself it will be a
+long business and an awkward business, too."
+
+"So do I," agreed Shafto, recalling the sage remarks of George Gregory.
+
+"Yes, it's like a light stuck in an old thatch!  We'll have half the
+world in it before long, an' the greatest blaze as ever was known."
+
+"I see that Australia and Canada and South Africa are all coming to
+lend a hand."
+
+"Well, we want every hand we can get--and every foot, too!  I've heard
+plenty of big talk in the bazaar, where the Germans have laid out a
+mint of money.  By all accounts they are going to take Persia, India,
+Burma, the whole of our trade, money and fleet.  Well, if that comes
+off, it'll be a cold world!  By the way, sir," he continued in another
+tone, "did ye see Ma Chit the day we were leavin' Rangoon, signin' and
+wavin' to ye as we cast off?"
+
+Shafto nodded curtly.
+
+"An' ye never tuk no notice!  Ye might have given her just a small sign
+to ease her heart--but I'm thinkin' ye have a hard drop in ye."
+
+"I dare say I have," assented Shafto, "and I'm glad of it, for now and
+then it has prevented me from making an awful fool of myself."
+
+"Ah, well, sometimes the fools have the best of it; not that I'm sayin'
+a word in favour of Ma Chit--only that if ye'd waved yer hand she'd a
+gone away with a small bit of consolation and comfort."
+
+"By the way, Ryan, what did you mean by saying you were a magician?"
+
+"Oh, that was only a bit of a boast, sir.  I know a few tricks I learnt
+in the regiment; one of the privates was a professional conjurer and
+mighty clever when sober.  When I showed off one or two little tricks
+with stones, or buttons, or bits of string, the Burmans were sure I was
+a real wizard, and looked up to me, so they did, and then the birds and
+animals being so friendly--I was always so much at my ease with them,
+and the childher--they said I cast _spells_!"
+
+The steerage passengers were not a little surprised to note the
+forgathering of a first-class passenger with this odd reserved person
+(whose shaven head was associated in their opinion with the interior of
+Rangoon jail).  Nor was this all; now and then a remarkably pretty
+young lady accompanied the said first-class passenger and brought
+fruit, and books, and cakes, and the three appeared to be on the best
+of terms.  The _pongye_ and Shafto had many long talks together; they
+discussed life among the Burmese, the prospects of war, the changes
+that might awake and shake the world, and, appropriate supplement to
+the topic of war, more than once they spoke of death.
+
+"I've been so long with the Buddhists that the fear of the grave is
+wore out of me," said Ryan; "I'd a'most as soon be dead as not--it's
+only another new life--ye just step in, an' meet yer old friends.  I
+suppose, sir, you do not go along with me there."
+
+"No," replied Shafto, who had all an Englishman's shrinking reluctance
+to discuss his belief, or his inner life; "yours is a nice easy
+path--too good to be true, I'm afraid.  My creed is, to do our best, to
+help other people, and to take what comes."
+
+"Goodness knows you have helped me, Mr. Shafto"--and the _pongye_ drew
+back a step and looked at him queerly--"what with saving me life and
+then makin' sort o' friends with me--as man to man--your kindness will
+stand in me memory till the clay is over me!"
+
+Shafto and the _pongye_ separated at Marseilles; the latter went round
+by the Bay, whilst Mrs. Gregory and her party travelled overland, and
+they did not meet again for nearly two years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+SERGEANT-MAJOR RYAN
+
+Many months later, on a clear February night, Shafto and Tremenheere
+stood together outside Headquarters, "somewhere in France," anxiously
+observing the signs in the sky.  Shafto, a machine-gun officer attached
+to the Blanks, had been granted twenty-four hours' leave, and made a
+muddy and dangerous journey of fifteen miles to visit his old
+schoolfellow, now on the staff of a General commanding a division.  He
+was challenged and so was his companion; their faces expressed the long
+strain of a terrible war; both looked years older than their actual
+age, for, like the sons and daughters of the worshippers of Moloch,
+"they had passed through the fire."
+
+Shafto was fine-drawn to leanness, heavy lines were scored on his
+forehead, he had twice been wounded, had taken part in desperate
+fighting, witnessed many harrowing sights, and lost many friends.
+
+The chill air was full of sounds; a continuous rolling of wheels,
+rumbling of guns, and the distant scream of a shell.
+
+"There goes a signal to lengthen the German range," remarked Shafto.
+
+"That's right, for they often show up lights that mean nothing."
+
+"Look at that aeroplane of ours dropping red stars over the Boches'
+first line of trenches.  I suppose the lines are fairly close?"
+
+"By Jove, you may say so!  The men can shout across at one another, but
+the trenches are a good four miles from where we stand."
+
+As he concluded, a star shell broke and lit up a vast expanse of
+gleaming mud.
+
+To the rolling and rumbling was now added a far-away sound of tramping
+feet and song.
+
+"Here they come!" exclaimed Tremenheere; "back to billets; they changed
+at six o'clock, but it's heavy going--mostly wading in slosh."
+
+The marching came nearer and nearer, also the sound of singing and
+mouth-organs.
+
+"'Michigan,'" said Shafto, "is a favourite; poor old 'Tipperary' is
+down and out."
+
+Presently the force which had been relieved, muddy to the waist, but
+splendidly cheerful, splashed into the great courtyard.
+
+"Irish," explained Tremenheere; "magnificent fellows, born fighters."
+
+They watched the men as they fell out and scattered to their quarters
+in outhouses, barns and offices; and then Shafto and his friends made
+their way into the battered old chateau, and temporary Orderly
+room--once a lady's boudoir.  It still exhibited strips of artistic
+wall-paper, a cracked mirror, a beautiful Louis XIV. cabinet stacked
+with papers, a few rude chairs, a couple of wooden tables.
+
+Presently a sergeant-major came in to report, a fine stalwart fellow
+with a heavy black moustache and, in spite of his muddy waders, an air
+of complete self-possession.  Having saluted and handed over his
+papers, his quick blue eyes rested on Shafto.  He started, saluted, and
+said:
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr. Shafto, sir, but I see you don't know me."
+
+"Well, no, I can't say that I  do," replied Shafto, casting his mind
+over the last eighteen months.
+
+"Well, of course, sir, I'm entirely different to what ye may remember
+in Rangoon."
+
+"What?--you don't mean to say----"
+
+The late _pongye_ nodded with emphasis..
+
+"I'm now Sergeant-Major Ryan, in the second battalion of the old
+regiment."
+
+Then suddenly stepping back and lowering his voice, he added, "They
+think I'm me brother.  Shure, I never had one.  And how is yourself,
+sir?"
+
+"All right; I'm a machine-gun officer attached to the Blanks."
+
+"And the young lady?"
+
+"She's a Red Cross nurse at Rouen--I saw her three months ago."
+
+"When next you meet will you give her my humble respects and tell her
+I've not forgotten her invitation, an' I'm coming to the wedding?"
+
+"And no one will be more welcome; you have our address.  I'm told
+you've been in some heavy fighting?"
+
+"Well, yes, sir, at Ypres we lost eighteen of our officers; oh, it was
+a cruel bad mix-up.  Still and all, the Boches were given their tea in
+a mug!  After our last charge ye'd see thim going every way--like crows
+in a storm!  Our guns are grand; as for them aeroplanes they do all but
+speak; and the Tanks are wonders, God bless them!"
+
+"You have been wounded?"
+
+"Only just a cat's scratch--the German wire is mighty stiff; and
+there's six-inch spikes.  Well, since we were last together, sir, you
+and I have been through a strange time and seen sights as we can't talk
+about.  One thing is sure, we'll worry through all right."
+
+"Oh, yes, we shall, and give the Boches something to think about."
+
+The sudden opening of a distant door released a roar of voices singing,
+"Take me back to Blighty!" a rousing demand which instantly recalled
+the sergeant-major to his duty.
+
+"Well, sir," he said, "I must be moving; so I'll wish you good-bye, and
+the best of luck."
+
+"The same to you, Ryan.  You'll let us have a line to say how you get
+on, won't you?"
+
+Shafto held out his hand; Ryan gave it a hard, convulsive squeeze, and
+in another moment the stalwart Irishman had saluted and tramped forth.
+
+"An old friend, I see," remarked Tremenheere.
+
+"Yes, I knew him in Burma."
+
+"He is a tip-top non-com., and has the D.C.M. and the French Cross; he
+worked miracles when his officers were killed at Ypres.  They offered
+him a commission, but he wouldn't take it.  The men love him; though he
+has some funny fads, never touches meat, and sings queer outlandish
+chants; but he's the splendid sort of fellow who was _born_ for this
+war; full of heroic qualities and as hard as a bag of nails.  I suppose
+his regiment was in Rangoon."
+
+"Not in my time," replied Shafto.  He hesitated for a moment, and then
+added, "If I were to tell you how I came across that Irish
+sergeant-major you'd say I was pulling your leg."
+
+"Oh, go on, then--pull away."
+
+"When I first met him he was a Burmese priest, with a shorn head,
+yellow robe, and begging-bowl."
+
+"Come, I say, Douglas, this is a bit too much!"
+
+"But it's a fact.  He had been a soldier for six or seven years, got a
+bad stroke in the jungle, was taken in by Burmans, and was for seven
+years a _pongye_.  When the war broke out he flung off his yellow robe,
+paid his passage to England, and is here, as you see, in his element."
+
+"It's amazing--incredible--but incredible things come off nowadays."
+
+Shafto nodded.
+
+"If he gets through this, do you suppose he will return to his
+monastry?"
+
+"Never!  It is his fixed intention to go to Ireland; he has some money,
+and hopes to settle down on his own little farm."
+
+"I'm afraid he's some way off that yet; in the meanwhile, he is seeing
+a good bit of life."
+
+"And death," mentally added Shafto.
+
+"I say," exclaimed Tremenheere, glancing at his wrist-watch, "it's time
+for our dinner--come on!"
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+In the autumn of the same year, Shafto, who had again been severely
+wounded, was granted a month's leave, and he and Sophy were married.
+It was the usual war wedding, no bridesmaids and no reception.  Among
+the friends, "welcome at the church," were the Gregorys, Tebbs,
+Larchers, MacNabs, Mrs. Malone, Mr. Hutton, and the Tremenheeres.
+Captain Tremenheere supported his friend as best man.
+
+One specially bidden guest was absent from the gathering.  He lay
+beneath a black wooden cross, near by to Guinchy, where gallant Irish
+regiments had immortalised their colours.  Alas!  Sergeant-Major
+Michael Ryan was among the missing.  To the unspeakable grief of his
+comrades, he had gone West--but not to Ireland.
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Road to Mandalay, by B. M. Croker
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Road to Mandalay
+       A Tale of Burma
+
+
+Author: B. M. Croker
+
+
+
+Release Date: April 23, 2006  [eBook #18239]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROAD TO MANDALAY***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
+
+
+THE ROAD TO MANDALAY
+
+A Tale of Burma
+
+by
+
+B. M. Croker
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Cassell and Company, Ltd
+London, New York, Toronto & Melbourne
+First published October 1917.
+Reprinted December 1917, March and May 1918
+Popular Edition 1919.
+
+
+
+
+
+TO
+
+LT.-COLONEL A. E. CONGDON
+
+LATE ROYAL MUNSTER FUSILIERS
+
+FROM HIS OLD FRIEND
+
+THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+   1.  BLINDS DOWN
+   2.  WHAT HANNAH SAID
+   3.  THE CLOSED HOUSE
+   4.  KICKS AND HALFPENCE
+   5.  CLOUDS
+   6.  AN EMPTY OFFER
+   7.  "THE MONSTER"
+   8.  BOUND FOR BURMA
+   9.  THE "BLANKSHIRE"
+  10.  THE LAND OF PROMISE
+  11.  A BURMESE HOSTESS
+  12.  EAST AND WEST
+  13.  "KEEP AN EYE UPON HER"
+  14.  THE MANTLE OF FERNANDA
+  15.  THE CHUMMERY
+  16.  MR. AND MRS. ABELSALTER
+  17.  AT THE PLAY
+  18.  THE CHINESE SHOP
+  19.  CHAFF
+  20.  THE PONGYE
+  21.  THE COCAINE DEN
+  22.  THE APPROACHING DREAD
+  23.  MYSTERY AND SUSPICION
+  24.  SENTENCE OF DEATH
+  25.  THE LATE RICHARD ROSCOE
+  26.  FITZGERALD IMPARTS INFORMATION
+  27.  A ROPE TRICK
+  28.  MA CHIT
+  29.  MUNG BAW
+  30.  ENLIGHTENMENT
+  31.  SEEING IS BELIEVING
+  32.  ON DUTY
+  33.  SOPHY
+  34.  ALL IS OVER
+  35.  MUNG BAW LIES LOW
+  36.  THE BOMBSHELL
+  37.  THE TUG OF WAR
+  38.  SERGEANT-MAJOR RYAN
+
+
+
+
+THE ROAD TO MANDALAY
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BLINDS DOWN
+
+"What do you think, Mitty?  All the blinds are down at 'Littlecote,'"
+announced Miss Jane Tebbs, bursting open the drawing-room door and
+disturbing her sister in a surreptitious game of patience.  In
+well-ordered households the mistress is understood to have various
+domestic tasks claiming her attention in the morning.  Cards should
+never appear until after sunset.
+
+"Blinds down?" echoed Miss Tebbs, hastily moving a newspaper in the
+hope of concealing her ill-doing.  "Why are you in such a taking, Jane?
+I suppose the family are away."
+
+"Rubbish!" exclaimed her relative, sinking into a chair and dragging
+off her gloves.  "Did you ever know them all away together?  Of course,
+Mrs. Shafto goes gadding, and Douglas is at Sandhurst, but 'he' seldom
+stirs.  It is my opinion that something has happened.  The Shaftos have
+lived at 'Littlecote' for ten years, and I have never seen the blinds
+down before to-day."
+
+"Oh, you are so fussy and ready to imagine things!" grumbled Mitty, who
+meanwhile had collected and pocketed the cards with surpassing
+dexterity.  "I don't forget the time when the curate had a smart lady
+in his lodgings, and you nearly went out of your mind: rampaging up and
+down the village, and telling everyone that the bishop must be
+informed; and after all your outcry she turned out to be the young
+man's mother!"
+
+"That's true.  I confess I was misled; but she made herself up to look
+like a girl of twenty.  You can't deny that she powdered her nose and
+wore white shoes.  But this is different.  Drawn blinds are a sign of
+trouble, and there is trouble at 'Littlecote,' as sure as my name is
+Jane."
+
+"Then, in that case, why don't you go up to the house and
+inquire?"--The query suggested a challenge.
+
+"_Mitty_!  You know perfectly well that I have never been inside the
+door since Mrs. Shafto was so rude to me about the book club, when I
+wrote and protested against the 'loose' novels she put upon her list.
+Why, you saw her letter yourself!"
+
+Here a pause ensued, during which Miss Jane blew into every separate
+finger of her gloves and folded them up with the neatest exactitude.
+Presently she murmured with a meditative air:
+
+"I was thinking of asking Eliza to run over."
+
+"Oh, you may ask!" rejoined her sister, with a sniff of scorn, "but
+Eliza won't stir.  There's a beefsteak pudding for dinner.  And that
+reminds me that this is the egg woman's day, and I must see if she has
+called.  I shall want three dozen."
+
+And without another word the elder Miss Tebbs bustled out of the room
+and abandoned her relative to solitude and speculation.
+
+Matilda and Jane Tebbs were the elderly orphans of a late vicar, and
+still considered the parish and community of Tadpool their special
+charge.  Miss Jane was organist and Sunday school superintendent; Miss
+Tebbs held mothers' meetings and controlled the maternity basket and
+funds.  Subsequent to their retirement from the vicarage the sisters
+had known straitened circumstances; in fact, had experienced the sharp
+nip of real poverty; but, no matter how painful their necessities, they
+contrived to keep up appearances and never withdrew from society, nor
+suffered their little circle to forget that their grandfather had been
+an archdeacon.  In spite of anxious times and scanty funds, they clung
+with loyal tenacity to certain family relics, in the shape of old
+silver, china and prints, many of which were highly marketable.
+
+In those evil days it was whispered that "the Tebbs had only one best
+dress between them"--a certain rich black silk.  As Miss Jane was at
+least six inches taller than dumpy Miss Mitty, difficulties of length
+were cunningly surmounted by an adjustable flounce.  Needless to add
+that on festive occasions, such as high teas, little dinners, and card
+parties, the sisters never appeared together, the one "out of turn"
+invariably excusing herself with toothache or a heavy cold.  Although
+they argued and bickered in private, and had opposing tastes in the
+matter of boiling eggs and drawing tea, the Tebbs were a deeply
+attached pair and presented an unbroken front to the outer world.
+
+After several years of brave struggle, during which the wolf of want
+prowled hungrily round Highfield Cottage, a substantial and unexpected
+fortune, fell to the Tebbs, restored them to comfortable
+independence--and to the notice of such far-sighted parents as happened
+to be in quest of useful and benevolent godmothers.  The sisters made
+but little change in their style of living; they now owned handsome
+furs, a separate wardrobe, and not a few rich silks; they still
+continued to occupy the cottage, and retained in their service a
+certain tyrannical treasure, widely known and feared as "the Tebbs's
+Eliza."  Although an admirable and trustworthy servant, Eliza ruled the
+household, permitted no late hours, no breakfasts in bed, no
+unnecessary fires, no unnecessary guests.  Her mistresses were obliged
+to do a considerable amount of household work; for instance, they made
+their beds and Miss Tebbs dusted the china; she also had the charge of
+the linen and store-room; whilst Miss Jane was responsible for the
+silver, the lamps, and, on Eliza's day out, "the door."
+
+When the door was answered by Eliza in person, her manner was so fierce
+and intimidating that nervous callers complained that the Tebbs' maid
+looked as if she was ready to fly at, and bite them!  Ill-natured
+tongues declared that the tyrant was tolerated merely because she was a
+channel for the most far-reaching, fresh and sensational gossip.  But
+let us hope that this was a malignant libel!
+
+Highfield Cottage was old, two-storied and solid; elsewhere than
+Tadpool it might have ventured to pose as a villa residence, but
+Tadpool, a fine, sixteenth century, self-respecting and historical
+village, tolerated no villas.  If such abodes ventured to arise, they
+sprouted timidly in the fields beyond its boundaries.  Moreover, the
+age and history of Highfield Cottage were too widely known for any
+change of name.  The cottage was connected with the high road by a prim
+little garden and a red-tiled footpath; eight long narrow windows
+commanded a satisfactory outlook--including Littlecote Hall--a square
+white mansion withdrawn in dignified retirement behind elms and
+beeches, in age the contemporary of its humbler _vis-a-vis_.
+
+Here resided Edward Shafto, late Fellow of St. John's, Oxford, his wife
+Lucilla, and his son Douglas.  Ten years previously the family had
+descended on Tadpool as from the skies--or as a heavy stone cast into
+some quiet mill pond.  No one in the neighbourhood could discover
+anything about them--although Jane Tebbs's exertions in the matter were
+admittedly prodigious and unwearied.  The house agent proved
+disappointingly vague, and could only inform her that a gentleman who
+happened to hear of the place had come down from London, inspected the
+house, liked its lofty, spacious rooms with their old mahogany doors
+(it recalled his home), was much taken with the gardens--and promptly
+signed the lease!  Certainly it was an audacious step to invade a
+strange neighbourhood without a social sponsor or reference.  However,
+the community breathed more freely when they beheld the new tenant of
+"Littlecote," a middle-aged, distinguished-looking individual; and Miss
+Jane discovered, or pretended to discover, that he was one of the
+Shaftos of Shafton Court.
+
+Mrs. Shafto (who looked surprisingly young to be the mother of a tall
+lad of ten) had a pretty figure, quantities of lightish red hair, an
+animated manner, and a pair of hard blue eyes.  She was fashionably
+turned out, and her hat of a remarkable shape was discussed in the
+village for weeks.
+
+The arrival of furniture vans, horses, carriages and a number of
+servants, afforded unqualified interest to the Misses Tebbs; and
+moreover advertised the fact that the new-comers were well-to-do; and
+after allowing a reasonable time for the strangers to settle down, the
+neighbours called.
+
+By and by these calls were returned by Mrs. Shafto in a smart victoria
+and a still smarter costume; her husband was merely represented by a
+neatly printed card, which bore the name of "Mr. Edward Shafto,
+Athenaeum Club."  Mr. Edward Shafto was rarely to be met beyond his
+grounds and garden, unless driving through the village to Bricklands
+railway station, en route for London.  He did not sit on the Bench, nor
+was he a churchwarden, the usual grounds of meeting.  When encountered
+he was invariably agreeable and had charming easy manners, but not much
+to say for himself, and his acquaintance, like the farmers and the
+claret, got "no forrarder."  Gradually the painful truth was accepted
+that Shafto did not care to know people.  He never dined out, he did
+not shoot or hunt, but it was mysteriously whispered that "he wrote."
+What, no one precisely knew, but one fact was common property: he was
+fond of horticulture and the once famous gardens of "Littlecote" had
+been delightfully restored.
+
+If Tadpool was held at arm's length by Edward Shafto, the community had
+no difficulty in making acquaintance with his consort, a pretty
+vivacious lady who accepted all invitations, and herself gave tennis
+parties, bridge parties, luncheons and teas.  For some time the
+neighbourhood was disposed to like her, although perhaps she was not
+quite "off the top shelf," a little too demonstrative, loud and
+unreserved; then by degrees Mrs. Shafto fell into disfavour; quiet folk
+were afraid of her, she enjoyed repeating ill-natured remarks, was
+capricious in her likes and dislikes, made a good deal of mischief, and
+separated chief friends.
+
+The lady was not disposed to be reticent respecting her family affairs;
+there was something satisfactory in this!  People learned that her
+husband was really a Shafto of Shafton, and also that his elder
+brother, who actually reigned in the family place, was "a brute."  She
+volubly explained that they had deserted the Border and moved south,
+partly because "the pater" wished to be within easy reach of London,
+his Club and musty old libraries, and also because it was more
+convenient for Douglas, who was at Winchester.
+
+Then gradually it came to pass that the village bored the new-comer;
+bored her to death.  She became restless and quarrelsome, had a
+coolness with the vicarage regarding a pew, with Mrs. Tremenheere at
+the Park about a housemaid, and actually cut Mrs. General Finch "dead"
+in the village post office, owing to a mislaid visiting-card.  At the
+end of three years Lucilla Shafto had embroiled herself with almost
+everyone in her immediate vicinity, and found her true level and most
+congenial companions in the busy bustling town of Bricklands, a rapidly
+growing and prosperous mushroom place, situated thirty miles south of
+London, and within two miles of our ancient and respectable hamlet.
+Here she belonged to several clubs, bridge, tennis and croquet; enjoyed
+being a Triton among minnows; entertained a third-rate set at
+"Littlecote," and joined gay little theatre parties to London to "do a
+play," and return home by the last train.
+
+Housekeeping sat but lightly on Mrs. Shafto's graceful shoulders, for
+the Shaftos also possessed a family treasure named Hannah, an elderly
+woman, who had been in service with "the family" and now managed the
+house, and looked after the comforts and buttons of her master and his
+boy.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Shafto went their separate ways, and were rarely to be
+seen in one another's company.  The lady assured her friends that her
+husband's health was indifferent, and that he did not care for society;
+for her part she liked amusement, excitement, life; whilst he preferred
+to read, write, overlook his garden, and occasionally run up to London.
+She did not trouble herself much about her son--a handsome active boy,
+resembling his father in looks.  Between these there undoubtedly
+existed a deep affection.  During the holidays they were frequently to
+be met walking or riding together, and Shafto _pere_ would so far
+emerge from his retirement as to be a proud spectator at cricket
+matches in Tremenheere Park and elsewhere.  Douglas and two of the
+Tremenheere boys were schoolmates, and he was in continual request at
+their home.  Unfortunately these visits were displeasing to Mrs.
+Shafto, as was also his intimacy with the young people at the vicarage;
+and poor Douglas had an awkward part to play.  He could not avoid or
+drop his friends; yet, on the other hand, there were painful
+difficulties with his mother, who declared that he was a mean fellow to
+run after people who had _insulted_ her, and one day, when in a
+towering passion, she had been overheard to scream "that he was a thorn
+in her side, and a true Shafto!"
+
+But all this time Miss Jane Tebbs remains stationed at the drawing-room
+window, watching the road with unwinking vigilance.  For a long while
+she beheld no object of special interest, but at last, after seeing the
+grocer's cart, a travelling tinker, two cows and a boy go by, her
+patience was handsomely rewarded.  To her delight, she descried Mrs.
+Billing, the doctor's wife, emerge from "Littlecote" and, hammering on
+the window to attract notice, she flew down to open the hall door.
+
+Mrs. Billing, a stout, middle-aged lady, looked unusually hot and
+flustered as she waddled through the little green gate and entered the
+cottage.
+
+"Why, my dear, you seem quite upset!" cried Jane, as she welcomed the
+visitor, "come into the dining-room, and have a glass of milk."
+
+But Mrs. Billing dismissing the proffered refreshment with a dramatic
+wave of her hand, subsided upon the only chair in the narrow hall and
+gasped out:
+
+"I have just come from 'Littlecote.'  Mr. Shafto is gone--he died last
+night!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+WHAT HANNAH SAID
+
+On hearing this announcement, Jane Tebbs gave a little lurch and leant
+against the wall in speechless horror; and yet in her heart she had
+been more than half expecting--we will not say hoping for--some
+tragedy.  Then she made a rush to the store-room, where Miss Mitty,
+invested in a large blue apron, was methodically marking eggs.
+
+"Sister, sister, come out!" she cried.  "Mrs. Billing is here; she says
+Mr. Shafto is dead; I told you that something had happened!"
+
+"Dead!" repeated Mitty, staring blankly at her relative.  Then she cast
+aside her apron and hurried into the hall.  "Let us all go into the
+dining-room," she continued, leading the way.  "What a shocking thing,
+Mrs. Billing!"--turning to her visitor.  "Do tell us the particulars.
+I can hardly believe it!  Why, I saw Mr. Shafto in Bricklands on
+Tuesday, and he looked as well as he ever did in his life."
+
+"That was the day he heard the news," announced Mrs. Billing, selecting
+an arm-chair and casting off her feather boa.
+
+"Bad news?" suggested Miss Jane.
+
+"Very bad indeed--could not be worse.  He heard he'd lost every penny
+he possessed in the wide world."
+
+"Great patience!" ejaculated Miss Tebbs; "you don't say so; but how?"
+
+"Well, you know he was always comfortably off; indeed, one might say
+rich."
+
+"That's true!  They keep five maids indoors, and a charwoman three
+times a week, two men and a boy in the garden, and two men in the
+stables," glibly enumerated Miss Jane.  "All that is not done on small
+means, and I happen to know that Mr. Shafto himself paid everything
+monthly--which is more than we can say for his wife; even her bridge
+losses"; here she halted on the brink of scandal.
+
+After hesitating for a second, Mrs. Billing continued:
+
+"Well, it appears, from what my husband can gather, that Mr. Shafto
+trusted all his money and investments to a man who had managed his
+affairs for years, and in whom he had the most absolute confidence; he
+just drew his income regularly, lived his quiet life, and never
+troubled his head about business.  It seems that for a considerable
+time this agent had been speculating with his clients' capital, and
+paying them the interest to the day.  He staved off the reckoning by
+every possible device, and when he could no longer hide his wickedness,
+when liabilities poured in, and proceedings were instituted, he shot
+himself!  Not much comfort in that for the families he has beggared.  I
+believe he had a splendid establishment at Hampstead; greenhouses,
+pictures, motor-cars, and entertained like a prince.  He squandered the
+handsome fortune that was left to Mr. Shafto, and all that Mr. Shafto
+could be sure of, about a hundred and fifty pounds a year, belongs to
+Douglas."
+
+"Oh, my dear, never mind the money, but do tell us about poor Mr.
+Shafto," urged Jane.  "What was the cause of his death?  Suicide?  This
+morning I thought I heard a shot!"
+
+"No, no, no--heart failure," hastily interposed Mrs. Billing.  "He was
+always troubled with a rickety heart, and on several occasions my
+husband attended him for rather dangerous fainting attacks; no doubt
+that was partly the reason why he lived so quietly, just taken up with
+his books, his garden, and, when he was at home, his boy.  It appears
+that when Mr. Shafto heard of the smash, he went straight up to London,
+interviewed a lawyer, and learnt the worst.  He returned in the
+afternoon, very tired and excited, broke the news to his wife, and had
+a serious fainting attack.  My husband was sent for, but he found Mr.
+Shafto sinking.  He died at midnight.  He himself had wired for
+Douglas, who arrived just in time for the end.  Poor boy!  He feels it
+terribly."
+
+"Yes," assented Miss Mitty, "Douglas and his father were such friends.
+The loss of money will make a sad difference to him.  There will be no
+going into the Army now, no more hunting and cricket; he will have to
+take a clerkship.  Did you see him?"
+
+"Yes.  He and my Freddy are great pals, so I know him pretty well.  I
+declare he gave me a shock, he looked utterly heart-broken; and he
+said: 'It is so sudden, so frightfully sudden--about the pater; the
+money may come back somehow or other, but he is gone for ever; I'll
+never see him again.  If he had only known me--or spoken to me!'  And
+then he just laid his head upon his arms and sobbed like a girl."
+
+"And Mrs. Shafto, how does _she_ bear this double loss?" inquired Miss
+Jane magisterially.
+
+"She had one fit of screaming hysterics after another.  If you ask
+_me_, I believe it's the money that touches her most keenly; my husband
+begged me to go up this morning, and see if I could do anything.  She
+has no intimate friends here, and I have sent to Mrs. Boomer and Mrs.
+Jake; they will be over from Bricklands immediately.  The doctor has
+given a certificate, and has undertaken to see about the funeral, and
+sent the notice to the _Times_ and _Morning Post_.  From what old
+Hannah told me, it seems that Mr. Shafto and his family were not on
+terms; I believe the quarrel had something to do"--she paused and
+glanced from one to the other of her eager listeners--"with Mrs.
+Shafto, and I am not surprised.  They did not approve of the
+marriage--it was a mistake."
+
+"I'm afraid it was," agreed Miss Mitty briskly; "they never appeared a
+well-matched couple; he, so reserved and aristocratic, and she such a
+gabbling, fluffy, restless creature--crazy about bridge and dress.  I
+wonder who she was?"
+
+"I can tell you that!" was Mrs. Billing's unexpected reply.  "Mr.
+Shafto was a Fellow of his College at Oxford, wealthy and
+distinguished--he had taken no end of honours.  He was hooked--there is
+no other word for it--by the niece of a local book-seller!  He was an
+important customer, and the girl always contrived to be there, when he
+came in and out, and was so sympathetic, and bright and lively, as well
+as being uncommonly pretty, that the poor man lost his head and, with
+very little pressure from the uncle, married her.  It was all scrambled
+up in a hurry, before his friends could turn round, or interfere.  Of
+course he had to resign his fellowship and his beautiful rooms
+overlooking the garden, and he took his bride abroad.  His relations
+dropped him and he dropped his Oxford friends; then he went and settled
+in the north.  He must have lived there for years; his next move was
+here."
+
+"And have you always known this?" demanded Miss Mitty, her countenance
+expressing injury and jealousy.  Fancy Mrs. Billing knowing this story
+all that time and keeping it to herself; how sly!
+
+"Oh, only lately," replied the visitor in an apologetic key; "an old
+aunt of mine lives in Oxford, and I met her in town last Easter.
+Somehow the name of Shafto cropped up, and I heard the whole tale.  I
+told my husband and he said I'd better hold my tongue, and so I have,
+until now, when it's of no consequence who knows--as of course
+'Littlecote' must be given up, and the Shaftos will go away."
+
+"Well, we have often wondered who she was? and how Shafto--who looked
+like a duke--came to marry her," said Miss Tebbs; "such an odd,
+flighty, uncertain sort of creature, always for strangers, instead of
+her home.  That poor boy never saw much of his mother; I believe he was
+hustled off to a preparatory school when he was about seven, and when
+he happened to be here for his holidays it was his father who took him
+about.  I am very sorry for Douglas, a handsome, cheery, nice fellow,"
+she continued, "always with a pleasant word, even for an old woman like
+me.  The rectory lads and the Tremenheeres just love him!"
+
+"Luckily there are no girls at the rectory," remarked Miss Mitty.
+
+"Douglas is but nineteen, and really only a boy," protested Mrs.
+Billing.
+
+"Well, this affair will make a man of him, or I'm greatly mistaken."
+
+"More likely it will make him a slave," argued Jane; "he is bound to
+support his mother, and a hundred and fifty pounds a year won't go far
+with her!  And now I dare say she will have her wish and be able to
+live in London.  I suppose there will be an auction at 'Littlecote'?"
+
+"Yes, of course," assented Mrs. Billing, "and that is sure to bring in
+a handsome sum--unless there are liabilities and debts.  I've always
+admired that Crown Derby tea service--dark blue and gold."
+
+"I know," rejoined Miss Tebbs, "a beautiful long set, and there's a
+nice little old Sheffield tea urn that we could do with!  I expect the
+kitchen things will go pretty cheap; we want a new preserving pan."
+
+"Talking of the kitchen, reminds me of food," remarked the visitor
+rising.  "My husband will be back clamouring for his lunch and I must
+run," and in spite of her size, Mrs. Billing was out of the house in
+less than no time, pursued by a volley of questions to the very gate.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+During that afternoon there was an unusual amount of visiting and
+talking; the recent event had stirred the village to its depths, but
+beyond the facts disclosed by Mrs. Billing everything was surmise and
+regret; the personality of the late Edward Shafto, though slightly
+known, was much respected.  "He was a gentleman"--the statement implied
+a left-handed compliment to his wife--"and his purse was ever open to
+the poor; it was said that he was a secret benefactor to various aged
+people, and to the local charities."
+
+As the Misses Tebbs sat at supper the following night--a frugal meal of
+cocoa and bread and butter--Eliza tramped in, still wearing her hat; it
+had been her afternoon out.  She seemed to be a little breathless, and
+was undoubtedly charged with some weighty intelligence.
+
+"Well, Eliza, what is it?" eagerly inquired Miss Tebbs.
+
+"I just thought I'd step over to 'Littlecote' this evening, and see
+Hannah."  Oh, priceless handmaiden!
+
+"Yes--and what did she tell you?"
+
+Eliza placed her hands on her hips--invariable preliminary to an
+important announcement.  "She took me to see the corpse; he looked
+beautiful, just like a marble statue; and there in front of the dead,
+what do you think Hannah told me?  That Mrs. Shafto had _killed_ him!"
+She paused to contemplate the effect of this statement.  "Yes, his
+heart was always weak, he couldn't stand no shocks, and when he come
+back wore out from London, and told her as how he was ruined, the
+screams of that woman was enough to bring the house down!  Hannah ran
+in and there was he, lying back in a chair, and she standing over him
+with a face all worked up, and her hands clenched, shouting at him that
+it was all through his lunacy and laziness they were beggared--and she
+wished he was _dead_.  I couldn't tell you all the awful things she
+said, but he fainted right away and never come to again.  Now, what do
+you say to that?" and she surveyed her audience judicially.
+
+The sisters remained dumb; for once, speech had failed them.
+
+"As for caring," continued Eliza, "Mrs. Shafto doesn't feel no more
+than this table," rapping it with her bony knuckles; "all she minds is
+about _the money_--and already they say she has been routing among his
+papers, searching for his bank book.  Oh! she is an awful woman, her
+heart is just a stone.  As for poor Master Douglas, now there's real
+grief!  He hasn't tasted a bite or sup, and he looks crushed.  Everyone
+in the place will be sorry for him and for his father; but as far as
+Mrs. Shafto is concerned, when she's paid off the money she owes--the
+sooner the place can get shut of her the better!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE CLOSED HOUSE
+
+The break-up of the home at Littlecote Hall was a speedy and complete
+affair; Miss Jane Tebbs, being practically on the spot, volunteered
+invaluable assistance.  Always energetic and anxious to be "up and
+doing," and with a sadly restricted field for her activities, here was
+a grand opportunity absolutely within her reach.  The second Miss Tebbs
+had an immense acquaintance and correspondence, a fairly, good business
+head and, to her late enemy Mrs. Shafto, she ultimately proved a
+veritable tower of strength.  The recent sad catastrophe had melted
+Jane's heart, and she promptly appeared in "Littlecote" drawing-room,
+waving a large olive branch--which her former adversary most thankfully
+accepted.  In such a crisis as the present there was no more helpless,
+hopeless creature than Lucilla Shafto--a woman who was always ready to
+transfer her burdens to others.  Strange to say, she somewhat
+distrusted her intimates in Bricklands; it seemed to her that their
+questions and sympathy were chiefly founded on vulgar curiosity and
+greedy self-interest.  "How was she left?  What had become of all the
+money?  What was the boy going to do?  Where would she settle?  Would
+she not be glad to get rid of some of her smart summer clothes, now
+that she would be in weeds for at least two years?  _What_ about her
+sables?"
+
+Jane Tebbs was totally different; an honest and single-hearted woman,
+she wrote business letters, interviewed the local agent, arranged for
+the auction and,--O wonderful and miraculous achievement!--was even
+instrumental in getting rid of the lease.
+
+It was not surprising in all these circumstances that Mrs. Shafto
+should cling as a limpet to Jane Tebbs, whom she had so often
+apostrophised as a "meddling, mischievous, malignant old cat," but
+Lucilla Shafto was suffering from a violent mental shock.  The sudden
+descent, as it were in one day, from comfortable affluence to a very
+narrow income, had temporarily stunned her, and she had a secret
+conviction that if she were to leave her affairs in the capable hands
+of her nearest neighbour, all would be well.  She therefore remained
+secluded in her own spacious bedroom, whilst busy Jane undertook her
+affairs; helped with the auction list, interviewed the tradespeople,
+and, accompanied by the boy, went up to London to confer with Mr.
+Shafto's lawyers.
+
+Douglas was subdued; he seemed a different creature, so silent and
+pale, but keenly anxious to put his shoulder to the wheel.  He had
+withdrawn from Sandhurst and, in conversations with the Tremenheeres,
+informed them that his idea of going into the Army was knocked on the
+head, and that he now intended to look out for some job in the City.
+
+It must not be supposed that Jane Tebbs, the indefatigable, was the
+only neighbour who had come forward with offers of assistance to the
+widow; the Tremenheeres, the vicarage, and many other acquaintances had
+been sincere in their sympathy and goodwill, but somehow or other Mrs.
+Shafto would have none of them!  She refused to see the vicar or his
+wife, and lay in bed most of the day bewailing her fate, scribbling
+answers to letters of condolence, and occasionally dipping into a
+novel.  "Read she must," she declared, "as it diverted her mind from
+the too dreadful present.  A good novel was the best of anodynes."
+
+The auction at "Littlecote" proved an important local event, and threw
+the annual Church bazaar woefully into the shade.  It lasted three
+summer days and enabled a substantial sum to be placed to the credit of
+Edward Shafto's widow.  Unfortunately Edward Shafto's widow had
+considerable private debts and, when these were settled, five hundred
+pounds was all that remained for investment.
+
+As is proverbial with respect to auctions, good and even valuable lots
+went in some cases for the traditional old song; it is on record that
+Mrs. Shafto's smart victoria was sold to a jobmaster for six pounds,
+Mrs. Billing secured a wonderful bargain in the Crown Derby tea
+service, and the Sheffield tea urn fell to Miss Tebbs for ten shillings
+and sixpence!  On the other hand, rubbish was at a premium.  The
+kitchen utensils were dispersed at an alarmingly high figure, and a
+Turkey carpet, aged twenty years, fetched more than its original cost.
+
+The sale was over.  Needless to say, it had afforded enormous interest
+to the inmates of Highfield Cottage.  Miss Jane could almost tell the
+price and history of each individual lot.
+
+In a short time the great placards of advertisement were torn off the
+gate piers at "Littlecote," the house was closed, and once more the
+blinds were down.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+KICKS AND HALFPENCE
+
+More than four years had elapsed since Mrs. Shafto and her son had
+driven away from "Littlecote" behind a pair of smart bay steppers.
+(The widow was determined to keep up what she was pleased to call "her
+position" to the last.)  Immediately succeeding this dignified exit
+came a woeful change in their circumstances.  Mrs. Shafto was obliged
+to make the best of boarding-house and 'bus, and Douglas, thanks to the
+exertions of his friends the Tremenheeres, found a situation in a
+mercantile house in the City.  There was no time for him to pick and
+choose.  It was imperative that he should begin to earn without delay,
+and not, as his parent frankly remarked, "look to a poor widow for
+support."  This condition of abject poverty was, she declared,
+"entirely due to his father's criminal carelessness respecting his
+affairs.  She had what would barely keep her alive"--170 pounds per
+annum--"and that was all."  As for Douglas, he must work.
+
+Although they were not congenial companions Douglas faithfully
+accompanied his mother in her varied wanderings, supported her in
+action with enraged landladies, helped her out of a libel case, covered
+her reverses and retreats, and lived by command under the same roof.
+
+For the last eighteen months the pair had been established at a
+well-managed private hotel in Lincoln Square, Bayswater, W.  "Malahide"
+was a flourishing concern; two substantial houses had been thrown into
+one; the rooms were spacious, clean, and adequately furnished; the food
+was plain but abundant.  The double drawing-room contained a fine
+piano, one or two sofas, and card tables; also a sufficiency of sound
+and reliable chairs; but not an ornament, save two clocks--not one
+paper fan, nor bunch of coloured grasses, nor a single antimacassar,
+not even a shell!  Such amazing restraint gave the apartments an empty
+but dignified appearance.
+
+Among its various advantages, "Malahide" was within a few minutes' walk
+of "the Grove," and "Underground," a situation which appealed to men in
+business and to women whose chief occupation was shopping.
+
+Mrs. Shafto appreciated her present quarters for several excellent
+reasons.  Here she had no giggling young rivals and was, even at
+forty-five, the best-looking and best-dressed of all the lady boarders.
+Moreover, she had found a friend and admirer in her neighbour at
+meals--a certain Mr. Manasseh Levison, a widower, with a stout figure,
+a somewhat fleshy nose, and a pair of fine piercing black eyes.  He was
+the proprietor of a fashionable and flourishing antiquities and
+furniture business in a well-known thoroughfare, and was considered one
+of the best judges of old silver and china in the trade.
+
+It exasperated Shafto to listen to his mother's "table talk," and he
+made a point of sitting as far as possible from her vicinity.  She
+liked to impress Levison and other with highly-coloured reminiscences
+of her grand acquaintances; even the Tremenheeres--with whom she had
+quarrelled so bitterly--were dragged in and shown off as intimates.
+More than once Shafto had felt his face burn, as exaggerations and
+glorifications were unfolded in his parent's far-carrying and assertive
+treble.
+
+Besides Mr. Manasseh Levison, were the two Misses
+Smith--twins--genteel, middle-aged spinsters, who, until the arrival of
+the sprightly and attractive widow, had alternately cherished high
+hopes of the wealthy Jew.  Their chief energies were devoted to the
+task of blowing one another's trumpets, thereby drawing attention to
+particular virtues and modestly hidden accomplishments.  For example,
+the elder would say:
+
+"Darling Ella is so clever at cooking, as good as any French chef, her
+sauces and savouries are too wonderful."
+
+They were!
+
+And Ella, in repayment, assured her listeners that Jessie had a perfect
+genius for gardening and housekeeping; and yet it was whispered that
+this effusively fond couple, when alone, quarrelled and wrangled as
+cruelly as the notorious Kilkenny cats.
+
+Among other patrons at "Malahide" were two quiet, polite little
+Japanese gentlemen, Mr. Den and Mr. Yabe; Madame Galli, a shrivelled
+old woman in a cheap wig, with sharp rat's eyes that nothing escaped,
+the soul of good nature, rich, miserly and incredibly mischievous.
+There were several boarders who were in business in the City, and Mr.
+Hutton, a careworn man of fifty, who spent his days working in the
+British Museum.  Next to him at table sat Douglas Shafto, now a well
+set-up, self-possessed young fellow, who still retained something of
+the cheery voice and manner of the Public School boy.  Thanks to his
+steadiness and fair knowledge of French and German, he was drawing a
+salary of a hundred and fifty per annum.
+
+His neighbour on the left happened to be his own cousin, Sandy Larcher,
+older by three years, and in the same office, but receiving a lower
+"screw," Sandy was of the "knut" tribe, a confident authority on dress,
+noisy, slangy, and familiar; much given to cigarettes and music-halls,
+a slacker at work, but remarkably active at play and, on the whole,
+rather a good sort.
+
+Sandy's mother, Mrs. Larcher, the widow of a cab proprietor, was Mrs.
+Shafto's only sister, and in the days of that sister's glory had never
+obtruded herself; but now that poor Lucilla had come down in the world,
+she had advanced with open arms, and at "Monte Carlo," the abode of the
+Larcher family, Mrs. Shafto occasionally spent a week end.  The
+"go-as-you-please" atmosphere, late hours, breakfast in bed, and casual
+meals, recalled old, and not unhappy times.  Mrs. Larcher, who had
+never been a beauty, was now a fat woman past fifty, lazy,
+good-natured, and absolutely governed by her children.  Besides Sandy,
+the dandy, she had two daughters, Delia and Cossie.
+
+Delia was on the stage (musical comedy), petite, piquant, and very
+lively; a true grasshopper, living only for the summer; a loud,
+reckless but respectable young woman, who, having but thirty shillings
+a week salary and to find her own "tights," was ever ready to accept
+motor drives, dinners, or a smart hat, or frock, from any of her
+"boys."  Cossie, the stay-at-home, was round-faced and plump; a
+tireless talker and tennis player.  She managed the house, held the
+slender purse, accepted her sister's cast-offs, and always had a "case"
+on with somebody.  Cossie was exceedingly anxious (being the eldest of
+the family) to secure a home of her own, and made this alarmingly
+obvious.
+
+To "Monte Carlo" Douglas, the highly presentable cousin, was frequently
+commanded by both mother and aunt.  At first he had hated this duty,
+but nevertheless went, in order to please and silence his parent, whose
+hand plied the goad and who otherwise "nagged" at him in public and in
+private.  In private she pointed out that the Larcher family were his
+own blood relations, "so different from his father's side of the house,
+which, since his death, had ignored both her and him, and never even
+sent a wreath to the funeral!"  By slow and painful degrees Douglas
+became accustomed to "Monte Carlo"; at first the manners and customs of
+his cousins had a rasping effect, and it was more than a year before he
+really fell into line, and visited his kindred without pressure.  The
+girls were not bad-looking--in a flamboyant style--and effusively
+good-natured; they took his chaff and criticism without offence, and
+accepted with giggles his hints with respect to manners and appearance.
+When Douglas happened to be expected, they did not stroll about
+slip-shod in dressing-gowns, with their hair hanging loose, or bombard
+one another with corks and crusts.
+
+For his part, he brought them books and chocolates, watered the garden,
+mowed the tennis ground, mended the bells, and made himself generally
+useful.  At first this flashy, muddling, free-and-easy household had
+disgusted him; and his cool assured manner and critical air irritated
+his relatives; whilst his attitude of superior comment had proved a
+vexatious restraint.  But week by week Douglas came to see that it was
+to this particular class he now belonged.  These were his nearest
+relatives, and he told himself that he must endeavour to accommodate
+himself to circumstances--and them; otherwise he was a snob, a beastly
+snob!
+
+His first Christmas holidays had been spent at "Tremenheere," where he
+had received a heart-warming welcome.  Other school friends had also
+claimed him, but his time was now mortgaged to the office, and by
+degrees correspondence and intimacy languished--or, rather, changed.
+His contemporaries had gone forth into the wide world; the Army, the
+Diplomatic Service, and India, had summoned them, their paths in life
+lay far apart from that of a mere correspondence clerk, and only the
+old birds remained in the nests.  Those who were in England wrote and
+made arrangements for meetings in town, but Shafto found ready and real
+excuses and generally withdrew from his former circle.  He liked his
+friends--nothing could offer him so much pleasure as their company--but
+he realised that in time they would arrive at the parting of the ways,
+and it was for him to make the first step in that direction; in such
+homes as "Monte Carlo" he must in future find society and entertainment.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+"Monte Carlo" (sixpence return, third class, from town, and eight
+minutes' walk from the station) was a grotesque, little red-faced
+abode, situated among a tangle of villas and roads.  It stood detached
+in a garden, with--O! theme of pride--a full-sized tennis court.  There
+were also several flower beds, and six unhappy gooseberry bushes, but
+_the_ feature was the lawn; here also were seats and a small striped
+awning.  The grounds of "Monte Carlo" were only divided from its
+immediate neighbours by a thin wooden partition--there was no such
+thing as privacy or seclusion.  Conversation was audible, and the
+boisterous jokes of "Chatsworth" and "Travancore" were thoroughly
+enjoyed at "Monte Carlo."  In the same way "Monte Carlo" overheard
+various interesting items of news, some sharp quarrels and, once or
+twice, unpleasant personal truths!  On the last occasion, the remark
+was so unfriendly (it dealt with Cossie's methods) that when
+"Chatsworth," ignorant of offence, sent the same evening an emissary to
+borrow three pints of stout, the reply was a harsh refusal!
+
+Within doors space was naturally more contracted, but the click of the
+opposite gate, the sound of the next door dinner-bell and gramophone
+remained, as it were, common property!  The tiny hall was choked with
+umbrellas, wraps, tennis shoes, and tattered sixpenny books; the
+drawing-room, with its pink casement curtains, gaudy cretonne covers,
+huge signed photographs, jars of dusty artificial flowers, packs of
+dingy cards, and scraps of millinery, looked "lived in"--but tawdry and
+untidy.  The big Chesterfield sofa--a wonderful bargain--had broken
+springs (perhaps it was not such a wonderful bargain?) and many hills
+and hollows.  In the roomiest of these last the mistress of the house
+was more or less a fixture, and the whole apartment, like a _passee_
+beauty, was to be seen at its best by candle-light.
+
+The dining-room was chiefly notable for the heavy atmosphere of
+tobacco, and multitudes of empty black bottles under the sideboard.
+The kitchen, both in sound and smell, absolutely refused to be ignored.
+Such was "Monte Carlo!"
+
+The inmates of "Malahide" have received honourable mention, but nothing
+has been said of Mrs. Malone, the proprietress, who kept the
+establishment running, as it were, on well-oiled wheels.  Joyce Malone
+was an Irishwoman who had met with cruel reverses.  Well born, well
+educated, and an almost penniless widow, she thankfully accepted the
+post of housekeeper in a nobleman's family, and there remained until
+her savings, and a timely legacy, enabled her to set up for herself.
+From the first she had met with success.  Her terms were moderate;
+butter, eggs and poultry came from her native land; there was no
+skimping of coals, or hot water; and clients--who became
+permanent--flocked to "Malahide."  In appearance Mrs. Malone was a tall
+old woman, with a stoop, who shuffled a little as she walked, and
+always wore a black gown, a gold Indian chain, and a white lace cap
+with ribbon bows.  She kept severely aloof from her guests and had her
+own little lair on the second landing.  It was, she said, "her business
+to see to domestic matters, and not to gossip or play bridge."
+Nevertheless, she had her favourites: Mr. Hutton and young Shafto.
+(Envy and malice declared that Mrs. Malone had _no_ favourites among
+her own sex.)  She was drawn to the boy by his air of good breeding and
+admirable manners; also she noticed with secret indignation how
+shamefully his mother neglected and snubbed him.  She took far more
+notice of Jimmy Black, or Sandy Larcher, than of her own son.  No doubt
+she disliked to be so unmistakably dated by his tall, well-grown youth,
+and her hostess mentally agreed with a gossip who declared that "Mrs.
+Shafto didn't care a pin for her boy--rather the other way, and if she
+had kept her figure, she could never keep her word, or a secret--and
+was a hard, selfish, grasping woman."
+
+Although Shafto and his mother lived under the same roof, she,
+figuratively, sat with folded hands as far as he was concerned; it was
+kindly Mrs. Malone who looked after his little comforts, saw that his
+socks were mended, and made him a hot drink when he had a heavy cold.
+Also, as a special honour, she invited him to her "den," gave him a cup
+of coffee, or a glass of port, and talked to him of her Irish home and
+her young days.  Once upon a time she had been a capital horsewoman,
+and it was strange to hear this old lady and the bright-eyed  youth
+comparing notable runs.
+
+One day in the Strand at luncheon hour, Shafto came face to face with
+his old friend Geoffrey Tremenheere, looking bronzed, splendidly fit,
+and independent as a prince.
+
+"Hallo, Douglas!" he exclaimed.  "Well, if this isn't a piece of luck!
+How are you, old man?"
+
+"All right--and you?"
+
+"I arrived from India yesterday and go up to Scotland to-night--the
+family are all on the moors.  I've just been looking for a pair of
+guns.  Come and give your opinion, and then we will lunch.  I'm
+stopping at the Grand."
+
+"I'd like to awfully, I need not tell you, Geoff, but I've got to be
+back at 1.15 sharp--it's mail day."
+
+"Oh, hang mail day!  Come along and lunch--and let us have a good old
+_bukh_!"
+
+"I don't know what that means--but I'll be glad of lunch, and more glad
+of a bit of a jaw!"
+
+"Now, tell me all about yourself, Douglas," said his schoolfellow, as
+they sat _vis-a-vis_ in the marble hall.  "You don't look particularly
+chirpy.  Still in the office?"
+
+"Yes--I expect to live and die there."
+
+"Poor old boy--and doing work you hate!"
+
+"Oh, I'm getting used to it now.  I shall manage to hang on."
+
+"And Mrs. Shafto--how is she?"
+
+"As usual--going strong.  We live in the same boarding-house."
+
+"'Umph!  Well, let me tell you this--you are in the black books at
+home.  I hear you refuse all invitations and make monstrous excuses."
+
+"You know I'd love to go down to 'Tremenheere,' but how can I?  My time
+is not my own, and I only got a week's holiday in August and three days
+at Christmas.  There's nothing to tell about my career--let's hear
+yours?"
+
+Thus invited, Geoffrey, a gay young officer in a crack regiment, broke
+into short and vivid descriptions of Indian quarters, polo matches, and
+capital black-buck shooting in the Central Provinces, and gave a full
+and detailed history of his one tiger.
+
+Shafto,  an eager and enthusiastic listener, exclaimed:
+
+"I say, how splendid!  Do you know, Geoff, I'd give ten years of this
+life to have a good chance of seeing the world--especially the East?"
+
+"Who knows--you might yet!"
+
+"Pigs might fly!  Still I must not grumble.  I'm delighted you have had
+such a glorious time; when one's friends are enjoying themselves, it's
+next best to doing the same oneself.  What leave have you got?"
+
+"Only three months and every hour is priceless.  This time to-morrow I
+shall be blazing away at a grouse drive."
+
+From grouse they fell to talking of shooting, of old scenes, of
+rabbiting and ferreting, of cricket matches, schoolfellows and scrapes.
+
+Suddenly Douglas sprang to his feet and pointed to the clock.
+
+"Half-past one, I must run!  Good-bye and good luck, old boy," wringing
+his friend's hand, "I shan't forget this lunch in a hurry," and he was
+gone.  This little break and talk of old times and warm friends gave
+Shafto something pleasant to think of for many days; it was like a
+gleam of sunshine in his grey and joyless life.
+
+Richard Hutton, hack writer and "ghost," sat next to him at table twice
+a day, and proved a sympathetic neighbour.  Hutton was a clever,
+cultured, and--when he pleased--a wholly delightful companion.
+Occasionally on Sundays the pair made little excursions together,
+visited the City churches and quaint bits of Old London, or ventured a
+dash into the country, or up the river.
+
+"You say Friday is a holiday in your office, Shafto," he remarked one
+evening; "how would you like to come for a prowl, and see what we can
+find in the Caledonian Market?  It's an out-of-the-way place, where
+once a week all manner of rubbish is shot, and now and then you pick up
+a really staggering bargain."
+
+"What's that?" inquired Shafto.
+
+"Well, I'm told that lately a woman bought a rusty steel fender for two
+shillings and, when she went to clean it, it turned out to be solid
+silver--a bit of loot from some old French chateau.  I must confess
+that I've never found any spoil, but I only root among the books.
+Once, I thought I'd got hold of a Coverdale Bible, but it proved to be
+a fake."
+
+"All right," agreed Shafto, "I'd like to try my luck; I'll go with you
+and look for a set of gold fire-irons.  I've nothing special on--only
+tennis in the afternoon."
+
+"And the market is at its best in the morning--we'll start at ten."
+
+Friday morning found the couple roaming aimlessly round that great bare
+enclosure at the end of the Camden Road, known as the Caledonian
+Market.  It was just eleven by the clock tower, and wares were still
+pouring in; arriving in all manner of shabby carts and vans--mostly
+drawn by aged and decrepit horses.  Every variety of goods had its own
+particular pitch.  In one quarter were piles of books, brown, musty
+volumes of all shapes and sizes, also tattered magazines, and of
+theological works a great host.  Farther on the explorers came to a
+vast collection of old iron.  It was as if numbers of travelling
+tinkers had here discharged their stock; fenders, gasoliers,
+stair-rods, tin-cans, officers' swords--yes, at least a dozen--frying
+pans and saucepans.  Old clothes were needless to say, a prominent
+feature.  Here you might suit yourself with a bald-looking sealskin, a
+red flannel petticoat, a soiled evening gown on graceful lines, or a
+widow's bonnet.  Here also were black costumes (dripping beads), broken
+feathers, and hopeless hats.  Old furniture had several stands and was
+an important department.  Grandfather clocks, sideboards, chairs
+(Chippendale or otherwise), chairs in horsehair or upholstered in
+wool-work, and framed family portraits solicited notice.  Should anyone
+marvel as to what becomes of the rubbish and relics belonging to houses
+whose contents have been scattered, after several generations--trifles
+that survived wrecked fortunes, odds and ends which, for sacred
+reasons, people had clung to till the last, let them repair to the
+"Market"--the relics are there, lying on unresponsive cobble stones, a
+pitiful spectacle, handled, despised, and cast aside--the precious
+hoarded treasures of a bygone age.
+
+Delicately worked samplers, faded water-colours, portraits, old seals,
+snuff-boxes, and lockets, attract the curio-hunter.  Here is a Prayer
+Book with massive silver clasps, inscribed, "Dearest Mary, on our
+wedding day, June 4th, 1847, from Gilbert."  There, in a red morocco
+case, is a miniature of a handsome naval officer.  At the back, under
+glass, are two locks of hair, joined by a true lover's knot in seed
+pearls.  Some ruthless hand will pick out those pearls and throw the
+hair away.
+
+For a considerable time Shafto strolled about with his hands in his
+pockets, so far seeing nothing to tempt him.  Meanwhile his companion
+eagerly examined books and bargained over a tattered old volume.
+Shafto noted with surprise the number of well-dressed visitors poking
+among the stalls, in search of treasure trove.  There were a parson
+with a greedy-looking leather bag, an officer in uniform, and various
+smart ladies, hunting in couples.  Among a quantity of jugs and basins,
+soup tureens and coarse crockery, Shafto's idle glance fell upon a
+frightful Chinese figure, the squat presentation of a man, about eight
+inches in height.
+
+"I say, did you ever see such a horror?" he asked, pointing it out to
+his companion; "a curio for ugliness, and just the sort of monster Mrs.
+Malone would love.  I'll try if I can get hold of it.  What's the price
+of the China demon?" he inquired of a wizened old woman, who wore a
+bashed black bonnet and a pair of blue sand shoes.
+
+"Five shillin'," she replied promptly.
+
+"Five shillings!" he exclaimed.  "You're joking."
+
+"No time for jokes here," she retorted, "it's a good piece" (picking up
+the figure), "and come out of a grand house.  If it were in Bond
+Street, they'd ask you five pounds.  I showed it to a man, who said it
+was good, although there was no mark, and it might be worth a lot; but
+I've no time to be raking up things--my trade is a quick sale--and
+cash."
+
+"I'll give you half a crown," said the customer.
+
+"Two half-crowns, and it's yours, and a bargain; you won't know the old
+fellow when he's had a wash!"
+
+"What do you say, Hutton?" inquired Douglas, turning to his friend.
+
+"Well, I think you might risk five shillings; you don't see such
+ugliness every day, and I should not wonder if it was a good piece.
+I've never come across one like it."
+
+"All right then, I'll take the horror."
+
+And in another moment the bargain was effected.  Douglas tendered two
+half-crowns, which the old woman carefully examined and pocketed, then
+she wrapped up the figure in a piece of crumpled newspaper, and
+presently he and his friend departed, each bearing his booty.
+
+"There is little to find now," said Hutton, as they passed through the
+gates; "the Market has become one of the weekly fashionable gatherings
+of the town, and is dredged by dealers from all over England, who look
+on it as a sort of lucky-bag--but the bag is nearly empty."
+
+Mrs. Malone was enchanted with the monster--she had a secret weakness
+for cheap little gifts--that is to say, from her own particular
+friends.  More than once Douglas had brought her some trifling tribute,
+but his mother had felt deeply affronted by such uncalled for
+generosity to a stranger; and when he ventured to exhibit the Chinese
+atrocity, she exclaimed with great bitterness:
+
+"Oh, for Mrs. Malone, Of course!  It's rather strange that you never
+think of bringing me a present."
+
+"But, mother, you wouldn't care for this sort of thing," he protested,
+"and it was awfully cheap."
+
+"Cheap and nasty!" she retorted.  "If you had offered me such hideous
+rubbish, I'd have sent it straight to the dustbin!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CLOUDS
+
+It was an abnormally hot summer; all London lay at the mercy of a
+fierce and fiery sun; grass in the parks was brown, plants drooped in
+window boxes, and there was not even a little breeze to stir the soft
+dust under foot, nor one hopeful cloud in the blue vault overhead.  But
+in the sky of Douglas Shafto's existence dark and threatening clouds
+were gathering; the largest of these was a haunting fear that his
+mother intended to marry her admirer, Manasseh Levison--the prosperous
+dealer in furniture and antiquities, a wealthy man, who owned, besides
+his business, a fine mansion at Tooting; this he had closed after the
+death of Mrs. Levison, when he had repaired to "Malahide" for society
+and distraction--bidden there by his lively old friend, Mrs. Moses
+Galli.  The shrivelled little miserly widow was his confidante, and,
+for the illumination of Mrs. Shafto, she had drawn glowing pictures of
+Khartoum House, and outlined an imposing sketch of the luxuries
+awaiting its future mistress.  It was noticed as a significant fact
+that when Mrs. Shafto and Madame Galli went to Eastbourne for a week
+(at Mrs. Shafto's expense), they had been joined at the Grand Hotel by
+Manasseh Levison, who treated them to a special banquet, enlivened by
+the finest brands of champagne--and had subsequently motored them back
+to town.
+
+The idea that Levison should usurp his father's place overwhelmed
+Douglas with horror and shame; the prospect was intolerable; so were
+other matters; for instance, his monotonous office life, the want of
+variety and fresh air.  For exercise, he belonged to a neighbouring
+gymnasium, but this was not sufficient for a country-bred, energetic
+young man, in his twenty-fourth year.  As for the variety of amusements
+that satisfied and delighted his brother clerks, they left him cold.
+He was sensible of a tormenting thirst for a far-away different
+life--and its chances, sick of this existence, of continually going
+round and round, like a squirrel in a cage.  A change of surroundings
+and scene, or a spice of adventure, was what he longed for--as eagerly
+and as hopelessly as some fallen wayfarer in a desert land.  His
+mother's flinty attitude and hostile nagging had frozen a naturally
+affectionate disposition, and Shafto passed several years of his youth
+without one single ray of woman's love, until generous Mrs. Malone had
+come forward and installed him in her heart.  His usual routine was
+breakfast at eight, office at nine, lunch twelve-thirty, freedom at
+six, dinner at seven-thirty.  On Saturday afternoons he was expected at
+"Monte Carlo"--to join the family at tennis and high tea--and here,
+over the little red villa, brooded yet another cloud!  Cossie, the
+gushing and good-natured, had been given what her brother brutally
+termed "the chuck" by her young man; he had taken on another girl, and
+his repentance and return were hopeless.
+
+Shafto listened to Cossie's hysterical lamentations and outpourings
+with what patience he could assume; until by degrees the dreadful truth
+began to dawn on him, that _he_ was selected to replace the faithless
+Lothario!  Of late Cossie's manner had become jealously possessive, She
+seemed to hold him by a nipping tenacious clutch, and pattered out to
+meet him at the gate, sat next to him at table, and was invariably his
+partner at tennis.  Once, arriving unseen, he had overheard her
+declaiming to another girl:
+
+"No, no, no, I won't have it; Douglas is my boy--and my joy!  Douglas
+belongs to _me_!"
+
+"There will be two opinions about that," he muttered to himself, as he
+flung down his hat and entered the tawdry little drawing-room; but, in
+spite of his stern resolutions, he found himself borne along by a
+strong and irresistible current of family goodwill.  Sandy gave him
+cigars, Delia declared over and over again that he was a "darling," his
+aunt became extra-motherly, and Cossie endowed him with button-holes,
+pairs of ill-knit shapeless socks, and sent him many notes.  She seemed
+to appropriate him as a matter of course, and once when they parted at
+the gate, had held up her face to be kissed--but this undesired favour
+he affected not to see.  He noted, too, that when Cossie accompanied
+him to the same little gate, Delia and Sandy lingered behind with
+alarming significance.  He began to hate Cossie and to revolt against
+the slap-dash untidy _menage_, Delia and her train of rowdy boys, the
+shouting, the practical jokes, and the slang.  Then suddenly the
+Levison cloud burst!  One night, when he was flying upstairs to his sky
+parlour, his mother waylaid him on the landing and, with an imperative
+gesture, beckoned him into her room.
+
+"Shut the door, Douglas!" she commanded in her usual frigid manner, "I
+have something to tell you.  Come over here and sit down."
+
+"Yes, mother, all right," but nevertheless he remained standing; "what
+is it?"
+
+She cleared her throat and replied in her sharp metallic voice, "Mr.
+Levison and I have at last made up our minds to be married; you see, we
+have no one to consider but ourselves."  This announcement was followed
+by a blank and paralysed silence.
+
+"He is absolutely devoted to me," resumed Mrs. Shafto, "and is a
+wealthy man and, as you know, _I_ was never accustomed to poverty.  The
+wedding will take place in six weeks.  Well, why do you stand glowering
+there?" she demanded impatiently.  "What have you got to say?"
+
+"I have got to say," replied Douglas, then his voice broke a little,
+"that I don't see how you can do it, or put that fat Jew tradesman into
+my father's place!"
+
+"Your father!" she screamed passionately, and a scar on her chin showed
+white against a suffused complexion; "don't talk to me of your father.
+Before we were married, he often came to my uncle's shop, and talked to
+me about books--I got up Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, bits of Browning,
+and Lamb's Essays, and Omar Khayyam.  I had to study them in my own
+room at night, so as to make him think I was well educated and shared
+his tastes; but I did not; no," she cried, with a stamp of her foot, "I
+_hated_ his tastes!  Aristotle and Plato, yes, and Shakespeare--dull to
+the last degree, but I liked him: he was so handsome, so thoughtful,
+such a gentleman.  And I believed that as he was madly in love I could
+easily twist him round to my way of thinking--but I was mistaken!"  She
+paused, momentarily out of breath, then resumed: "He soon found me out
+and was sick of me in three weeks.  He disliked dances, theatres, and
+smart society, and buried me alive in the country.  We had nothing in
+common; he was just a bookworm, with a sarcastic tongue, who left me a
+beggar!  Now I am free, I am going to be a rich woman, marry a man who
+understands me--and lead a new life."
+
+"I see you are easily satisfied," remarked her son.
+
+"I am; and although Mr. Levison is a Jew tradesman, as you have
+remarked in your nasty sneering way, he has been generous enough to
+offer you an opening as his assistant.  He will take you into the shop
+and pay you two hundred a year."
+
+"No, thank you," replied Douglas stiffly; "I know nothing about old
+furniture."
+
+"Only old family, I suppose!  Well, you might do worse; and when you
+marry Cossie, as is probable, I will make you a small allowance."
+
+(Shafto had relinquished his income of a hundred and fifty a year, and
+made it over to his mother legally, immediately he had come of age.)
+
+"I haven't the smallest idea of marrying Cossie, or anyone else," he
+answered, with white-faced decision.
+
+"Well, she, and indeed they _all_, expect it."
+
+"I've never given them any reason to do so."
+
+"Yes, you have," she contradicted sharply; "you go there, sit by her,
+and take her into the garden."
+
+"There is nothing in that," he rejoined, too chivalrous to add that it
+was his cousin who sat by, escorted him, and clung to him like the
+traditional limpet.
+
+"She is five years older than you, I know, but very sweet-tempered, and
+not a bad manager--she runs 'Monte Carlo'!"
+
+"Cossie is absolutely nothing to me beyond a cousin; nor have I ever
+given her reason to think otherwise--or ever shall."
+
+"Oh, you are wonderfully bold and courageous here with _me_; I should
+like to hear you telling them this at 'Monte Carlo'!  I know my sister
+has set her heart on the match; she has been talking to me about the
+trousseau, and intends to give you table linen, and a silver
+tea-pot--she has two."
+
+"Even the silver tea-pot would not bribe me!" declared Douglas with an
+angry laugh.
+
+"Well, I can assure you that it's an understood thing," persisted his
+parent, with spiteful emphasis.
+
+"How can it be understood, when I have never asked the girl to marry me
+and never shall?  Cossie is straight enough and can tell you that
+herself."
+
+"Oh, she has told me lots of things!" said her aunt mysteriously.
+"Well, to turn to another subject, am I to inform Mr. Levison that you
+refuse his offer of two hundred a year?  You may come to us for
+week-ends if you like; he is doing up the house at Tooting and giving
+me a fine car."
+
+"No, thank you, I prefer to remain where I am; and now if you've told
+me everything you wished to say, I think I'll go to bed," and with a
+brief "Good night" he departed.
+
+But he did not go to bed when he found himself in his bare fourth-floor
+room, but sat on the side of his lumpy mattress, and smoked cigarettes
+for a couple of hours.  He must squash this Cossie question at all
+costs; even if it led to a disagreeable interview with his relations
+and made a complete breach between them.  In one sense this breach
+would mean freedom and relief, and yet he was rather fond of his dowdy
+old Aunt Emma, and he also liked that slangy slacker Sandy; he could
+not bear to give anyone pain, or to appear shabby or ungrateful.  Of
+course he ought to have taken a firm stand weeks ago, and repelled
+advances that had stolen upon him so insidiously.  He saw this now; yet
+how can you refuse to accept a flower from a girl, or be such a brute
+as to leave her notes and telephones unanswered, or rise and desert her
+when she nestles down beside you on the sofa?  He felt as if he was on
+the edge of a precipice; and must make a desperate, a life or death
+struggle; be firm and show no weakness.  To be weak would establish him
+with a wife, house-linen, and the tea-pot, in some dingy little flat
+near his office, where, plodding monotonous round like a horse in a
+mill, he would probably end his days.  Always too anxious to please and
+to be liked, he had enjoyed lounging about at "Monte Carlo" and
+chaffing his cousin, but the price now demanded was exorbitant.  He
+recalled Cossie, stout and smiling, with rather pretty eyes and a
+ceaseless flow of chatter.  She had ugly hands and thick red lips, her
+hair was coarse, but abundant, and she frequently borrowed her sister's
+rouge.  Cossie was immensely good-natured and affectionate, and he
+would be sorry to hurt her feelings, poor little thing.
+
+Then as to his mother and her marriage to Levison, he hated to think of
+it.  He could not endure his future stepfather; between them there
+existed a bottomless chasm of dislike and distrust.  Levison considered
+Shafto a conceited young cub, "but a clever cub"; and Shafto looked on
+Levison as a purse-proud tradesman, ever bragging of his "finds," his
+sales, and his titled customers.
+
+Douglas had never felt so abjectly miserable since the time of his
+father's death; his depression was such that he wished he was dead too;
+but fate was in a kindly mood and, although he was unconscious of the
+fact, the clouds were lifting.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER  VI
+
+AN EMPTY OFFER
+
+The night that Shafto subsequently spent was wakeful and seemed
+endless; he tossed about on his hard bed and thumped the irresponsive
+pillow, paced his room from end to end, drank all the water in the
+carafe--and even encroached on the ewer; he felt as if his vitality had
+been sapped, that he had no energy with which to face his new position,
+nothing to which he could look forward, no gleam of hope and, as it
+turned out, no appetite for breakfast.  Seated at table, he proved
+infectiously depressing and gloomily silent.  On the way to the
+Underground, Sandy Larcher, who happened to be in exuberant spirits,
+noticed his cousin's grave face and chaffed him about Cossie.  (Sandy,
+a coarse-grained creature, knew no reserves, did not profess to be a
+gentleman, and had never heard of the word "tact.")
+
+"And so you couldn't sleep for thinking of her, eh?  Ate no breakfast,
+only a bit of toast, and half a kipper; quite in a bad way, poor old
+chap."
+
+"Come now, Sandy, none of that!" angrily protested the victim.  "You
+are a sensible fellow, though you do play the ass; and must know as
+well as I do myself that you are talking through your hat.  I swear on
+my word of honour, I have never made love to Cossie, I'd as soon think
+of making love to the parrot next door, and I have not the remotest
+idea of marrying her.  Imagine marrying on a hundred and fifty pounds a
+year!"
+
+"Oh well, I couldn't face it myself, old man," generously conceded his
+companion, "but the mater and the girls are dead nuts on the idea; they
+are awfully fond of you, and say you are so mortal clever, so well-bred
+and such top-hole style, that you are bound to rise in the world; and
+Cossie is getting rather long in the tooth.  Of course, I know as well
+as if you told me, how she rushes a chap, and writes silly notes,
+manicures his nails, and gives him flowers and cigarettes.  She overdid
+it with Freddy Soames and got the knock; and now he is formally
+engaged, I expect she is mad keen to show that two can play at that
+game!"
+
+"I'm not for it, and that's certain," declared the other, with an
+emphasis that was almost violent.  "I like Cossie right enough as a
+cousin, but I'm not a scrap in love.  Why, we've not one single taste
+in common--bar tennis and walnut pickles!  I hate saying all this to
+you, old man--it seems monstrously caddish, and really----"
+
+"Oh, don't apologise," interrupted Sandy; "I know Cossie and her little
+ways--you are not the first by a long way that she's tried it on with."
+
+"Couldn't you drop her some sort of gentle hint?  Do, like a good chap
+and say a word to my aunt?  I'd stay away from 'Monte Carlo,' only that
+I'm drawn to play in this confounded tournament."
+
+"No good!  They wouldn't listen to _me_; you must do the business
+yourself, Douglas, old man.  Come on, hurry up, or we'll miss our
+train!" and Sandy began to run.
+
+Shafto had not long been perched on his office stool and invested in
+his office coat and paper cuffs, when he received a message that Mr.
+Martin--the head of the firm--wished to see him in his private room.
+
+"This is the limit!" he said to himself, as he followed the messenger
+into a cool, luxurious apartment.  "Now I'm going to get a
+slating--over that French correspondence--and it was Fraser's job.
+Well, if that's the case, I'll enlist; I'm sick of this life!"
+
+He found Mr. Martin temporarily idle, seated in front of his large
+writing-table, scanning the _Financial News_.  He raised his eyes as
+Douglas entered, and said:
+
+"Hullo, that you, Shafto?  I have something to say to you.  How would
+you like a little promotion?"
+
+"Very much indeed, sir," he replied after a moment's hesitation due to
+amazement.
+
+"You've been over four years with us as correspondence clerk?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I believe you know Mr. Tremenheere?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"So do I.  He has called here to see me about you.  What would you
+think of going abroad for a change--say, to Burma?"
+
+"Burma--yes, sir, all right," assented Shafto, with a glowing face.
+Something within him had always craved for the East.
+
+"It's like this," continued the other, leaning back and placing his
+fingers together, tent fashion.  "Our house in Rangoon wants a smart,
+healthy, young fellow, quick at figures, and able to manage bills of
+lading.  You would soon pick up that; it will be chiefly an out-of-door
+job on the wharves."
+
+"I'd like that."
+
+"The pay offered is four hundred rupees a month, and house rent; not
+much, I admit, considering the fall of the rupee and Rangoon prices;
+but we have been compelled to modify expenses, our profits are run so
+fine, thanks to an active German mercantile element.  Well, what do you
+think, Shafto?"
+
+Shafto thought Mr. Martin a species of genie, who was offering him a
+magic carpet that would transport him into the great, hurrying, active
+world; into the land of sunshine he had longed to see; he would have
+jumped at the proposal if the salary had been half, and he replied:
+
+"I shall be glad to accept."
+
+"Then that's all right!  I was afraid you might have some ties in this
+country.  Of course, in time you are bound to get a rise, and I believe
+there are boarding-houses in Rangoon where they make you fairly
+comfortable."
+
+"When do you wish me to start?"
+
+"As soon as you can get under way," was the unexpected reply.  "One of
+the Bibby Line sails on Saturday week, and that brings me to another
+matter.  You have to pay for your own passage and outfit.  The passage
+money is six hundred rupees; the outfit, good English boots, cool
+clothes, a solar topee, and a revolver--and a medicine-chest might come
+in handy.  No doubt some of your relations will help, or give you a
+loan.  You see, you are getting a big rise and a capital opening in a
+new line."
+
+"That is true, sir," replied Douglas, whose face had considerably
+lengthened, "but I'm afraid I cannot manage the ready money--near a
+hundred pounds.  Is my salary paid in advance?"
+
+"No, that is out of the question in a province where cholera carries a
+man off in a couple of hours.  I am sorry about the passage; at one
+time we did pay, but now we have to pinch and consider our expenses.
+No doubt you would like to talk over the matter with your people?"
+
+"Well, yes, I should, thank you," he answered, staring fixedly at the
+floor.
+
+"Then let me have your decision before mail day.  I may tell you,
+Shafto, that, irrespective of Mr. Tremenheere's interest, you have
+given us entire satisfaction, and for this chance, and it _is_ a
+chance, you have only yourself to thank.  You can take a couple of
+days' leave and let me hear from you definitely on Friday morning."
+
+It was only eleven o'clock, an oppressively warm July day, and Douglas
+walked up to Lincoln's Inn Fields, took a seat in the cool shade of the
+finest trees in the largest square in London, and there endeavoured to
+think out some plan.
+
+"I say, what a chance!" he muttered to himself.  "What a stroke of
+luck!  A new start in life, offering change and freedom."  Yet he must
+lose it--and all for a paltry hundred pounds.  Paltry--no; to him it
+represented a huge and unattainable fortune; there wasn't a soul from
+whom he could borrow; not from the Tebbs, nor the Tremenheeres, and his
+associates at "Malahide" were, with one detestable exception, as poor
+as himself.  After long meditation, entirely barren of inspiration, he
+went down to the Strand and lunched at Slater's, and then took the Tube
+to Bayswater Public Library, where he got hold of some books on
+Burma--Burma, the land of the Pagoda and Golden Umbrella.  Somehow the
+very name fired his imagination and thrilled his blood.
+
+After sitting in the library, greedily devouring information, he
+strolled back to Lincoln Square, in time for dinner, and all that
+evening he kept his great news to himself.  It would have seemed
+natural for an only son to carry such important tidings to his mother;
+but Mrs. Shafto was the last woman to welcome his confidences.  She was
+entirely without the maternal instinct and, armed with a certain fierce
+reserve, held her son inflexibly at arm's length.  A stranger would
+scarcely have discovered the relationship--unless they happened to note
+that the pair walked to church together on Sunday, and that she pecked
+his cheek of a night before retiring.  As a matter of course, she made
+use of Douglas and, insisting on maternal claims, thrust on him
+disagreeable interviews, sent him messages, borrowed his money--when
+short of change--and allowed him to pay her taxis.  Honestly, she did
+not care for the boy.  He was too detached and self-contained; he had
+such odd ideas and resembled his father in many respects--especially in
+appearance--though Douglas's expression was keener and more animated,
+he had the same well-cut features, fine head, and expressive dark grey
+eyes.
+
+Yes, he recalled too forcibly a dead man whom she had neglected,
+detested and deceived.  And as for Douglas, for years he had been
+sensible of the smart of a baffled instinct, a hunger for a mother's
+love and affection, which had never been his--and never would be his.
+
+In the drawing-room, after dinner, the boarders were amusing themselves
+as usual and making a good deal of noise, yet somehow the circle
+presented an air of rather spurious gaiety.  Mrs. Shafto, in a smart
+black-and-gold evening frock, was smoking a cigarette and playing
+auction-bridge with Mr. Levison and the two Japanese; the Misses Smith
+and various casual boarders were engrossed at coon-can.  Another group
+was assembled about the piano.  Douglas Shafto sat aloof in the window
+seat absorbed in the book on Burma and acquiring information; for even
+if he were never to see the country, it was as well to learn something
+about it.  Rangoon, the capital (that fact he already knew), once a
+mere collection of monasteries around the Great Pagoda, was now assumed
+to be the Liverpool of the East, the resting-place of Buddha's relics,
+and an important industrial centre.  As his reading was disturbed by
+the boisterous chorus at the piano, and the shrieks of laughter from
+the coon-can set, he tucked the volume under his arm and slipped out of
+the room as noiselessly as possible.  He could rest at peace up in his
+"cock loft" and endeavour to puzzle out some means of reaching the land
+of the Golden Umbrella--even if he worked his passage as a cabin
+steward.  In passing the door of Mrs. Malone's den, some strange,
+unaccountable impulse constrained him to knock.  Yes; he suddenly made
+up his mind that he would confide in _her_--and why not?  She was
+always so understanding, sympathetic and wise.
+
+In reply to a shrill "Come in," he entered and found the old lady
+sitting by the open window with a black cat on her lap.  The room was
+small and homelike; there were some shabby rugs, a few fine prints, a
+case of miniatures, and, in a cabinet, a variety of odd "bits" which
+Mrs. Malone had picked up from time to time.
+
+"So it's you, Douglas," she exclaimed; "come over and sit down.  I'm
+always glad to see you; you know you have the private entree!" and she
+laughed.  "What have you been doing with yourself to-day?"
+
+As he muttered something indefinite, she added, "What's your book?"
+holding out her hand.  "Burma, I declare!  One does not hear much of
+that part of the world; it's always connected in my mind with rice and
+rain.  Douglas," suddenly raising her eyes, "I believe you have
+something on your mind.  What is it?  Come now--speak out--is it a love
+affair, or money?  You know I'm _safe_."
+
+Thus invited, in a few halting sentences, he told her of his friend's
+good offices, the offer, his supreme delight--and subsequent despair.
+
+"A hundred pounds--yes, well, it's a tidy sum," she admitted, "and you
+will want all that.  I think Gregory and Co. might pay your passage, as
+the salary is not large."
+
+"No," agreed Shafto, "but I'll be only too glad to earn it.  It's this
+blessed ready money that stumps me."
+
+He began to pace about the room with his hands in his pockets, then
+suddenly broke out:
+
+"Mrs. Malone, I'd give one of my eyes to go; to be up and doing, and
+get out into the world--especially to the East.  Isn't it hard
+lines--one moment to be offered a splendid chance, and the next to have
+it snatched away."
+
+"I suppose you couldn't borrow?" she suggested, looking at him over her
+spectacles.
+
+"No, who would lend _me_ money?  I have no security and no wealthy
+friends."
+
+"Well, I am not a wealthy friend, Douglas, but I will lend you a
+hundred pounds--I've saved a good bit--and I can."
+
+"No, no, Mrs. Malone," he interrupted.  "I couldn't accept it.  I know
+how hardly your money has been earned; I know all your hateful worries;
+your bothers with servants and coal; your trampings into 'the Grove,'
+and up and down these confounded stairs."
+
+"But, Douglas, you can pay me back by degrees."
+
+"No; you'd run a poor chance of seeing your hundred pounds again.  Mr.
+Martin informed me the firm never paid in advance, as cholera carried
+off people in a few hours--cheerful, wasn't it?  And if I were carried
+off, where would _you_ be?"
+
+"Here, my boy, and in the deepest grief."
+
+"Well, thanking you all the same, I will not touch a penny of your
+money; but I know you are long-headed and may think of some scheme for
+me.  I've got nothing to sell of any value; I parted with my father's
+watch--and it's still at the pawnbroker's; worse luck!"  (His
+pitilessly selfish mother had borrowed ten pounds and forgotten the
+debt, and he had been compelled to apply to his "Uncle.")  Shafto found
+his salary a very tight fight; eleven pounds a month seemed to melt
+away in board, clothes, washing and those innumerable little expenses
+that crop up in London.
+
+"Anyhow, you have till Friday, you proud, obstinate boy, and before
+that, I may be able to thrash out something.  I have noticed that you
+don't look yourself the last few weeks, not my dear lively Douglas,
+tearing up and down stairs, whistling like a blackbird.  Tell me the
+reason," and she laid a well-shaped wrinkled hand upon his arm.
+
+Then, walking up and down the room, he frankly unfolded his
+troubles--the approaching marriage of his mother (this was no news),
+and, in an agitated and incoherent manner, his desperate predicament
+with regard to Cossie Larcher.
+
+"The poor boy," said his listener to herself.  "That man-hunting,
+determined little cat has got her claws into him.  I have seen the
+vulgar, made-up minx, without education, fortune, or modesty, trying to
+carry off her gentleman cousin!  But she shan't have him.  No! by hook
+or by crook, he must be got out of the country, as sure as my name is
+Joyce Malone!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+"THE MONSTER"
+
+For a considerable time Mrs. Malone sat, stroking her long nose with
+her long forefinger and thinking profoundly; there fell, in
+consequence, an unusual silence.  At last this was broken by the old
+lady, who exclaimed with an air of triumph:
+
+"Douglas, my boy, I do believe I have got hold of a bright idea!"
+
+"That's nothing new," he rejoined with a smile.
+
+"Come now, none of your blarney!  You know the queer little monster you
+brought me some time ago.  You see him there grinning at us out of the
+cabinet?  Well, a friend of mine noticed him yesterday--she is a bit of
+a connoisseur, and she said that, if genuine, that diabolical object
+had considerable value!  To-morrow, I will take it round to a shop in
+'the Grove,' and get an opinion; let us hear what the expert says, and
+if the object is good and marketable, I'll sell him--and you shall have
+the money.  Now," raising a hand authoritatively, "I warn you not to
+say 'No' to me again, for if you do, I'll just take the poker and smash
+the deformity into a thousand atoms!"
+
+"Oh, well, I suppose that puts the lid on," said Douglas, "but I ask
+you, if anything in the whole world can be meaner than to give a
+present and to take it back?  However, I'll consent to commit that
+outrage to save the monster.  I don't believe he is worth a sovereign!"
+
+"Stop!  I hear them moving in the drawing-room, so, my dear boy, fly up
+to your roost at once.  You know how it vexes your mother to see you
+spending your time with me.  Good night, my dear child," and rising,
+she laid her hands on his shoulders and kissed him on the cheek.
+
+The very next evening, shortly before dinner, Mrs. Malone sent for her
+favourite boarder.
+
+"I've grand news for you!" she announced.  "I've had the ugly figure
+valued and a man has offered me a hundred and ten pounds."
+
+"A hundred and ten pounds!" repeated Shafto.  "Come, this is one of
+your good old Irish jokes!"
+
+Alas! it must be here recorded that warm-hearted Mrs. Malone was not
+joking--but lying.  She had never been to any expert.  The hundred and
+ten pounds were to come out of her own lean pocket; this had been her
+"bright idea," when she contemplated the monster in the cabinet.  She
+was sincerely fond of Shafto; during the time he had been under her
+roof she had never known him to do a mean or ungentlemanly action; he
+was considerate, unselfish, and generous--poor as he was; also he
+opened doors, handed chairs, treated age with deference, and in short
+conducted himself like the people among whom she had lived most of her
+life.
+
+Richard Hutton was of the same type, so were the two Japanese; but
+Levison, her most valuable guest, Larcher, and other young boarders
+had, in her opinion, no manners at all.  They smoked where and how they
+pleased (barring the drawing-room), left cigarette stumps all over the
+house, kicked off their boots in the hall, were late for meals, loud in
+talk, arguments and complaints, and supremely indifferent to the
+comfort of their companions.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+In some extraordinary and inexplicable manner the story of the monster
+had leaked out--at any rate, it was in the air.  Perhaps the monster
+himself had blazoned forth the fact of his own value, or Michael, the
+handy man, had caught a whisper from Maggie (Mrs. Malone's right hand)?
+However it was, Mrs. Malone was not a little startled when Mr. Levison,
+in his loud resonant voice, shouted at her down the dinner table:
+
+"So I hear you've come in for a wonderful find, ma'am--a Chinese figure
+valued at a handsome sum!  Do you know I'm something of a judge of such
+stuff--old porcelain is rather in my line--and I'd like to have a look
+at the prize after dinner, if you don't object, and if the bargain is
+not clinched perhaps I might go one better."
+
+Mrs. Malone coloured like a young girl--or was it the blush of guilt?
+Would her sin find her out?  No; no matter what the dealer said, she
+determined to stick to her story; she would not allow him to see the
+figure.  She knew Manasseh Levison to be a persistent, over-bearing
+sort of man; nevertheless, she was resolved to defeat him.  If the
+worst came to the worst, she would go to bed, and either take the
+figure with her, or hide it up the chimney.  But alas for her plans!
+Manasseh, scenting a good thing, immediately after his cigar was
+finished, boldly followed the old lady into forbidden ground--her
+sitting-room--and did not even knock, but just turned the handle of the
+door and walked in.  He discovered his hostess and young Shafto,
+evidently holding a weighty conference--with the figure on the table
+between them.
+
+"Mr. Levison," she exclaimed, "are you aware that this is my private
+apartment, and that such an intrusion is unwelcome?"
+
+Levison, not the least abashed, had snatched up the figure and
+critically examined it, glass in eye.  For an appreciable time he stood
+silent and transfixed, obviously gloating over the article in his
+grasp--yes, gloating, with the absorbed expression of a devotee!  At
+last he spoke, raising his voice almost to a shout:
+
+"And are _you_ aware, madam; that this--this piece in my hand, is a
+most glorious specimen of old 'Kang He'?  An altar vessel, too; a most
+perfect, complete, and unique specimen of Chinese enamelled porcelain,
+dating from the Kang dynasty?  By George!" handling it and turning it
+about with tender loving care, "what an astonishing find!  I've never
+come across such a piece, and I've seen a good few in my time.  How did
+you get hold of it?"
+
+"Mr. Shafto gave it to me," replied Mrs. Malone, in her stiffest manner.
+
+"And I picked it off a stall in the Caledonian Market," supplemented
+Shafto.
+
+"What luck; what incredible luck!" exclaimed the dealer, nodding his
+big head; "well, Mrs. Malone, will you please inform your other
+customer that I will pay you three hundred pounds down for this
+piece--that rather snuffs him out, eh?  I'll give you a cheque in the
+morning," and carrying the monster as reverently as if it were some
+holy relic, Manasseh Levison, expert and connoisseur, marched out of
+the room in triumph.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+BOUND FOR BURMA
+
+It was some minutes before Mrs. Malone recovered her breath and
+composure, the invasion and purchase had been so startlingly abrupt.
+At last she found her tongue and her wits, and after a lengthy and
+animated discussion, it was ultimately decided that she and Douglas
+would each take a hundred pounds (privately she determined to invest
+her share for his benefit) and hand the remaining hundred to the old
+woman in the black bonnet at her stand in the Caledonian Market.
+
+The journey to Rangoon was now likely to be accomplished, thanks to the
+Chinese Monster.  When Douglas picked it off the cobble stones, from
+among coarse common crockery, how little he dreamed what a factor this
+figure would prove in his future--it had been the means of shaping his
+destiny!
+
+On Friday morning he sent in a formal acceptance of Mr. Martin's offer
+and, having obtained leave, hurried away to the Caledonian Market, in
+search of the old rag and bottle female.  It was half-past twelve
+o'clock when he arrived, he was late, and her pitch was empty.  Had she
+departed already?  On inquiry he was informed that old Mother Doake had
+departed for good--was, in fact, dead!
+
+"Yes, she were run over by a motor-trolley ten days ago," announced the
+woman in the next stall; "she was terribly old and blind and a real
+wicked miser.  There was no one belonging to her.  Her clothes were
+just lined with bank-notes, and there was a whole lot of papers and
+bonds in her mattress, and a lovely silver tea-set up the chimney.  She
+grudged herself a penn-'orth o' milk, or a drop o' brandy, and she
+worth thousands o' pounds!  Being no heirs, the Crown takes the lot!
+Thank you, sir," accepting a tip, "I suppose I could not tempt you with
+a splendid fur-lined overcoat?  Cost a hundred--but you can have it for
+six.  It belonged to a lord--I got it off his man.  Well, maybe it's a
+bit warmish, but it's dirt cheap and would come in next winter."
+
+Since Mother Doake was now defunct, her share divided gave Douglas
+another fifty pounds, and he felt quite a wealthy man.  The first use
+he made of the monster's money was to take his father's watch and chain
+out of pawn; the next, to secure his passage in the Bibby Line to
+Rangoon.  Then he spent a long morning at the Stores and bought a new
+outfit, saddle and bridle, steamer trunks, and a steamer chair.
+
+The purchase of the "Kang He" piece and its price were naturally not
+withheld from Mrs. Shafto.  She pounced upon Douglas in the hall and
+drove him before her into the empty dining-room.
+
+"Well, I've heard all about your wonderful luck!" she began excitedly,
+"and how Mr. Levison has actually paid you three hundred pounds for
+that frightful figure."
+
+"Yes, so he did; it's a true bill."
+
+"And now, my dear boy; you will be able to help me with my trousseau,"
+said this daughter of a horse-leech, "I must really get good frocks.
+Mr. L. is so sharp, and notices everything, and can tell the price of a
+gown to a sixpence; he has wonderful taste, and is very particular.
+You must let me have fifty or sixty to begin with--it's not much out of
+three hundred pounds.  What a windfall!"
+
+"Oh, but I have already divided it with Mrs. Malone," replied Douglas;
+"she insisted upon my taking half--you see, the figure was hers."
+
+"Divided it with Mrs. Malone!" screamed his mother.  "What a mean,
+grasping, greedy old hag!  I shall speak to her about it and make her
+disgorge.  She has no right to your money; whilst I am your mother!"
+
+"I do beg you won't interfere.  Mrs. Malone is the most generous woman
+I know."
+
+"Generous!" echoed Mrs. Shafto.  "The greatest old skinflint in
+London--she charges me sixpence a day for having my breakfast in bed,
+and----"
+
+"Well, you will soon be out of it," interrupted her son impetuously,
+"and so shall I!  And I am glad to have an opportunity now of telling
+you that I have got promotion in the office and am going to Burma."
+
+"Oh! are you?  Burma--Burma!  Why, that's abroad--some place near
+India--or is it the West Indies?"
+
+"You are thinking of Bermuda.  Burma is east of India.  I have to pay
+for my passage and outfit, and this unexpected windfall is a wonderful
+bit of luck.  If I hadn't got it, I never could have accepted the post,
+or made a new start."
+
+"And when do you leave?"'
+
+"In a week."
+
+"So soon," she exclaimed cheerfully; "I wonder what Cossie will say?"
+
+"It is not of the slightest consequence what Cossie says; she has
+nothing to do with my plans."
+
+"Cossie won't think so, and when she hears you have been promoted and
+are off to Burma, she will stick to you like a burr."
+
+"But, my dear mother, what is the use of her sticking to me?" protested
+Douglas.  "I haven't the faintest intention of being engaged to Cossie.
+If she imagines that I am in love with her, she is making the greatest
+mistake in her life."
+
+"Cossie is a foolish girl," admitted her aunt, "and has made heaps of
+mistakes; but if she sees her way to bettering herself, she can be as
+determined as anyone.  Of course you will have to run down and say
+'good-bye.'"
+
+"Yes, I shall go to-morrow."
+
+"I must say I don't envy you the visit!" declared his mother with a
+malicious smile.
+
+"No, I daresay it will be disagreeable--but Aunt Emma will see me
+through.  In Cossie's case it is not a matter of deep attachment; she
+only wants to play me off against that fellow Soames.  Ah, here is
+Michael jingling his tray outside; he wants to lay the cloth and we had
+better clear."
+
+In some respects the dreaded farewell at "Monte Carlo" was even more
+trying than Douglas had anticipated.  His relatives had learned and
+digested his news; to them, it seemed an uplifting of the entire
+connection.  After pushing congratulations and some high-flown talk
+respecting the delights of his future career and "position," the girls,
+as if by mutual agreement, rose and left him alone with their mother.
+
+Thus abandoned to a _tete-a-tete_, after a lengthy silence, Mrs.
+Larcher, sitting among the collapsible spring's, began to speak in a
+shaky voice.
+
+"Ahem!  We have _all_ seen, Douglas, how devotedly attached you are to
+Cossie, and the marked attentions you have paid her.  Of course, on
+such a small salary you were too honourable to say anything definite.
+Ahem!  But now that you are in a better position, with splendid
+prospects, I have no objection to an engagement, and as soon as you are
+comfortably settled in Rangoon, Cossie will join you."
+
+Douglas instantly lifted himself out of his chair and confronted the
+unfortunate catspaw; standing erect before her, he said:
+
+"My dear Aunt Emma, kindly understand once for all that I am not in
+love with Cossie.  I have never made love to her, or ever shall.  I
+like her as a cousin--but no more.  Even if I were madly in love, I
+could not marry; my screw will barely keep myself."
+
+"Oh, but you'll get on!" interposed his aunt eagerly.  "They all do out
+there, and you who are so well educated and gentlemanly will soon be
+drawing high pay, and keeping dozens of black servants, and a
+motor--and you know poor Cossie is _so_ fond of you."
+
+"I am truly sorry to hear you say so; I cannot imagine _why_ she should
+be fond of me; or why, quite lately, she has got this preposterous idea
+into her head.  Naturally it is a delicate subject to discuss with you,
+Aunt Emma; but I declare on my honour that I have never thought of
+Cossie but just as a jolly sort of girl and a cousin."
+
+"But you have given her presents, my darling boy; yes, and written to
+her," urged the poor lady, clinging to the last straw.
+
+"I have given her chocolates, and a couple of pairs of gloves, and
+answered her notes; and if Cossie imagines that every man who gives her
+chocolates, and answers notes about tea and tennis, is seriously in
+love with her, she must be incredibly foolish.  Cossie knows in her
+heart that I have never cast her a thought, except as a relation; and,
+as a matter of fact, of the two girls I like Delia the best!  I don't
+want to say unpleasant things when I'm on the point of going
+away--probably for years.  I hoped to have spent a jolly long day among
+you, but from what you have just told me I really could not face it,
+and I must ask you to say good-bye to my cousins for me.  I will write
+to you, Aunt Emma, as soon as I get out to Rangoon.  You have always
+been very kind, and made me feel at home here; you may be sure I won't
+forget it."  And he stooped down suddenly and gave her a hearty kiss.
+Then before the poor stout lady could struggle out of the cavity which
+her weight had made in the Chesterfield Douglas had departed.  She
+heard the close of the hall door, immediately followed by the click of
+the garden gate.  Yes, he was _gone_!  And Cossie, who all the time had
+been listening on the top of the stairs, instantly descended like a
+wolf on the fold.  She would have run out bareheaded after Douglas, but
+that her more prudent sister actually restrained her by violent
+physical force; and then, what a scene she made!  Oh, what
+recriminations and angry speeches and reproaches she showered upon her
+unhappy parent!
+
+"You told me to sound him about an engagement, and I did.  Oh, but it
+was a hateful job, and here's my thanks!" whimpered Mrs. Larcher.  "He
+looked awfully white and stern, and said he only likes you as a cousin,
+and that he had no intention of anything--and I believe him.  It was
+only in the last two months, since Freddy Soames broke it off, that
+you've gone out of your way to hang on to Douglas.  I'm sure I wish
+there had been something in it--he's a dear good boy, and I could love
+him like a son," and the poor lady sobbed aloud.
+
+"You bungled the whole thing, of course!" cried her ungrateful
+offspring, "I might have known you would put your foot in it; you've
+let him slip through your fingers and just ruined my last chance.  Oh,
+if I'd only talked to him myself, I'd have been on my way to Burma in
+six months!"
+
+Then Cossie broke down, buried her head in a musty cushion, and wept
+sore.
+
+However, after a little time, the broken-hearted damsel recovered; her
+feelings were elastic, and she allowed herself to be revived with a
+stiff whisky and soda and a De Reske cigarette.  On the following day
+she had so far recovered as to be able to make a careful toilet and
+walk out, to call upon her two most intimate pals, in order to inform
+them--in the very strictest confidence--that she was engaged to her
+cousin, Douglas Shafto, who had just got a splendid appointment in
+Burma and would come home in two years!  Then she added impressively,
+"I don't want this given out--mother would be _furious_; but the first
+time you come across him I don't mind if you whisper the news to Freddy
+Soames."
+
+Cossie sent her cousin a heart-broken letter of farewell, full of
+underlined words and vague expressions of despair--a portion of which
+she had copied from a dramatic love scene in a novel.  She implored him
+to write to her, and remained "his devoted till death, Cossie."
+
+Shafto thrust his devoted-till-death Cossie's letter into the
+waste-paper basket, with a gesture of excommunication, and barred the
+doors of his memory upon her round fat face.
+
+Preparations for departure proceeded satisfactorily.  He received a
+number of good wishes and not a few gifts.  The Tremenheeres sent him
+an express rifle, the Tebbs a dispatch box, Mrs. Malone gave him a
+silver cigarette case and a warm rug, Mrs. Galli gave him her blessing,
+and his mother gave him advice.
+
+On the appointed day a band of friends travelled down to Tilbury to
+take leave of Douglas Shafto.  These included Mrs. Malone, Mr. Hutton,
+the two Japanese gentlemen, and several of his fellow clerks.--Mrs.
+Shafto had excused herself, declaring that "her feelings would not
+endure the strain of a public leave-taking."--Shortly before the
+_Blankshire_ (Bibby Line) sailed, Sandy--alas! accompanied by
+Cossie--hurried down the gangway (for Cossie was allied to the stamp of
+the British soldier, who never knows when he is beaten and entirely
+refuses to accept defeat!).  She wore her best hat--a conspicuous
+affair with enormous green wings--a somewhat murky white fur, and
+carried a presentation bunch of wilted flowers.  The new arrival,
+chattering like a magpie, took immediate possession of her cousin,
+snatched her away from poor Mrs. Malone, who was looking very old and
+sad, and insisted on inspecting his cabin and as much as was possible
+of the ship.  When the bell rang and the moment of parting arrived, she
+burst into wild unrestrained sobs, and clung, in the best melodramatic
+style, to her unresisting kinsman, who was compelled to accept her
+kisses and tears.  In fact, as her brother rudely stated, "she made a
+shameless show of herself, slobbering over Douglas before all the
+passengers, and he was sorry for the poor chap, who was covered with
+blushes; and not for her at all--as anyone could see with half an eye!"
+
+However, Cossie returned home by the Underground, fortified with the
+conviction that the party who had witnessed her farewell were bound to
+realise that Douglas Shafto was her affianced lover.
+
+The last signal Shafto received, ere the group of friends had dissolved
+into a blur, was a frantic waving of Cossie's damp handkerchief, and he
+turned his face towards the bows of the _Blankshire_, now heading down
+the river, with the happy exaltation of freedom and a grateful sense of
+escape.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE "BLANKSHIRE"
+
+The _Blankshire_ was a full and well-known ship.  Not a few of the
+passengers had made several trips in her and some, as they met in saloon
+and corridors, exchanged loud hearty greetings and hailed one another as
+old friends.  These were chiefly planters and officials from Ceylon,
+Southern India and Burma, who herded in parties both at meals and on deck.
+
+It was not to be expected that Shafto would see one familiar face, and he
+felt completely "out of it," as he took a seat at a draughty table
+between two elderly people, whose interest was entirely concentrated upon
+their meals and the weather.
+
+The second day proved rough and wet and the smoking-room was crowded.
+Here Shafto made an acquaintance with a well-set-up, weather-beaten young
+man, his neighbour.  Finding they had similar tastes with regard to
+cigars and boots, they proceeded to cement an acquaintance.  Hoskins was
+the name of Shafto's companion, and after half an hour's lively talk, he
+exclaimed:
+
+"I say, look here, we must dig you out of 'the Potter's Field,' and bring
+you to our table."
+
+"What do you mean by 'the Potter's Field'?"
+
+"Why, to bury strangers in!  We bury dull folk and such-like in the table
+near the door; but I'll speak to the head steward and get you moved."
+
+And before the next meal Shafto's transition was an accomplished fact,
+and he found himself one of a merry and congenial circle.  In his novel
+and detached position he realised a sense of independence; he was
+breathing a new existence, an exhilarating atmosphere, and enjoying every
+hour of the day.
+
+At table and in the smoke-room he picked up a certain amount of useful
+information respecting Burma, listened to many a "Don't" with polite
+attention, and was offered the address of a fairly good chummery in
+Rangoon.  As he could play bridge without letting down his partners, was
+active at deck sports, and invariably cheery and obliging, he soon gained
+that effervescent prize, "board-ship popularity."
+
+Here was a different fellow from Douglas Shafto of "Malahide."  He seemed
+to have cast off a load of care; the cramped, monotonous life, his
+mother's hard indifference, the octopus-like Cossie, all had slipped from
+his shoulders and were figuratively buried in the heaving, dark blue sea.
+What delicious hours of tranquil ease were enjoyed in a steamer chair;
+hours when he looked on the past five years as a distant and fading dream!
+
+As he paced the deck with a companion he learnt many strange things.  Odd
+bits of half-told stories, confidences respecting some girl, or some
+ambition--and now and then a warning.
+
+"You are so new and green to the East," said Hoskins, his first friend, a
+police officer returning from short leave.  "You had better keep your
+eyes skinned!  Rangoon is not like India, but a roaring busy seaport,
+where every soul is on the make.  You will find various elements there,
+besides British and Burmese.  Tribes from Upper Burma, Tibetans, Hindoos,
+Malays, Chinese and, above all, Germans.  They do an enormous trade, and
+have many substantial firms and houses, and put through as much business
+as, or more than, we do ourselves.  No job is too small, no order too
+insignificant for their prompt attention.  They have agents all over the
+country, who pull strings in wolfram and the ruby mines, and have a
+finger in every mortal thing.  I'll say this for them, they're most
+awfully keen and industrious, and stick at nothing to earn the nimble
+rupee, underselling when they can, and grabbing contracts and trade
+secrets.  Some of these days they will mine us out of Burma!"
+
+"So I see they needn't go to you for a character," remarked Shafto.
+
+"Oh, they are not all tarred with the same brush!  I have some good pals
+in the German Club--fellows that are as straight as a die.  Is this your
+first journey out of England?"
+
+"Yes, bar winter sports in Switzerland, when I was a kid."
+
+"Well, you will see a small bit of the world this trip; as soon as we
+collect the passengers at Marseilles, and once the awnings and the moon
+are up, things will begin to hum!"
+
+"How do you mean hum?"
+
+"We shall have sports, dances, concerts--this has always been a gay ship,
+and the purser is a rare hustler.  We are due at Marseilles to-morrow
+morning, and we take in a cargo of the lazy luxurious folk who abhor 'the
+Bay,' and have travelled overland.  I'd have done the same, only I'm
+frightfully hard up; three months at home, having a 'good time,' comes
+pretty expensive!"
+
+"I hope you will be a fixture in Rangoon?"
+
+"I'm afraid not; I'm going straight up to Mandalay, but I shall be down
+later, and meanwhile I'll do my best to settle you in that chummery.
+I'll send a line to FitzGerald of my service; he lives there; a rattling
+Irishman, with lots of brains in his handsome head, and a good sort;
+there's also Roscoe, a clever oddity, and MacNab of the Irrawaddy
+Flotilla--a wonderful golfer.  Most of the fellows in business in Rangoon
+are Scotch.  Murray was in the same chummery; there were four chums till
+May."
+
+"And Number Four has gone home?"
+
+"He has--to his long home, worse luck; he broke his neck fooling over a
+log jump."
+
+On this fresh October morning the _Blankshire_ lay moored at her usual
+berth in Marseilles harbour, and the overland passengers were streaming
+aboard in great numbers.
+
+Hoskins and Shafto, leaning over the bulwarks, watched the long
+procession of travellers, followed by porters, bearing their light
+baggage.
+
+"There are a good few, you see," remarked Hoskins; "this is a popular
+ship and date.  We won't have an empty berth--anyway as far as the Canal.
+Most of this crowd," waving a hand, "these with maids and valets, are
+bound for Egypt; there will be a big contingent for Colombo and Southern
+India.  I'm a bit curious to see our own little lot.--Ah! here comes one
+of them!"
+
+He indicated a stout imposing person, who was majestically ascending the
+gangway.
+
+"That's Lady Puffle, the consort of one of our big wigs; very official
+and dignified, keeps old Fluffy in grand order.  The next, the tall
+handsome woman, is Mrs. Pomeroy, wife of the Judicial Commissioner, a
+real lady, and--hullo! she has brought out a daughter!  Not, as far as I
+can see, up to her mother's sample; too much nose and too much bone.  And
+next, we have Mrs. Flint, of Flint and Co., a big house.  She gives the
+best dinners in Rangoon.  The little fair lady with the small dog is Mrs.
+Maitland, wife of the General Commanding in Burma, and the one with her
+must be her sister, or sister-in-law.  Here comes the great Otto
+Bernhard, junior partner in the house of Bernhard Brothers; as you see, a
+fine, handsome man, with the most All Highest moustache; and also owns a
+heavenly tenor voice--but I would not trust him farther than I could
+throw him!"
+
+"And that would not be far," said Shafto; "he weighs every ounce of
+fourteen stone."
+
+"Yes, a big man in every way, trades on his voice and his good looks, as
+well as in teak and paddy--an unscrupulous devil where women are
+concerned; the lady he is escorting is Mrs. Lacy; you would not think to
+look at her, so slim, gracious and smiling, that she is a noted
+man-eater."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Well, perhaps the expression is a bit too strong.  She has a subtle way
+of attracting mankind.  It amuses her and, in the long run, does no harm.
+Wait till you see how they will collect about her on board--like flies
+round a pot of honey."
+
+"Shall you be one of the flies?"
+
+"Possibly.  I enjoy being fascinated and I like honey!  She is very
+amusing and dances like a moonbeam.  Those are two coffee planters,
+wonderful pals and bridge players, and here comes a strange lady,
+probably a tourist--rich too."
+
+Shafto looked and saw a handsome grey-haired woman, with a round smiling
+face, wearing a long sable coat and an air of complacent prosperity.
+
+"Why, for a wonder I know her!" he declared.  "It's Mrs. Milward.  Her
+sister was our neighbour at home; I've met her often."
+
+"Who is she?"
+
+"A widow--very rich, I believe.  I think her daughter is married to a man
+in India--or Burma."
+
+"Is this the daughter following up the gangway?"
+
+"No; I've never seen her before."
+
+"I say, what a pretty girl--and a ripping figure!  Once seen, never
+forgotten, eh?  When you have claimed the chaperon you must present me to
+the young lady--especially as you are out of the running yourself."
+
+"Out of the running--what do you mean?"
+
+"Merely that I happened to witness that tender parting at Tilbury--the
+little girl in the green hat, who was crying her eyes out!"
+
+"She was my cousin," protested Shafto; "nothing more."
+
+"Oh, come!" rejoined Hoskins, with a knowing sidelong glance.
+
+"Upon my honour! nothing whatever to me but that."
+
+"Well, I suppose I'm bound to take your word for it, but it looked
+uncommonly touching--so like the real thing, and yet merely a case of
+strong family affection!"
+
+"Yes, that's all."
+
+"Well, let us descend and make ourselves presentable for lunch; nothing
+like first impressions."
+
+After lunch, when the new-comers had found their places and scattered
+about, watching the shores of France recede, Shafto approached Mrs.
+Milward and bowed himself before her.
+
+"Why, Douglas!" she exclaimed, "this _is_ a surprise, a delightful
+surprise.  What on earth are _you_ doing here?"
+
+"Making a voyage to Rangoon."
+
+"Rangoon!  So am I.  An amazing coincidence.  Now come and sit down at
+once and tell me all about yourself."
+
+"I think you have heard all there is to know."
+
+"Yes; that you had become so distant and reserved and so like an oyster
+in its shell, and there was no getting you to 'Tremenheere.'"
+
+"But I was not my own master--I was in an office."
+
+"My dear boy, where there's a will there's a way."
+
+"There is no way of taking leave--unless you wish to get the key of the
+street," he retorted with a laugh.
+
+"And what takes you to Rangoon?"
+
+"A post in a big mercantile house.  I've to thank Mr. Tremenheere: I owe
+it to his interest--it's a splendid chance for me."
+
+"Well, I'm sure you deserve it, my dear boy, if ever anyone did.  You
+don't ask why I am on the high seas.  I am en route, to Mandalay--Ella is
+there.  After I've paid her a visit, I'm going on to India, to stay with
+your old friend Geoffrey.  He and you are about the same age, are you
+not?"
+
+"Yes; where is he now?"
+
+"He is in the White Hussars at Lucknow--he was at Sandhurst with you,
+wasn't he?"
+
+Shafto nodded, and the lady continued:
+
+"I'm bringing out a girl, such a darling!--She's down unpacking in our
+cabin; a dear child.  Her mother is an old friend of mine; her father was
+rector of our parish.  I drop her in Rangoon."
+
+"Oh, do you?"
+
+"Her name is Sophy Leigh, and she is going out to stay with an aunt, who
+is something of an invalid.  Her husband is in business, a German--said
+to be rolling in money."
+
+"That sounds all right."
+
+"And Sophy can't speak a word of German, though French like a native, and
+she plays the piano delightfully.  Her father died some years ago, and
+Mrs. Leigh and the girls live in town--Chelsea; not rich, but have enough
+to go on with and are a very happy trio.  One day a letter came from the
+German uncle asking for a niece--and if possible a musical niece--so
+Sophy was sent; anyway, her sister is engaged to be married and was not
+available.  My friend, Mrs. Leigh, was very sorry to lose her girl--even
+for a year or so, but it seemed such a chance for Sophy to see the world,
+and make friends with her rich and childless relatives."
+
+"I expect she will have a good time in Burma?"
+
+"Bound to, for she is one of those fortunate people who make their own
+happiness.  Here she comes!"
+
+As she concluded, a tall, slim girl, with a face of morning freshness,
+wearing a rose silk sports coat and fluttering white skirt, approached,
+and Shafto instantly realised that such a personality was likely to have
+a good time anywhere!  Miss Leigh's dark eyes were lovely, and she had a
+radiant smile; she smiled on Shafto when he was presented by her chaperon:
+
+"Sophy, this is a most particular friend of mine; I've known him since he
+was in blouses--a boy with sticky fingers, who refused to be kissed.  Mr.
+Shafto--Miss Leigh."
+
+Mrs. Milward was a handsome, impulsive, kind-hearted woman of forty five;
+her arched, dark eye-brows and a wonderful natural complexion gave her a
+fictitious air of youth--slightly discounted by a comfortable and
+matronly figure.  Some declared that her round face, short nose, and
+large eyes produced a resemblance to a well-to-do pussy cat, but this was
+the voice of envy.  She had a clever maid, dressed well, and with the
+exception of the loss of her husband, had never known a care; there was
+scarcely a line or wrinkle on her charming soft face.  Now, with her girl
+happily married, and her boy in the Army, she felt a free woman, and was
+anxious to try her wings--and her liberty!  Though popular with rich and
+poor, she was by no means a perfect character; extraordinarily indiscreet
+and rash in her confidences--there was no secret cupboard in her
+composition--she threw open all her mental stores and also those of her
+intimates.  Aware of this failing, she would deplore it and say:
+
+"Don't tell me any important secrets, my dear--for I can never keep them,
+in spite of my good resolutions.  They will jump out and play about among
+my latest news and good stories."
+
+That night in their cabin, as she and her charge talked and discussed
+their fellow passengers, the life history of Douglas was her principal
+topic.  With considerable detail, she related his happy prospects and the
+shattering of these; told of his cultured father and odious, underbred
+mother, whom she particularly detested; spoke of his withdrawal from old
+friends, lest he might seem to sponge, and how, instead of being in the
+Army serving his country like her own boy, enjoying his youth and a
+comfortable allowance, he was stuck in a gloomy City office, drawing a
+miserable salary, and enduring the whims and temper of an empty-headed,
+selfish parent.
+
+"She married again the other day," added Mrs. Milward, "a rich Jew.  I've
+not a word to say against the Jews--a marvellously clever race; in fact,
+I think a little Jew blood gives brains; and as to riches, of course
+there's no harm in _them_; but this Manasseh Levison is so common and
+fat, and seems to reek of furniture polish and money.  I've seen him at
+'the Mulberry' at tea, gobbling cakes like a glutton and making such a
+noise.  Oh, what a contrast to Mr. Shafto, so aristocratic and so
+courteous--a man whom it seemed almost a privilege to know!"
+
+And in this strain, Mrs. Milward, reclining in her berth, chattered on,
+whilst her companion brushed her heavy, dark hair, and imbibed a strong
+feeling of interest and pity for the good-looking hero of her chaperon's
+impressive sketch.
+
+Quite unintentionally this voluble lady had enlisted the mutual sympathy
+of these young people; she had laid, so to speak, a match; whether a
+mutual liking would ignite it or not was uncertain--but the prospect was
+favourable.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LAND OF PROMISE
+
+As the voyage progressed various groups thawed and amalgamated, even
+"the Potter's Field" experiencing a temporary resurrection.
+Theatricals, bridge tournaments and concerts brought the passengers
+into touch with one another, the sole member who held herself augustly
+aloof being Lady Puffle.  She remained secluded in her cabin, or
+occupied an isolated position on deck, appearing at dinner with a brave
+show of appetite, diamonds and airs, paralysing her neighbours with a
+petrifying stare.  Occasionally she accorded a bow or "Good morning" to
+her sole and necessary acquaintance, the ship's doctor, whom she
+informed that in her position she was debarred from mixing with the
+crowd--as later, in Rangoon, these people might presume on the
+acquaintance.
+
+One of the special events of the voyage was the two days' sports, and
+here Shafto distinguished himself by winning a severe obstacle race; he
+was a nimble, muscular youth, who, thanks to school games and the
+gymnasium, climbed, ran, and leapt with inspirited agility, and when at
+last he touched the winning tape, breathless but exultant, there was a
+spontaneous outburst of clapping and cheers.
+
+Prize-giving was the occasion of his triumph.  This was his five
+minutes, when he advanced to receive from Lady Puffle a clock, set of
+studs and a thermos flask--all carefully laid in at Malta by the
+provident "Amusements Committee."  Shafto bore his honours modestly,
+and was glared on by Bernhard who, drawn up beside her ladyship like an
+Imperial Guardsman, presented an alarmingly militant and stern
+appearance.
+
+Between him and this particular "Englander" no love was wasted.  Once,
+when they had collided on the companion ladder, Shafto's agility alone
+had saved him from a heavy fall, and the obstructor had neither looked
+back nor offered apology.  Probably he concluded that charming Miss
+Leigh, who accompanied his songs with such delicate sympathy, accorded
+too much of her society to this young man; and, after all, what was he?
+A London clerk, going out to begin at the bottom of the ladder, as one
+of Gregory's assistants.  Naturally he disliked Gregory's, a rival and
+substantial house, which, like his own, dealt largely in paddy--and
+this casual, outspoken, clear-eyed youngster was just the type of
+person specially abhorred by the Prussian Junker.  Now that the
+music-room had two such efficient performers as Bernhard and Miss
+Leigh, Shafto and others abandoned the bridge tables and enjoyed a rare
+treat.  Miss Leigh presided at the piano and appeared to have complete
+command of the instrument; she could read anything at sight, no matter
+how it bristled with sharps and accidentals; her repertoire ranged from
+Beethoven, Bach, Grieg, Chopin, to the latest ragtime, and her playing
+had a crisp ringing touch that was delightful.
+
+Hoskins, who was endowed with a good baritone, sang quaint Burmese
+songs with gratifying effect.  There was something weird and yet
+musical in the solemn and majestic "Toung Soboo Byne," or "Yama Kyo,"
+from a native opera, and the Royal boat song as sung by the King's
+boatmen when rowing His Majesty on State occasions.
+
+Mrs. Maitland's contribution was a beautifully trained light soprano,
+but the Caruso of the company was Herr Otto Bernhard; amazing that a
+man of his sensual nature and proclivities should be gifted with a
+voice fit to swell heaven's choir.  He sang Wagner, Gounod, Schubert
+with absolute impartiality, as well as numbers of melting German
+_lieder_ and touching English ballads.  He brought smarting tears to
+the eyes of comfortable matrons, and swept their thoughts back to
+poignant moments of long ago--to youth and first love, to moonlight
+nights, entrancing meetings and heart-rending farewells!  As for the
+younger and less emotional generation, even they were moved out of
+their everyday composure and hung upon the singer's words with
+breathless appreciation.
+
+There was a number of young people on board the _Blankshire_, and since
+the good old days of Tadpool Shafto had never enjoyed himself so
+thoroughly.  It was the first time since he had arrived at man's estate
+that he had been associated with girls of his own class.  There were no
+fewer than thirty on board--of these, eleven were brides elect--but the
+prettiest of all, and to him the most attractive, was Miss Leigh.  He
+looked for her the first thing when he stepped on deck in the mornings,
+and in the evenings watched her departure with wistful regret.
+Meanwhile, between morning and evening he contrived to see as much of
+the young lady as possible--though when out of sight she was never
+absent from his mind.
+
+"Was he about to fall in love?"  He was conscious of a vague wonder and
+sense of alarm.  A hopeless attachment would be a fatal misfortune to a
+fellow beginning a new life; a life that required the whole of his mind
+and the best of his energies; but, like the moth and the candle, he
+still continued to hover round Miss Leigh--and Miss Leigh was not
+averse to his society.  Together they talked and argued, played quoits
+and danced.  A stern, inward voice assured Shafto that, luckily for
+him, there was a fixed date for the terminating of his enchantment--the
+day when the _Blankshire_ entered the Irrawaddy river and was moored to
+her berth.  Then Miss Leigh would go her way to be the joy and the
+light of wealthy relatives--he, to begin his new work at the very
+bottom of the ladder.
+
+Another voice also made itself heard, which said: "One is young but
+once!  Make the most of these shining hours; sufficient unto the day is
+the evil thereof."
+
+When in a placid temper, the Red Sea is favourable for dances and
+theatricals and, much against his will, Shafto was dragged into "the
+Neptune" company by Hoskins, a resolute, determined individual, who
+filled the thankless office of stage manager.  Shafto was cast for the
+part of an old gentleman, the role being softened and alleviated by the
+fact that he was to undertake to play uncle to Miss Leigh.  Although
+Bernhard had no part in the piece itself, being an authority, he
+superintended its production, and on several occasions addressed Miss
+Leigh's temporary "uncle" in a manner that increased Shafto's natural
+aversion to what Hoskins termed "The great blond brute!"  The play
+proved to be a success and there was little or no jealousy or friction.
+Amazing to record, Miss Pomeroy and Miss Leigh--the two principal
+ladies--still remained the very best of friends.  During rehearsals
+Shafto and his "niece" exchanged a good deal of dialogue that was not
+in the piece--thanks partly to Mrs. Milward's introductions and
+revelations, and partly to a mutual attraction, they now knew one
+another rather well.  They sat with their chaperon and listened to her
+incessant flow of talk with appreciative sympathy, played deck quoits,
+walked and danced together, and were for looks and accomplishments the
+most prominent couple on the _Blankshire_.
+
+"Tell me, dear lady," said Mrs. Maitland, sinking into a deck-chair
+beside Sophy's chaperon, "do you intend anything to come of _that_?"
+and she nodded at a pair who, with heads fairly near, were leaning over
+the side, engrossed in watching the divers at Aden.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"It's rather a case, is it not?  First love and an early marriage!"
+
+"If you mean Sophy and young Shafto, why, they haven't a bad sixpence
+between them!"
+
+"No?" and Mrs. Maitland looked gravely interrogative.
+
+"Well, perhaps I've been incautious--indiscreet--now that I look back."
+(Yes, and with a sense of guilt she recalled her talks to both; her
+praise and her explanations.)  "But the fact is that though they have
+never met till now, I've known them both as children, and I could not
+well avoid bringing them together, but I don't think there's any harm
+done; they are as simple and open as the day.  There's no
+flirting--they are just enjoying the new surroundings and these golden
+hours--but I'll be more careful and put a stop to their after-dinner
+promenades.  I'll take your hint."
+
+"I hope it won't be a case of locking the stable-door when the steed
+has been stolen."
+
+"No; but whoever steals Sophy will get a prize--and she does thoroughly
+enjoy every hour of the day.  She is so pretty and transparent and
+sweet; she makes me think of a lovely flower, floating serenely on a
+summer river.  I expect she will be a great success in Rangoon."
+
+As there was no immediate answer on the part of Mrs. Maitland, she
+added quickly:
+
+"Don't you think so?"
+
+"Well, yes--I hope so; but, you see, Miss Leigh is going to live in
+rather an odd home."
+
+"Odd?"
+
+"Oh, it's absolutely respectable--but--out of the world--our world.
+Mr. Krauss is a German and said to be rich; he does not belong to a
+firm or house, but is on his own.  Of course, he is a member of the
+Gymkhana and all that; but he keeps to the German set and lives among
+them over in Kokine; then his English wife, once a celebrated beauty,
+is a semi-invalid.  As he never--they say--does anything without some
+well-considered reason, and is always on the make, I hope to goodness
+he has not decoyed this charming girl to Rangoon merely to be her
+aunt's nurse--and his housekeeper."
+
+"I should hope not, indeed!" exclaimed Mrs. Milward.  "My cousin Mary
+Gregory must have an eye on my young friend--I'll see to that.  I shall
+be stopping with Mary for a few days before going up the river; but I
+think Sophy will be all right.  After all, Mrs. Krauss is her own aunt."
+
+If Shafto and Sophy had become friendly over games, discussions and
+little special teas with Mrs. Milward, Bernhard cemented his
+acquaintance by means of their mutual love of music; but it seemed to
+the girl that, after he had heard her destination, Herr Bernhard's
+manner had undergone a subtle change.  The protegee of a wealthy
+woman--who wore wonderful rings and priceless pearls and carried
+herself as a high-born dame--was another person from the mere
+transitory companion who, once at Rangoon, would be handed over to Karl
+Krauss, her uncle--incredible!  Uncle by marriage--yes, but still an
+inmate of his home.
+
+"And so I hear you are niece to Herr Krauss," he began abruptly, as he
+lounged against the bulwarks; "I know him well."
+
+"And my aunt?"
+
+"Yes, I've met her two or three times; she must have been splendidly
+handsome once; now she looks broken up--it's the climate.  No woman
+should remain in Lower Burma for eight years without a change."
+
+"I did not know the climate was so bad; I'm afraid I know very little
+about Burma; it seems so far away--much farther off than India."
+
+"Yes, and a far more beautiful country--a land flowing with rivers and
+riches, and full of charming people, who live for the day, like so many
+butterflies, and do no work."
+
+"Then who does work?"
+
+"The Madrassi, the Sikh, the Chinese, and, above all, the European.
+Rangoon has an enormous trade; I wonder what you will think of it?"
+
+"I feel sure that I shall like it; I have always longed to see the
+East."
+
+"Ah, that is a common wish--the _sun_ rises in the East!  We Germans
+like the East--the East likes us.  _We_ own Burma!"
+
+After a moment's pause, which gave his companion time to digest this
+surprising statement, he went on, "Have you ever seen Herr Krauss?"
+
+"No! when my aunt came home he always went to Germany--to Frankfort, I
+think."
+
+"So his acquaintance has yet to be made; it is what you call a pleasure
+in store.  I wonder what you will think of the unknown uncle; perhaps
+some day you will tell me?"  Then he gave an odd laugh and walked away,
+still laughing.
+
+Bernhard's place was speedily filled by another man.  Most people
+considered Miss Leigh the beauty of the ship, but this novel and
+agreeable prominence had not spoiled her and she was always ready to
+oblige--to accompany a song, amuse the children, pick up and rectify a
+piece of knitting, promenade the deck, play quoits, or dance.
+
+The various other girls on board, with whom she was popular, had
+assured her of the joys awaiting her and them in Rangoon.  Dances,
+picknics, concerts, paper-chases--in short, no end of gaiety--all to be
+enjoyed in that yet unknown and romantic country, "the Land of the
+Golden Umbrella."  Often the girls sat in one another's cabins,
+discussed and described frocks and beautiful toilettes, at present
+unseen and packed away in the baggage-room.  Also they talked over
+their fellow-passengers--not forgetting the young men--and when
+Shafto's name was mentioned, an occasional sly glance or hint would be
+thrown at Sophy, of which she endeavoured to appear serenely
+unconscious.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Early one morning the passengers awoke to find themselves at anchor in
+Colombo harbour, and the soft warm air brought them a delicious whiff
+of the celebrated cinnamon gardens.  Many were landing for Southern
+India and a quantity of cargo had to be discharged.  As this was bound
+to be a lengthy process, the remnant who were bound for Rangoon had
+nearly a whole day ashore.  Mrs. Milward and maid, and her young
+friends Miss Leigh and Mr. Shafto, Herr Bernhard, the Pomeroys, Mrs.
+Lacy and several of her satellites, breakfasted at the Galle Face
+Hotel, and subsequently made trips in rickshaws, shopped in the bazaar,
+and had afternoon tea at Mount Lavinia.
+
+It was, as everyone agreed, a most delightful break.  On that same
+evening, as they steamed out into the moonlit Bay of Bengal, Sophy and
+Shafto paced the half-deserted deck, gazing on the Southern Cross, and
+the former suddenly said:
+
+"That was our last stopping-place.  When I leave the _Blankshire_,
+where I have been so much at home, I shall feel rather astray."
+
+"So you would like a home on the rolling deep?" suggested her companion.
+
+"No, indeed; shall I _ever_ forget that day we had off Crete?  But I
+have never been long away from mother; I am going to a new country, a
+new life, and almost new relations--it all seems so strange and vague."
+
+"But your aunt cannot be a stranger," suggested Shafto.  "You know her,
+don't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes; but I have not seen her for eight years.  The last time she
+was over, she stayed with us for a few weeks.  I remember her as
+handsome and beautifully dressed, with wonderful toilet arrangements in
+ivory and silver, and bottles of heavy Indian scent.  She was very kind
+and had such soft caressing manners, and gave us lots of chocolate and
+nice presents.  I recollect a beautiful emerald ring she wore--but I
+cannot recall the colour of her eyes."
+
+"Oh, well, that oversight will soon be repaired!"
+
+"Aunt Flora was fond of gaiety and theatres; we lived in Chelsea, and
+as our small house could hardly hold her big boxes and we had no
+telephone, she went to the Carlton, where she was more in the middle of
+things, and could entertain her friends from India and Burma--but she
+came to see us two or three times a week."
+
+"And where was her lord and master?"
+
+"In Germany; I have never seen him."
+
+"How did your aunt come across him?"
+
+"In Hong Kong, of all places!  She was married at eighteen to a young
+officer; they ran away, and I believe grandpa never forgave her.  He
+was a General, a strict old martinet, and she was his favourite
+daughter.  After they had been married a couple of years, Aunt Flora's
+husband was killed in an accident and she was left rather badly off.
+People out there were very kind to her.  She had been hurt in the
+accident and was laid up for months.  Then this rich German asked her
+to marry him, and as she was reluctant to return home and face grandpa,
+she said 'Yes.'  But perhaps it was love match number two."
+
+"Yes, perhaps it was."
+
+"That all happened twenty years ago, and since then Aunt Flora has made
+her home in the East--China, the Straits Settlements and Burma.  You
+see, her friends and her interests are mostly out there.  She and
+mother always write to one another; we do her commissions in London,
+and she sends us Burmese silks and umbrellas and curry stuff; but we
+were immensely surprised when, without any little hints or
+preparations, Uncle Karl wrote and invited me to pay them a long
+visit--and so here I am!  I do hope I shan't be a fish out of water.
+I've never been accustomed to living with wealthy people, and, I'm told
+that Uncle Karl is immensely rich."
+
+"You need not consider that a drawback.  It is better than being
+immensely poor--for instance, like myself."
+
+"You don't look poor."
+
+She smiled as she glanced at his well-cut suit and admirable brown
+shoes.
+
+"I'm not exactly a whining beggar, selling boot laces and matches, but
+I am uncommonly glad to have got this job, which brings me in about
+four hundred a year.  In London I was a clerk at less than half, and
+here is my chance to see the world--and I'm bound to make the most of
+it."
+
+"Mrs. Milward said you were to have gone into the Army."
+
+"Yes, but if you can't get what you like, you must like what you can
+get," was the philosophic rejoinder.
+
+"I suppose your people were very sorry to part with you.  My poor
+mother cried for nearly three days; my sister, I know, will miss me
+dreadfully.  This is not sheer vanity, as you might suppose, but we
+have always done things together--and there is only a year between us."
+
+"Well, my mother did not cry much, and I have no sisters to mourn for
+me."
+
+"No sisters," she echoed, as if the fact struck hot as unusual.
+
+"No, nor brothers either--only cousins."
+
+"Sometimes they do just as well; are they pretty?"
+
+"No," he answered rather curtly, as Cossie's round complacent face rose
+before his mental eye.
+
+After a short pause he changed the topic and asked:
+
+"Do you ride, Miss Leigh?"
+
+"Yes, but not since we've come to London; I love riding.  In the
+country, in father's lifetime, I rode a cob--he went in the cart, too;
+he was such a dear, but very tricky; once or twice he ran away with me;
+I didn't tell father, because I knew I'd never again be allowed to ride
+alone, and I do enjoy riding by myself."
+
+"I'm sorry to hear that, for if I can rise to the price of a gee, I was
+hoping you would allow me to join you occasionally."
+
+"I should be delighted, but----" and she hesitated.
+
+"Oh, yes," he added quickly, "I know what you are going to say: 'How
+about a chaperon?'"
+
+"Perhaps they don't keep chaperons in Rangoon?"
+
+"Oh, yes, my dear, they do," declared Mrs. Maitland, who, as she joined
+them, had overheard the last remark, "and extra fierce specimens, I can
+assure you!  Miss Leigh, they want me to sing Gounod's 'Ave Maria,' so
+will you be an angel and come and play my accompaniment?"
+
+As Miss Leigh was always ready to be "an angel" at a moment's notice,
+she offered no resistance when Mrs. Maitland took her by the arm and
+led her away to the music-room.
+
+Shafto and Miss Leigh were usually among the first to appear on deck,
+both being early risers; she, in order to leave a clear field for Mrs.
+Milward's prolonged toilet, and the elaborate operations of her clever
+maid.  The pretty grey hair had to be taken out of pins, brushed,
+back-combed and deftly arranged, as the frame to its owner's beaming
+and youthful face.  Lacing, buttoning and hooking also absorbed
+considerable time.
+
+As for Shafto, he was no lie-a-bed.  Even in those dark, raw winter
+days at Lincoln Square, when breakfast was served by electric light, he
+was always punctual, and one of the first to descend and retrieve his
+boots through the smoky atmosphere of the lower regions.  What a
+contrast were those murky hours to these glorious mornings in the
+tropics--the green translucent sea, the soft golden light, the salt,
+stimulating air, all shimmering and melting together!  The day really
+dawned for Shafto when a certain Panama hat, crowning a beautiful head,
+emerged from the companion ladder, and the smile in a pair of bright
+dark eyes greeted him like a ray of sunshine.  One morning, as the
+couple paced the deck before breakfast, accompanied by Mr. Hoskins, an
+excited fellow traveller accosted the trio.
+
+"I say," he began, "have you heard?  They have just signalled land
+ahead!"
+
+"Oh, where?" cried Sophy eagerly.
+
+"Do you see over the starboard bow, that faint dark streak upon the sky
+line?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Well then," he announced impressively, "that is Burma!"
+
+Shafto snatched up a pair of glasses and gazed at the long line of
+coast and, as he gazed, he felt as if he stood upon Pisgah and a whole
+new world lay open before him.  He was figuratively surveying the
+Promised Land!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A BURMESE HOSTESS
+
+Early in the same afternoon the _Blankshire_ picked up her pilot at
+Elephant Point and entered the famous Irrawaddy.  Long before her
+destination was in sight, twenty miles from the sea, the glorious Shwe
+Dagon, a shining golden object, towered into view, flashing in the
+sunlight against a background of impenetrable woods.
+
+Rangoon, on a river navigable for nine hundred miles, is a large and
+important seaport and, as the wealth of one of the richest countries
+filters through its ports, naturally the approach is thronged with
+shipping.  Our incoming liner met or overtook cargo steamers, tank
+ships, battered tramps and heavily laden wind-jammers in the tow of
+straining tugs, not to mention steam-launches, barges and swarms of the
+local _sampan_, or small boat.
+
+At the wharf where, amidst deafening yells and hoarse shoutings, the
+_Blankshire_ crept to her berth, crowds of different races--brown,
+black, yellow and white--awaited the English mail.  Passengers were
+eagerly claimed by their friends and hurried away to motors and
+carriages; all was excitement and bustle.  Alas! 'board-ship
+friendships soon evaporate, and presently Shafto found himself standing
+on the aft-deck with his gun-case and cabin luggage, deserted and
+forgotten--no, for here came Hoskins, the police officer, hot and
+breathless.
+
+"I say, look here, old chap!" he panted, "I'm just off to catch my
+train to Tonghoo, but I've had a word with FitzGerald; it will be all
+right about the chummery; they can take you in on Monday.  I see Salter
+on board, one of the head assistants in Gregory's; I expect he has come
+to meet you.  Well, I must run; so long!"
+
+This good-natured fellow passenger was immediately succeeded by a cabin
+steward.  "Been looking for you everywhere, sir," he said; "there's a
+gentleman come aboard asking for you."  As he concluded, a spare,
+middle-aged man wearing a large topee and a dust-coloured suit
+approached and said:
+
+"Mr. Shafto, I believe?" and offered a welcoming hand.
+
+"Yes," assented the new arrival.
+
+"I'm Salter from Gregory's.  Manders, the head assistant, asked me to
+meet you.  I'll be glad to help you get your things ashore and take you
+to the Strand Hotel, where I have booked you a room."
+
+"That is most awfully good of you," replied Shafto.  "On Monday I
+believe I am to get quarters in a chummery."
+
+"Ah, so you are settled, I see.  Now, if you will show me your baggage,
+I have a couple of coolies here with a cart and a taxi for ourselves."
+
+Mr. Salter proved to be remarkably prompt in his measures, and in less
+than ten minutes Shafto found himself following his flat narrow back
+down the steep gangway and setting his foot for the first time on the
+soil of Burma.  He halted for a moment to look about.  Here was a
+landmark in his life, a new sphere lay before him; the street was
+humming and alive with people, and he stared at the jostling, motley
+crowd of British, Burmese, Chinese, mostly a gaily-clad ever-changing
+multitude.  Among them were shaven priests in yellow robes.  Shans in
+flapping hats; right in front of him stood a stalwart Burman, wearing a
+white jacket, a pink silk handkerchief, twisted jauntily around his
+bullet head, and a yellow Lungi, girded to the knee, displayed a
+three-tailed cat tattooed on the back of each substantial calf.
+
+And what a curious, soft and penetrating atmosphere; moist and loaded
+with unfamiliar, aromatic odours!
+
+However, Mr. Salter, a man of action, had no time to spare for
+contemplation, and briskly hustled the stranger into a waiting
+taxi--for the old days of the rattling, shattered _gharry_ are numbered.
+
+"I suppose this is all new to you?" said Shafto's acquaintance as they
+struggled up the crowded Strand, lined with imposing offices and vast
+_godowns_, or warehouses.
+
+"You may say so," he replied, eagerly gazing at the dense passing
+throng--animated women with flower-decked hair, square-shouldered,
+sauntering men, carrying flat umbrellas and smoking huge cheroots,
+Khaki-clad Tommies and yellow-faced John Chinamen.
+
+"Oh, there's lots to see in Burma," continued Salter, "an extraordinary
+mixture of people and races, and a most beautiful country; such
+splendid rivers and forests--but here, in Rangoon, everyone has but one
+idea."
+
+In answer to Shafto's glance of interrogation he said:
+
+"We are a commercial community, and our sole aim and object is to work,
+to get rich, and go home."
+
+"But that doesn't apply to the native?"
+
+"No, the Burman does not work; he is merely a spectator.  The industry
+of others amuses him; his chief object is to enjoy life.  Well, here is
+the hotel; let us go in and have a look at your quarters."
+
+After the baggage had been disposed of and Shafto's room inspected and
+criticised, his companion still lingered talking.  To Salter, the
+proverbially eccentric, this new-comer appeared to be an intelligent
+young fellow whom he would like and take to.  There was no superior
+"just out from London to the back of God-speed" air about him.  On the
+contrary, he appeared to be genuinely interested in his surroundings
+and insatiable for information.  It struck him, too, that the forlorn
+stranger would put in a mighty dull and solitary evening and, stirred
+by a benevolent impulse, he said:
+
+"Suppose you come back and dine at my diggings?  I may be able to give
+you a few hints as I am an old hand."
+
+"I should be delighted," assented Shafto, "if it won't be putting you
+out?"
+
+"Oh no, not a bit; Mrs. Salter is accustomed to my bringing home a
+stray guest."
+
+"Had I not better dress?"
+
+"Certainly not; come along with me now, just as you are."
+
+Thus the matter being arranged, the pair once more entered the taxi,
+and were presently steering through the traffic of various
+thoroughfares and teeming bazaars.  All at once, with an unexpected
+lurch, the car turned into a wide, well-shaded enclosure and halted
+before a low, heavily-roofed house, supported on stout wooden legs--an
+old-time residence.
+
+"Do you go up," urged Shako's host, "whilst I pay the taxi--you can
+settle with me later."  Here spoke the canny Yorkshire tyke.
+
+Shafto, as requested, climbed the stairs leading up to a wide veranda,
+on which opened a sitting-room, lined with teak wood and lighted by
+long glass doors.  Here he was confronted by a little Burmese woman
+with a beaming face.  She wore a short white jacket, an extraordinarily
+tight satin petticoat, or, _tamain_ of wonderful butterfly colours,
+enormous gold ear-rings, and a flower stuck coquettishly behind her
+left ear.  At first he supposed her to be a picturesque attendant, but
+when she extended a tiny hand loaded with rings and murmured "Pleased
+to see you!" he realised that he was addressed by the mistress of the
+house.
+
+"This is my wife," announced Salter as he entered.  "Mee Lay, here's
+Mr. Shafto, one of our new assistants, just out from England; I hope
+you can give him a good dinner?"
+
+"Oh yes, it will be all right," and once more she beamed upon her
+guest, "I will go and see about it now."
+
+And in spite of her tight skirt, Mee Lay glided out of the room with an
+air of surpassing grace.
+
+"I dare say you are surprised to see that Mrs. Salter is of _this
+country_," said her husband, as he sank into a chair; "but it is by no
+means an uncommon match here.  Burmese women are very good-humoured and
+capable; they make capital wives, and there is no denying the
+fascination of the Burmese girl--always so piquant and smiling and
+dainty.  They have also a wonderful capacity for business and
+money-making, and a real hunger for land; some of the best plots in and
+about Rangoon have been picked up by these shrewd little creatures.
+The men-folk, on the other hand, are incurably lazy.  They loaf, gamble
+and amuse themselves and leave their women-kind to trade, or to weave
+silks and manufacture cheroots; numbers of them are in business.  Mee
+Lay, my wife, owns and runs a good-sized rice mill; and if you were to
+look into the back compound you would see it entirely surrounded by her
+matted paddy-bins, biding a rise in the market."
+
+A yet further surprise awaited Shafto, in the shape of a little sallow
+girl, with clouds of crimped golden hair, beautifully dressed in
+European style, in a white embroidered frock and wide silk sash.
+
+Rosetta had inherited the high cheek-bones and short nose of her
+mother's race, the blue eyes and firm jaw of her Yorkshire parent.  On
+the whole, she was an attractive child.
+
+Miss Rosetta Salter received the strange gentleman with overpowering
+condescension, and spoke English in a thin, squeaky voice.  In a
+flatteringly short time she had descended from her high horse, and
+accepted Shafto as a friend, revealed her age (eight years) and told
+him all about her French doll and her new brown boots--also from Paris.
+
+The dinner, which was announced directly after the return of Mrs.
+Salter, proved to be excellent, well cooked and a novelty.  For the
+first time Shafto tasted real curry, also mango fool.  The appointments
+were exclusively European, with the exception of a massive silver bowl,
+filled with purple orchids, which adorned the centre of the table.  Two
+snowy-clad Madras servants waited with silent dexterity and
+conversation never flagged.  Salter discoursed of chummeries and the
+_Blankshire_ passengers, and Mrs. Salter thoughtfully prepared the new
+arrival for the alarming insects of Lower Burma, whilst Rosetta, for
+her part, kept up an accompaniment on a high chirruping note.
+
+During a momentary pause Shafto was startled by an odd sound--an
+imperious, unnatural voice that called, "Tucktoo!  Tucktoo!  Tucktoo!"
+
+"What is it--or _who_ is it?" he inquired anxiously.
+
+"Oh, it's only a large lizard that lives under the eaves," explained
+Salter, "one of our specialities.  In the rains, when he is in good
+voice, he is deafening."
+
+"He brings good and bad luck," added Mrs. Salter.  "Oh, yes, that is
+so," and she flipped the air with her two first fingers, a favourite
+gesture among Burmese women.
+
+"How do you mean luck?" Shafto asked.
+
+"If he gives seven 'Tucktoos' without stopping, that is luck--great big
+luck--but if he goes on, he brings trouble."
+
+"Only if he stops at an odd number," corrected the child.
+
+"I see you know all about it," remarked the guest.
+
+"Oh, yes, our Tucktoo never goes beyond seven--I think he is old--and
+mother says the _nats_ are kind to us."
+
+"The cats are kind to you!" ejaculated Shafto.  "But why not?"
+
+"No, no," hastily broke in Salter, "nats are spirits, good spirits or
+bad, who live in the trees; you will hear enough about them before you
+are a month in Burma.  Their worship is the national faith."
+
+"But I thought Buddhism----" began Shafto, and hesitated.
+
+"Oh, yes, ostensibly and ostentatiously, but wait and see."
+
+"I am a Catholic," announced the child abruptly.
+
+She was excessively self-conscious and anxious to show off before
+Shafto.
+
+"Are you really?" he said with an incredulous smile.
+
+"Oh, yes, I attend the convent school; I am learning French and
+dancing, I go to mass; mother goes to the pagoda festivals--mother is a
+heathen."
+
+"Rosetta!  Mind what you are saying," sharply interposed Salter; "your
+mother's no more a heathen than yourself."
+
+"Rosetta is a nasty little girl," said Mrs. Salter, rising, "she
+forgets herself before company, and must go away to be----"
+
+A succession of shrieks interrupted the verdict.
+
+"Oh, do forgive her, please!" implored Shafto; "I ask it as a favour, a
+special favour."
+
+Meanwhile Rosetta clung to her mother apostrophising her in an unknown
+tongue, then with piercing screams, entirely regardless of her
+beautiful clean frock, she flung herself flat upon the floor.
+
+If Shafto had been inclined to meditation, he might have reflected on
+the future of the offspring of two such divergent countries as the West
+Riding of Yorkshire and Pegu.  At one moment the prim, well-mannered
+English girl; the next, an impulsive, emotional daughter of the Far
+East.  When she grew to woman's estate, which of the races would
+predominate?
+
+Meanwhile, as Rosetta lay prone and kicking upon the _dhurri_, her
+father murmured apologetically:
+
+"When the lassie is a bit over-fired and excited, she doesn't know what
+she is saying."
+
+Mee Lay raised her struggling offspring, was about to bear her away and
+give her "Tap Tap," when again Shafto interposed:
+
+"Oh, I say, do forgive her this time, please, Mrs. Salter.  This is my
+first day in Rangoon--and I ask it as a particular favour."
+
+Mee Lay, an adoring parent, was by no means reluctant to grant his
+petition, and when the tearful culprit was released and set down, she
+turned to Shafto and said in her piping treble:
+
+"Thank you, nice gentleman, but she would not have hurt me much.  It
+was not I who said mother was a heathen savage, but Ethel Lucas, and I
+slapped her, so I did--and Sister gave me a bad mark.  I, too, go to
+the pagoda festivals and like them awfully much.  There are bells and
+beads, and flowers and priests, the same as in the convent."
+
+"Now that peace has been declared, Rosetta, here is a chocolate," said
+her father, "and you can go to bed.  Shafto, we will adjourn into the
+veranda to smoke, watch the rising moon, and listen to the hum of the
+bazaar--a new sound for your ears!"
+
+In a few minutes both were extended in comfortable, long cane chairs,
+no doubt experiencing an agreeable sense of _bien etre_.  The outlook,
+with its heavy foliage, was restful to the eye, and the air was charged
+with a spicy warmth.
+
+Presently Salter began: "On Monday you are due at the office to report
+yourself.  You need not be scared at the Head, although he has a stiff,
+discouraging sort of manner, and they say that, like the east wind, he
+finds out all your weak points in the twinkling of an eye!  He is just
+and impartial, and no man is more respected in the whole of Burma than
+George Gregory.  I suppose you know that Gregory's is one of the
+oldest-established houses here?"
+
+Shafto nodded; he had learned this fact on board ship.
+
+"We do a great trade and employ a number of young fellows, mostly from
+public schools and universities.  One or two other firms do not engage
+gentlemen--for reasons that, perhaps, you may guess.  Out of business
+hours our house keeps a sharp eye on their employes.  A young chap can
+get into any amount of mischief in Rangoon--Rangoon is full of
+temptations."
+
+"Oh, is it?" muttered Shafto indifferently--what could its temptations
+offer in comparison to London?
+
+"Anyhow it seems a huge, stirring sort of place," he added, as he
+watched motors, bicycles, and _gharries_ whirring past the entrance.
+
+"Stirring!  Why you may say so--it's humming like a hive day and night.
+There are so many taps to turn in this wealthy country--timber, rice,
+wolfram, jade, tin, oil, rubies.  A man with a little capital, if he
+does not lose his head, can make a fortune in ten years, especially in
+paddy.  Our particular trade is teak and paddy--that's rice, you know.
+I expect your work will be on the wharf and pretty heavy at first."
+
+"Well, anyway, it's an open-air job."
+
+"Yes, you have the pull now; this is our cold season--October to March;
+but the hot weather is no joke; as for the rains, you might as well
+live in a steam laundry; we get a hundred inches here in Lower Burma."
+
+"A hundred inches!" echoed Shafto, "you are not serious?"
+
+"Yes; it pours down as if the sea were overhead, and goes on steadily
+for days.  Frogs flop round and round your room, and you can almost
+hear the trees growing.  In the rains the forests are a wonderful
+sight, such dense masses of foliage and flowers.  Can you imagine great
+trees entirely covered with exquisite blooms, and garlands of pink and
+lilac creepers interlacing the jungle?"
+
+"How gorgeous!  Perhaps I may see all this some day," said Shafto,
+"after I have explored Rangoon itself."
+
+"Well, I hope you may," assented his companion, "and now I want to ask
+you a strange question."
+
+"All right--ask away!"
+
+"You have only been a few hours on shore, and I am curious to know if
+you have received any impression of the place and people--you know,
+first impressions go a long way!"
+
+"Yes.  Although I have only just rattled through the streets and along
+the Strand, the impression I gathered is that the Burmese appear to be
+an amazingly happy crew, with no thought for the morrow; they were all
+laughing and chattering as if life was a splendid joke and they enjoyed
+it thoroughly.  The _joie de vivre_ simply hits me in the eye!"
+
+"I can explain all that," said Salter, putting down his cheroot and
+sitting forward in his long chair.  "The Burman has no fear of death,
+but proclaims an intense consciousness that it is a mere passing over
+to another existence--one of a chain of many future lives--and I think
+I may say that this belief is universal.  They also declare that a
+man's present life is absolutely controlled by the influence of past
+good or bad deeds, and that in the next world they may possibly be
+better off than they are in this.  Although a Burman gives alms,
+worships at the pagoda on appointed days, and repeats the doxology he
+has learnt at school, he governs his life by the _nats_--spirits of the
+air, the forests, streams, and home, who must be propitiated."
+
+"I never heard of these _nats_ until now," said Shafto.
+
+"No; but, as I have said before, you will hear a good deal about them
+here, especially if you mix with the Burmans."
+
+"I certainly hope I shall see something of the people of the country."
+
+"You will find them interesting; a full-blooded, pleasure-loving race;
+they've curious, original ideas, drawn from their ancient and sacred
+books, and an amazingly generous notion of time.  For instance, they
+talk glibly of worlds a hundred thousand years old, and believe that
+this very planet has been destroyed no fewer than sixty-five
+times--chiefly by fire, on ten occasions by water, and once by wind!
+According to them, as in the New Testament, 'a thousand years are but
+as yesterday.'  And yet they do not acknowledge the existence of a
+Supreme Being--the highest glory is annihilation."
+
+At this moment a light little figure flitted up the stairs, leaving an
+impression of slender elegance and satin skirt.
+
+"Ah, there goes Ma Chit, my wife's cousin!" explained Salter.
+
+"And I must be taking my departure," said Shafto rising.  "What you
+have been telling me is extraordinarily interesting, and I would gladly
+sit on for hours, but it is ten o'clock."
+
+"Yes, and we workers are early birds.  I hope you will come and see us
+again.  I have been twenty years in the country and I can tell you many
+a curious tale.  To-morrow will be Sunday and, if you like, I will call
+round and take you to do a bit of sightseeing--the Pagoda and the
+lakes."
+
+"I should enjoy it of all things; perhaps you will have tiffin with me
+at the hotel?"
+
+"No, you must come to us; twelve o'clock sharp, and afterwards we'll
+make a start."
+
+"Then I'll just go in and say good-bye to Mrs. Salter."
+
+When they entered the sitting-room, where lamps had been lighted, they
+found the lady of the house in an ecstasy of admiration, gesticulating
+with her tiny brown hands, as she gloated over a length of rose and
+silver brocade.  Standing beside her was the proud owner of this
+magnificence; a slim, graceful girl, wearing heavy gold ornaments and
+flowers in her hair, and, in spite of an extravagant use of pearl
+powder, undeniably pretty.  Her slanting eyes were long-lashed and
+expressive, and her little mocking mouth wore a bewitching smile.
+
+"Look at my _tamain_, Papa Salter!" she cried; "a piece of the best
+satin, just enough for a skirt--one yard and a half; Herr Bernhard
+brought it to me from England."
+
+"Splendid indeed, Ma Chit," he replied; "you will cut them all out at
+the big festival and the _Pwes_.  Mee Lay, Mr. Shafto wishes to say
+'good night'!"
+
+Mee Lay took a somewhat preoccupied leave of her guest, her eyes and
+attention being riveted upon the gorgeous material in her hand; but Ma
+Chit accorded the young man a gay salutation and a splendid view of her
+beautiful white teeth.
+
+Salter accompanied his guest to the entrance gate, giving him careful
+directions as to the whereabouts of his hotel.  It was an exquisite
+starlight night; the roar of the bazaar, the clang of the trams, and
+the whistling of launches were in the distance; the compound itself was
+so still that the sudden thud of a fallen jack-fruit made quite a
+startling sound.  As the men exchanged last words, their attention was
+arrested by a charming tableau in the lighted sitting-room; two figures
+were outlined in strong relief against the dark teak walls, both
+absorbed in conversation.  Ma Chit presented a particularly attractive
+picture, with her rose-crowned head, graceful posture, and waving
+hands; even as they gazed, her rippling laugh drifted seductively
+towards them.
+
+"In this country, great is the tyranny of Temptation, and _there_ is
+one of the temptations," gravely announced Salter; "Rangoon is full of
+these fascinating _chits_, who have no morals, but are witty,
+good-tempered and gay.  Ma Chit--the name means 'my love'--is said to
+be irresistible and the prettiest girl in the province; she is
+Bernhard's housekeeper."
+
+"His housekeeper!" repeated Shafto; "why, he told me he lived at the
+German Club!"
+
+"That may be; but he has a fine house in Kokine.  It is not an uncommon
+situation--that sort of temporary marriage.  Ma Chit looks after his
+interests, rules his household, and makes him comfortable; her people
+acquiesce.  All marriages are easily arranged and easily dissolved
+among the Burmans.  A young man may offer sweets, serenade a girl a few
+times; if he is acceptable, there's a family dinner, with much chewing
+of betel nut, and that constitutes the ceremony!"
+
+"What a happy-go-lucky country!" exclaimed Shafto.
+
+"Happy, yes!  Lucky, I'm not sure!  Well now, don't lose your way;
+first turn to the right, second to the left, and there is the Strand.
+Good night!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+EAST AND WEST
+
+The first and principal sight in Rangoon is the great Shwe Dagon
+Pagoda, and on Sunday afternoon Shafto and his new acquaintance passed
+between the golden lions at its base, and slowly ascended flight after
+flight of steep brick steps, lined with flower-decked shrines and
+blocked by dense masses of worshippers, who were swarming up and down.
+
+The temple stands in imposing majesty on a wide platform and dominates
+the town--in fact, apart from the trade and business element, the
+Pagoda _is_ Rangoon.  The splendid edifice is entirely encased in
+plates of solid gold, and the "Ti," which rises from the inverted
+begging-bowl, is studded with priceless precious stones--emeralds,
+rubies, sapphires and diamonds--which flash and glitter in the sun.
+These have been presented by pious pilgrims from all parts of the
+province and beyond; for, with the exception of the Caaba at Mecca, no
+earthly shrine attracts such multitudes, or receives such generous
+largesse.
+
+Shafto and his companion having toiled up the steps, worn hollow by
+millions of feet, halted on the plateau, which was half-covered with
+little stalls, whose keepers were selling flowers, candles, flags,
+dolls, and images of Buddha--made in Birmingham.  Here were hundreds,
+nay thousands of joyous gaily-clad worshippers moving to and fro, a
+truly brilliant pageant of passing life.  It was difficult to say which
+were the more strikingly dressed: the men in brilliant turbans and silk
+waist cloths, or the women in satin skirts of endless pattern, their
+chignons wreathed with flowers, wearing a profusion of gold ornaments,
+and attended by many children.
+
+"Ah, I see you are struck with the spectacle!" said Salter.  "Isn't it
+an orgy of colour--rose, orange, purple, scarlet?  There is nothing
+more picturesque than a Burmese crowd."
+
+"Yes, a great show!" rejoined Shafto; "in gala costume.  I can now
+understand why the national emblem is a peacock."
+
+As they made their way through the throng there was a clanging of
+melodious gongs and sounds of loud continuous chanting, whilst overhead
+the far-away sea breeze stirred the bells on the Ti to a silvery
+tinkle, tinkle.
+
+To Shafto this scene was amazing and impressive; the wonderful golden
+Pagoda with its crown of jewels, the vast multitudes in many-hued
+garments, the flowers, fluttering flags, coloured lights, all as it
+were attuned to the accompaniment of merry voices, sonorous Gregorian
+chanting, and deep-toned gongs.
+
+And what a labyrinth of shrines!  Hours might be spent examining their
+rich carvings.  At one of the principal of these shrines a service was
+proceeding; to Shafto, it recalled the celebration of mass in a Roman
+Catholic chapel, for here were shaven priests intoning prayers on the
+steps of a decorated altar; here also were incense, lights, and a
+multitude of devout people, kneeling, rosary in hand, chanting the
+responses.
+
+Among the worshippers Shafto recognised Mee Lay and her cousin Ma Chit,
+attired in what, no doubt, were their festival toilets.  Mee Lay's
+white jacket was fastened by diamond buttons, and large diamonds
+sparkled in her little brown ears; as for Ma Chit, she was adorned with
+the national gold necklace, or _dalizan_.  In her sleek, black hair
+were artfully arranged sprigs of scarlet hibiscus, and between her tiny
+hands, glittering with rings, and uplifted palm to palm, she held a
+beautiful flower, which, when her devotions were accomplished, she laid
+upon the shrine with an undulating movement of adoration and grace.
+
+"You see my wife follows her own religion," remarked Salter, "and I
+make no objection.  I was brought up as a Baptist, in the very
+strictest sense of the word.  Rosetta, as you already know, is a Roman
+Catholic; sometimes Mee Lay brings her here; the service and the
+spectacle are attractive enough, though never so to me.  My
+Nonconformist blood leaves me cold to this sort of display.  Mee Lay is
+a good, religious woman; when you come to think of it, the East is far
+more devout than the West.  She insists that our faith is a mere feeble
+copy of Buddhism, which had six hundreds years the start of
+Christianity.  There is no doubt that the Buddhists preach most of the
+moral truths that are to be found in the Gospels, and Buddha was a
+Deliverer, who taught the necessity of a pure life, of self-denial and
+unworldliness.  He exhorted his disciples to practise every virtue.
+But here is the difference between Buddhism and Christianity: Buddha
+brings a man by a thorny path to the brink of a huge, black chasm, and
+drops him into annihilation."
+
+"It seems unsatisfying," said Shafto.  "Yet, by all accounts, Buddhism
+is a wonderful religion.  I heard a fellow on board ship discussing its
+code and the extraordinary way in which it has fastened on mankind, and
+spread.  He declared that every fourth human being who came into the
+world was a Buddhist!"
+
+"So they say," replied Salter with a careless shrug.  "I doubt if the
+assertion would hold water.  At the same time Buddha has an enormous
+number of followers in China, Tibet, India, and Ceylon; they, too, have
+traditions of a Holy Mother and Child, of a fast in the wilderness, and
+here, even now, crucifixion is the form of capital punishment."
+
+"And what do you think about Buddhism in Burma?" inquired Shafto.
+
+"Buddhism will hold its ground, in spite of many converts among the
+Karens.  The Burmans are a sunny, happy people, as you see, who hope
+for a good time here, and a good time in the worlds to come.  They held
+the same expectations and creed, and wore the same clothes, two
+thousand years ago; time does not appear to touch them; they are as gay
+and irresponsible as so many butterflies.  You know Kipling's lines to
+Rangoon?"
+
+Before Shafto could reply, Salter quoted in a sonorous monotone:
+
+  'Hail, Mother!  Do they call me rich in trade?
+    Little care I, but hear the shorn priest drone,
+  And watch my silk-clad lovers, man by maid,
+    Laugh 'neath my Shwe Dagon.'
+
+"From the 'Song of the Cities.'  Rather appropriate to the occasion,
+eh?"
+
+"Yes, fits it to a T," assented Shafto, as his eye wandered over the
+vast assemblage on the plateau, talking, joking, laughing, smoking,
+absolutely content with the day, without a thought for the morrow.
+
+The atmosphere felt heavy with the scent of incense, flowers, and
+cheroots; little bells still tinkled gaily and the air was full of
+silver music.
+
+"Now I should like to show you the reverse of this scene," said Salter;
+"it won't take you long," and he led his companion away to a solitary,
+deserted place at the rear of the Pagoda.
+
+"Here," he said, indicating some dilapidated moss-grown stones, "are a
+number of totally-forgotten English graves.  There was desperate
+fighting all round this very plateau when we first came to this
+country, some seventy odd years ago; these dead, forgotten pioneer
+fellows struck a stout blow for the British flag.  British and German
+trade, thanks to them, have flourished like a green bay tree; ships and
+railways carry all before them, and the days of the caravan are
+numbered.  Well, now we shall move on to the Royal lakes and Dalhousie
+Park, and see all we can, for, after to-day, you won't have much spare
+time for doing the tourist--you will be a cog in the machine."
+
+The scene presented by the Royal lakes proved an uncompromising
+contrast to that at the Pagoda; save for the Eastern background of
+palms and bamboos the gathering might have been in London.  Here were
+motor-cars, smart carriages, pretty women wearing the latest fashions,
+men in flannels and tweeds; there was but little colour in their
+clothes--or their complexions--no brilliant orange or flaming scarlet,
+no bells, gongs, buoyant vitality, or merry laughter; the community
+were languidly discussing the mail news, the latest bridge tournament,
+and the approaching race meeting.  By the lakes you encountered
+Europe--more particularly Great Britain.  At the Shwe Dagon you found
+yourself in touch with an older world and face to face with the silken
+East!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+"KEEP AN EYE UPON HER"
+
+Gregory's proved to be a vast and imposing concern, occupying a
+prominent situation on the Strand and evidently doing an immense trade.
+All this the new assistant readily gathered as Salter steered him in
+the direction of the manager's sanctum.
+
+Here he found the head of the firm, a tall individual, with grizzled
+hair covering a fine square head, a hard, clean-shaven face, and a
+pince-nez--which pince-nez he invariably removed when about to make a
+disagreeable remark.  He received the new employe with an air of cool
+detachment, and shook hands in a manner that implied, "You must not
+expect this sort of thing every day."  Being taller than Shafto, he
+appeared to tower over him as he questioned him respecting the firm in
+London--which was but a small and insignificant offshoot of the great
+house in Rangoon; then he made a few perfunctory remarks on the subject
+of the voyage out, and said:
+
+"I understand from Salter that you have found quarters in a chummery; I
+hope your house-mates will prove congenial----" he paused and added as
+a sort of afterthought, "Mrs. Gregory is usually at home on Thursdays
+from three to six."
+
+"Thank you," murmured Shafto.
+
+The principal then struck a handbell, which summoned an elderly man to
+his presence.
+
+"Lowcroft," he said, "this is Mr. Shafto, who will take over Mr. Shaw's
+share of the landing business; you had better show him round and give
+him instructions.  By the way," turning to Shafto, "I suppose you don't
+know a word of Burmese or Hindustani?"
+
+The new arrival announced his complete ignorance of either language.
+
+"Then you must see about getting a munshi at once."
+
+And with a nod the new assistant found himself dismissed.
+
+On the very first Thursday after his arrival in Rangoon, Shafto
+presented himself at the "Barn," a residence purchased many years
+previously for the use of the then reigning Gregory.
+
+The house was large but unostentatious; the well-matured beautiful
+grounds and gardens were notable even in Rangoon.  A recent
+acquaintance, who escorted Shafto, presented him to Mrs. Gregory, a
+smart, sandy-haired little lady of five or six and thirty, with an
+animated, expressive face, intelligent grey eyes, and slightly
+prominent white teeth.  She was exquisitely dressed in some soft pale
+blue material, and wore a row of large and lustrous pearls.  Among the
+crowd of guests the newcomer discovered, to his great relief, several
+of his fellow-assistants, and not a few passengers from the
+_Blankshire_, including Mrs. Milward, who hailed him with a radiant
+countenance and plump, uplifted hands.
+
+"My dear Douglas!  How I've been longing to see you!  I'm off to
+Mandalay to-morrow morning."
+
+"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."
+
+"And I'm very sorry to go--there's such lots to do and see in this
+surprising place, but Ella has nailed me down to a date.  Have you seen
+anything of Sophy--I mean," correcting herself, "Miss Leigh?"
+
+"No, I've been tremendously busy fitting on my new harness and have had
+no time for calling."
+
+"And yet you are _here_!" she protested, with arched brows.
+
+"Oh yes, but this is official; Gregory as good as ordered me to wait
+upon his consort."
+
+"Hush, hush, Douglas!  She is a great friend of mine--my own cousin,
+and a dear.  Of course, I know that George looks as if he had swallowed
+the fire-irons, but that really means nothing; he is obliged to keep
+all you naughty boys in order!"
+
+"You think I'm a naughty boy?"
+
+"Oh well, I didn't mean that, my young Sir Galahad!  Now come away with
+me and I'll show you the wonderful ferns and the orchid house.  I must
+have a good, comfortable, private talk."
+
+As soon as the pair found themselves alone in the fernery she turned to
+face him, and said, with unusual animation:
+
+"Now I want to tell you about Sophy--I'm miserable when I think of her."
+
+"Miserable--but why?"
+
+"When you've been to call at 'Heidelberg'--I may tell you it's miles
+and miles away--you'll see for yourself; it's my opinion that she has
+been decoyed out to this country under false pretences."
+
+"Oh, but surely Mrs. Krauss is her own aunt?"
+
+"She is, and more or less an invalid, utterly broken down by years of
+Burma.  Mrs. Krauss is apathetic, dull, and boneless, and looks as if
+you could fold her up and put her in a bag.  Herr Krauss is a fat,
+loud-talking, trampling German--_not_ a gentleman, but a man with a
+keen eye to business.  His wife's half-caste maid who waited upon her,
+managed the house, and was with her for years, has married and gone to
+Australia, and poor Sophy has been imported to replace the treasure;
+that is, to nurse her aunt, run the house, and play the old bounder's
+accompaniments, for he, like Nero, is musical.  He is also a friend of
+that odious Bernhard's.  Bernhard is a well-born Prussian--I'll say
+that for him--the other is of the waiter class, who has made his money
+in China and Burma."
+
+"Oh, come, I say, this is rather bad!  What's to be done?"
+
+"I only wish I knew.  The Krauss abode is large and gloomy--it looks
+like a house in a bad temper, and stands in the heart of the German
+community; the servants seemed a low-class lot, the rooms were dark and
+untidy, and smelt of mould and medicine, but Sophy was just as bright
+and cheerful as usual; apparently delighted with everything--loyal, of
+course, to her own blood.  Now, I know that you and Sophy are friends,
+and I want you to keep an eye upon her," concluded this injudicious
+matron.
+
+"I'm afraid my eye will not be of much use," protested Shafto, "I am
+most frightfully sorry for what you tell me, but Miss Leigh has lots of
+pals.  There are the Pomeroys, Maitlands and----"
+
+"Yes, that's true," interrupted Mrs. Milward impatiently, "but she has
+no way of getting about.  Krauss takes the car and is away in it all
+day.  I gather that he has the strict German idea about a girl's being
+brought up to cook, to sew, to slave, to find _all_ her interests in
+her home!  In fact, he told me so plainly; he also added that he had
+paid for Sophy's passage and implied that he intended to have the worth
+of his money--his pound of flesh!"
+
+"Brute!" ejaculated Shafto.
+
+"Agreed!  I have enlisted one friend for the poor child.  Polly
+Gregory--she is so clever, clear-headed and decided, and will be a rock
+of strength--she is sure to like Sophy, eh?"
+
+"Oh yes, that will be all right!"
+
+"I put in a good word for you too, Master Douglas."
+
+"That was kind," and he swept off his straw hat.
+
+"I wonder if that's meant sarcastic?  Perhaps you think good wine needs
+no bush?  Yes, and I've told Polly I knew you as a boy--and how,
+instead of quill-driving, you hoped to wear a sword."
+
+"Hope told a flattering tale," he answered with a laugh.  "Don't forget
+that the pen is the mightier of the two."
+
+"No," she dissented; "I back the sword, though it's rarely drawn now,
+thank goodness.  Well, I've said my say and given you my impressions
+and instructions; we must go back and join the _Burra Mems_.  I shall
+write to you from Mandalay and see you later, when I pass through to
+Calcutta.  Now you had better go and try to get a set of tennis," and,
+with a wave of adieu, Mrs. Milward strolled away across the grass, an
+attractive personality with her fresh complexion, soft round face, dark
+pencilled brows, and bewitching mauve toilet--which toilet was
+subsequently tabooed by her daughter as "too young"!
+
+"George," said Mrs. Gregory to her husband, "that new importation is a
+nice boy; Milly Milward has known him since he was in blouses; he has
+had rather hard luck; his father was swindled out of a comfortable
+fortune, and he has to turn to and earn his bread."
+
+"What we all do!" growled George.
+
+"Yes, but some ways are so much more agreeable than others.  His
+profession was to have been along the path of glory."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Why, the Army, of course."
+
+"And now his profession is checking inventories and cargoes.  As he is
+new to the business, he will have his hands fairly full for the next
+few months; so, my dear Polly, don't turn his head just _yet_."
+
+"As if I ever turned anybody's head."
+
+"I cannot answer for others, but you certainly turned mine."
+
+"Ah, but that was twelve years ago; I'm afraid my fascinations have
+faded since then.  Joking apart, George, Milly has left me two
+legacies--two proteges to befriend.  Shafto is one--I am to invite him
+to tea, and talk to him with wisdom, and win his complete and entire
+confidence."
+
+"Oh! and the other?"
+
+"The other is Miss Leigh, whom she chaperoned from home.  She is living
+with an aunt, who is married to a German named Krauss."
+
+"Yes, I know; a poisonous chap!"
+
+"So she seems to think, and that this girl, who by all accounts is very
+pretty and charming, and a marvellous pianist, has been lured out to
+act as maid and housekeeper, and save the pocket of Herr Krauss.  Now,
+as I have two legacies, I want to know if you will take one of them off
+my hands?"
+
+"As if my hands were not full!"
+
+"Yes, officially, only; now I offer you your choice.  Which will you
+have?  Shafto or the girl?"
+
+"You need scarcely ask; I'll take the girl, of course, and leave you
+Shafto."
+
+"Oh, you are an old silly!" she exclaimed, ruffling up his grizzled
+hair; "I wonder which of us will have the better bargain."
+
+With regard to the subject of Mrs. Gregory's conversation, Douglas set
+to work with the proverbial enthusiasm of a new broom and soon
+became--as Salter had predicted--a cog in the whirling wheels of a
+machine.  But Thursday being the Station holiday, he hired a taxi and
+had himself driven out to Kokine, in order to call on Mrs. Krauss and
+Miss Leigh; unfortunately his journey proved to be a waste of time and
+money.  The leisurely servant who emerged from the entrance of
+"Heidelberg," salver in hand, accepted his visiting-card with a salaam,
+and then announced with stolid unconcern:
+
+"Missis can't see."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE MANTLE OF FERNANDA
+
+During the long and weary wait whilst the _Blankshire_ was being made
+fast, Sophy Leigh and her girl friends had collected in a group taking
+leave of one another and making plans for future meetings.
+
+"I must say I envy you," said Lena Morgan, the elder of the two plain,
+pleasant sisters, whose father was "something in timber."  "You will be
+the darling of enormously rich relatives, have several motors, and
+horses galore."
+
+"I'm not so sure," she gaily rejoined.  "'Galore' is such a big word,
+but from what my aunt has told us, I believe I shall have what is
+called 'a good time,' and I hope everyone of us will share it.  I
+expect Aunt Flora will be here to meet me," she added with happy
+certainty.
+
+"Why, of course she will," assented Eva Pomeroy; "she does not have a
+niece out every mail.  I dare say she has already bought you a nice
+saddle horse.  You will be riding every morning, and we can meet and
+arrange all sorts of jolly picnics and expeditions.  I shall come round
+and look you up as soon as I've unpacked and settled."
+
+At this moment a heavy bang announced the letting down of the gangway,
+over which a crowd instantly poured and scattered about the decks.
+
+Among the first to appear aft was an immense individual, wearing a
+loose tussore suit, a huge pith topee, and a black and yellow
+cummerbund.  His face, with its great jowl, wide lipless mouth, short
+chin, and a pair of goggle eyes, was distinctly of the frog type.
+
+"Which of you is Miss Leigh?" he demanded in a loud voice, as he
+approached the group of girls.
+
+Sophy stood forward and before she could evade the outrage, this ugly
+fat man had put his hands on her shoulders and given her a smacking
+kiss on each cheek.
+
+Even in this exciting moment of imminent departure, the circle paused
+for a moment and stared aghast--such an appalling person to claim and
+kiss Sophy Leigh!  What a frightful shock for the unfortunate
+girl--whilst the sensations of several young men on the verge of the
+group are better imagined than described!
+
+Herr Krauss, for his part, had received a surprise of a far more
+agreeable nature, being entirely unprepared to welcome such a pretty,
+fashionable young lady, in the character of his wife's niece.  Flora
+had invariably spoken of her relatives as "ugly, dowdy little things";
+but then, she had only known them at the awkward age and, being herself
+remarkably handsome, was super-critical with regard to beauty.
+
+"Now come along and show me your luggage," urged Herr Krauss, releasing
+his new acquaintance, "and I will see about it.  The hand gepaeck can go
+in the car."
+
+With a sense of dazed bewilderment, Sophy took a hasty leave of her
+friends and prepared to follow her leader.  As she kept close behind
+him, whilst he forced his way through the crowd, she noticed his short,
+thick neck, and powerful, aggressive shoulders--she also noticed that
+he allowed her to carry all her parcels herself.
+
+When at last they reached the car, he stepped in with surprising
+agility and said as he seated himself:
+
+"Now come along, put your things, umbrellas, wraps and parcels here.
+My man," nodding towards a native, "will look after the heavy baggage.
+Better stick your dressing-bag in front, as there is not much room.  I
+take up two shares--ha! ha!"
+
+This remark was painfully true.  His burly form occupied most of the
+back seat, and Sophy with difficulty squeezed herself in beside him.
+As they glided slowly away, through the dense throng, she looked about
+her--her curiosity as raw and eager as that of Shafto.
+
+"What a wonderful, busy place!" she exclaimed.  "I see you have
+telephones and trams in all directions."
+
+"Oh, trams!" Krauss echoed contemptuously.  "We have _everything_ in
+Rangoon; great shops and offices, public buildings, a cathedral, a
+mosque, theatres, clubs, sawmills, rice mills, banks--oh yes, it's a
+fine place, and so rich," and he smacked his lips as he added, "Burma
+is the land of opportunity."
+
+"How is my aunt?" inquired Sophy.
+
+"Only middling--she will be glad to see you, and I expect you will do
+her good.  We live a long way out--in Kokine, where Germans herd
+together, and I take this chance of a talk.  I am a busy
+man--particularly of late; and time with me means _money_, so I'll tell
+you what I have to say in as few words as possible."
+
+Sophy nodded her head in agreeable assent.
+
+"Some years ago my wife met with a bad accident--a fall, out
+paper-chasing.  It did not seem much at the time, though she lost her
+nerve; but it came against her later.  During the last two or three
+years her health has broken down; she suffers from chronic neuralgia in
+head and spine, and for days she lies like a dead woman."
+
+"Oh, poor Aunt Flora, how very sad!"
+
+"Yes, you may say so.  Well, for the last ten years she has had an
+invaluable maid--Fernanda, a Portuguese half-caste, a treasure, who
+waited on and nursed her, and took entire charge of the housekeeping.
+Fernanda understood my tastes to a T--the curries and stews and blood
+sausages that I am fond of, and was a rare hand at coffee.  Then came a
+blow!  Fernanda made up her silly mind to marry a Scotch engineer and
+go to Australia.  I was at my wits' end the day she gave notice; I said
+to myself: 'Ach Gott! what can we do?  No maids in Rangoon, and meine
+liebe Flora so helpless!'  Then a splendid thought came into my
+mind--her nieces!  Flora is fond of her family and has often talked of
+your mother, and of you, so I wrote off at once, and--here you are!"
+
+Sophy was about to speak, but he laid a heavy, restraining hand upon
+her arm and continued:
+
+"There are just one or two little things I wish to say.  Your aunt has
+a clever ayah who knows what to do, and when she has her attacks I
+leave her alone--by her own wish.  Also, she doesn't like to have her
+health noticed--though everyone knows that she's more or less an
+invalid.  I believe, if her mind were diverted and occupied she would
+be better."
+
+"I'm a pretty good nurse," began Sophy; "I've a Red Cross certificate
+and I like nursing----"
+
+"Oh, that is of no use," he interrupted impatiently.  "You must nurse
+her _mind_; amuse her with cards, reading, games, music--that is your
+job.  Well, then there is the housekeeping; you will have to take the
+place of Fernanda.  She looked after the servants, the mending, the
+stores, and the cooking--you shall step into _her_ shoes.  Of course,
+it will be an immense responsibility for a young girl."
+
+As he spoke he turned his head and looked at his _vis-a-vis_ with a
+glance which seemed to imply that he was endowing her with an empire.
+
+"Of course, I am aware that you English are slatternly, ignorant, and
+extravagant managers," he continued pleasantly, "but my excellent
+friend and neighbour, Frau Wurm, has promised to take you in hand."
+
+"But I'm afraid I could not undertake all this," protested Sophy.  "I
+know very little of housekeeping in a large establishment.  I can knit
+and sew, make coffee and savouries, arrange flowers--and that's about
+all."
+
+"Gott!  Gott!  Can you not make confitures and cakes and salads?
+Confiture I must have with every meal--a nice saucer of cherries or
+raspberries or greengages, so good with meat.  Well, well, never mind,
+you shall soon learn.  Frau Wurm will teach you much.  We no longer see
+company--just two or three men to dine and smoke; your aunt has dropped
+her English circle.  The English community changes, and many of her old
+friends have gone away or died--and a good job, too!  We live in the
+German quarter and are surrounded by compatriots.  You speak German, of
+course?"
+
+"No--only French; German is so difficult."
+
+"Tch! tch! tch!  How lazy you English are!  We all speak English.  As
+for me, my mother was English--you could not tell that I was not born
+an Englishman?"
+
+Apart from his appearance and guttural r's, this claim was justified.
+
+"I suppose you made lots of friends on board ship?"
+
+"Yes, a good many."
+
+"Girls, I suppose--idle girls, who will come buzzing round to coax you
+to play with them.  That is all they are good for; but you will have
+your work, as I have pointed out.  If you are industrious, I shall lend
+you a horse that was your aunt's--he is not up to my weight--and I will
+take you to our fine club when I can spare an afternoon.  At present, I
+am immensely occupied, engaged in collecting wolfram.  Do you know what
+wolfram is?"
+
+"No, I have never heard of it," humbly admitted Sophy.
+
+"Well, it is ore used for hardening steel--extremely scarce and
+valuable; it comes from Tavoy, but business connected with it takes me
+up and down the river, and even as far as Calcutta and Singapore.  Now,
+with you to look after the house and your aunt, I shall feel so free
+and easy in my mind.  Ah, here we are; this is 'Heidelberg,'" he said,
+as the car swung in between two tall gate piers.
+
+"Heidelberg" was a good-sized residence, with spacious surroundings;
+palms, bamboos and crotona abounded, and a wonderful collection of
+gigantic cannas--red, yellow and orange--gave colour to the compound.
+A crowd of lazy retainers, who were hanging about, gaped in silence
+upon the new arrival.
+
+"Now, I'll take you to your aunt at once," said Krauss, descending
+heavily from the car, but making no effort to assist his niece.  Then
+he led the way upstairs, striding along the veranda with a heavy,
+despotic tread, and through a large, dim drawing-room, where Sophy
+caught an impression of much carved furniture, the figure of a large
+alabaster Buddha gleaming through the shadows, and a stifling
+atmosphere of dust and sandalwood.  Pushing aside a tinkling bamboo
+screen, they entered another apartment, which was yet gloomier and more
+obscure, and here on a wide sofa, propped, among large, silk cushions,
+lay a sick and wasted woman, who turned on Sophy a sallow face and a
+pair of drowsy, dark eyes.
+
+"Here is your new treasure, mein schatz," announced her husband!  "I
+brought her straight up."
+
+"Oh, dear child," she murmured, "this is one of my--my dreadful days;
+so sorry--so sorry--so sorry," and she slowly closed her eyes upon her
+pretty niece.
+
+Sophy stooped and lifted her hand (which was limp and clammy) to her
+lips, and said to herself, as she did so, that poor Aunt Flora was
+woefully changed.  She recalled her as a beautiful vision, beautifully
+dressed, and so gay.  Now her face was yellow and withered, and she
+looked positively old and gaunt.
+
+All at once a buxom ayah advanced---a stout, straight-backed Madrassi,
+with her black hair in a chignon, a ring in her nose, jewelled rings in
+her ears, wearing a handsome blue-and-gold saree, coquettishly draped
+round her ample form, the usual short silk bodice, or _choli_, and
+numerous heavy bangles.  She salaamed to Sophy with both hands, and
+Sophy, who had never before beheld such an apparition, gazed in
+admiring silence; the ayah's carriage, her gait and sheeny
+protuberance, recalled to mind a prosperous pouter pigeon.
+
+"My missis plenty sick to-day," said Lily, "never seeing people--that
+no good; to-morrow, she may be arl right, but _now_ she must sleep, and
+I will take the new missy to her room."
+
+Sophy's room, which was large and, rather bare, overlooked the stables,
+cook-house and servants' quarters, and here she was introduced to her
+own attendant Motee, a timid creature in white, who seemed to rise, as
+it were, out of the floor.
+
+"Motee is the best lady's ayah in Rangoon," explained Lily with an
+offhand air, "she understands Miss Sahibs, she will pack and unpack,
+dress hair--and hold her tongue."
+
+After giving Motee some directions, unpacking her favourite hats and
+changing her dress, Sophy went forth in order to explore her new home.
+The whole establishment had a squalid, neglected appearance and sadly
+lacked the eye of the mistress.  The compound or garden, with its
+masses of gorgeous tropical trees and plants, was overgrown and jungly,
+poultry wandered about at their own sweet will, and even invaded the
+veranda--yet apparently there was no lack of staff.  On the contrary,
+from her bedroom window she had observed groups of men talking and
+smoking, presumably servants, as several wore silver badges on their
+turbans, and soiled white linen coats, and among these were some jovial
+Burmans and one or two wide-trousered Chinamen.
+
+No doubt Fernanda, the treasure, had kept the house in working order,
+and now that she had abdicated, her sceptre lay in the dust--in every
+sense of the word.  Was it her, Sophy's, duty to raise it?  She noticed
+quantities of litter and cobwebs in the drawing-room, but there were no
+flowers or knick-knacks; the silver teapot that appeared with tea at
+five o'clock was nearly black.  It was not a luxurious meal, a weak
+Chinese mixture, and a plate of fossilised biscuits.
+
+The morning after her arrival Sophy was awakened by a soft tremulous
+touch on her hand; she opened her eyes and beheld her aunt stooping
+over her.  She was clad in a shabby, splendidly embroidered red kimono,
+and appeared to have made a temporary recovery.
+
+Mrs. Krauss offered her niece a warmly affectionate welcome and many
+caresses, and then, sitting on the side of the bed, asked eager
+questions respecting her mother and sister, their mutual relations, and
+all the family news; but made no allusion to the state of her own
+health, or to the dirty and neglected condition of her establishment.
+
+"So Karl met you himself," she said, "although he is so busy; that was
+nice.  He has a kind heart and I do hope you will like one another."
+
+"Yes, I hope we shall," assented Sophy, but her conscience protested
+that this hope was vain--already she disliked him.
+
+"He looks to you to step into Fernanda's shoes; but of course I won't
+have that.  Fernanda had enormous wages.  Oh, dear child, I can't tell
+you how I miss her," and tears stood in her dark eyes.  "Karl has such
+odd, old-fashioned German ideas--you must not mind him--though he is
+getting more German every day.  He says a woman is just a hausfrau, who
+must sew and cook and do whatever a man orders.  She is to have no mind
+of her own--and very little amusement."
+
+"Then, Aunt Flora, one thing is certain--I shall never marry a German."
+
+"I dare say it strikes you as strange that I should have done so; but
+Karl has always been devoted to me.  I suppose your mother has told you
+that, when I was eighteen, I ran away to marry Charlie Bellamy, whose
+regiment was under orders for Hong Kong; we were fearfully poor and
+fearfully happy; then in a dog-cart accident, Charlie was killed and I
+was taken up for dead.  But I recovered, as you see.  The Hong Kong
+people were angels to me--one's own country folks always _are_, when
+you are in trouble abroad.  I was laid up for months.  When I was
+better, Karl came forward and implored me to marry him; I was almost
+penniless and loathed the idea of going home, so that was how it
+happened.  Karl was wealthy in those days, but afterwards he lost his
+money--our fortunes go up and down like a see-saw.  I am afraid he is
+too fond of speculating and taking huge risks; he likes to be a man or
+a mouse.  Just now he is not a mouse, but very, very rich.  Well, my
+dear, I'll leave you to have a bath and dress; we shall meet at
+breakfast; it is many a day since I appeared there.  Do you know I feel
+as if you'd done me good already!" and with a clinging embrace she
+departed.
+
+As hours and days wore on, Mrs. Krauss became more and more charmed
+with her companion; it did not take her long to discover her unselfish
+character, amazing adaptability to these strange surrounding's and,
+above all, her gift of music.  The invalid would lie prone on her sofa
+with a handkerchief over her face--rather suggesting the idea of a
+laid-out corpse--motionless and spell-bound, and when she spoke it was
+merely to murmur:
+
+"Please go on, please go on, Sophy darling; your music is wonderful;
+you are my David and I am gloomy Saul.  Oh, my dearest child, your
+exquisite gift has given me new thoughts, and opened the door of many
+delicious and half-forgotten memories!"
+
+Besides soothing her aunt with dreamy and enthralling melodies, Sophy
+remembered her "job," and endeavoured to interest her in patience, in
+puzzles and the latest stitch; but Frau Krauss had no taste for cards
+or puzzles.  She was, however, profoundly interested in Sophy's pretty
+frocks, examined them, priced them, and tried them on; otherwise she
+preferred to lounge among her cushions and talk, whilst her niece, who
+busied herself mending table linen, proved an invaluable listener.
+
+"You are a treasure, my sweet child," she remarked; "I have so often
+longed for a companion of my own class and nation.  All my neighbours
+are German; here in Kokine is a German colony; they all dine and have
+music, and gossip together, and I am rather out of it.  Of course, I
+speak German, but not very fluently.  There are two or three uncommonly
+smart women who speak English as well as you do, and their children
+have English names; but all the same, they hate us in their secret
+hearts and often give me a nasty scratch; so I needn't tell you that I
+don't open my heart to _them_.  The English live in another
+direction--down the Halpin Road, or out by the Royal lakes, and I have
+really grown too lazy and careless to go among them.  Besides, what is
+the good?  My friends return to England, new people come, but as for
+poor me--I stay on for ever."
+
+"And, of course, you would like to go home, Aunt Flora, would you not?"
+
+"For some things, yes!  But how can I leave Karl?  Also, I feel that
+this country has got such a hold upon me--oh, such a hold!"  And she
+closed her eyes and sighed profoundly.
+
+Three whole weeks had elapsed since Sophy arrived, and during that time
+she had not been outside the compound.  Herr Krauss had departed up
+country and taken the car with him; in the meanwhile Sophy had
+contrived to carry out some improvements, and induced her aunt to
+dismiss and replace several worthless servants.  There had been a grand
+cleaning, dusting, and polishing; the drawing-room was rearranged, the
+compound cleared and tidied, flowers decorated the sitting-rooms--and
+the hens had been interned.
+
+All this Sophy had not contrived to manage without assistance and
+advice; several German ladies had been to call, to inspect, to offer
+instruction, and to criticise.  There was Mrs. Muller, a remarkably
+pretty, smart young woman (wife of the head of an important firm, who
+spoke English perfectly, played bridge and the violin).  She and Sophy
+had an interesting musical talk, and arranged about duets and
+practisings; it was she who helped with regard to weeding out the
+staff, finding substitutes, and engaging a _dirzee_ to mend and make.
+Augusta Muller was a born administrator, and the head of the
+neighbouring community.  Another visitor was Frau Wendel, a dowdy
+middle-aged woman, who wore a hideous check cotton gown (much too
+short), green spectacles, and velvet boots; she stared hard at Sophy
+and asked her many personal questions.  There was also the Baroness--a
+little lady with small patrician features, faded light hair and a brisk
+manner; and last, but by no means least, Frau Wurm, who daily arrived
+to fulfil a promise to Herr Krauss, and every morning, for one solid
+hour, imparted to Sophy instruction in the management of native
+servants, the reckoning of bazaar accounts, the coinage--rupees and
+pice--and the proper way to keep house linen and stores.  She also gave
+her lessons in cooking on the oil stove in the veranda--not invalid
+delicacies, but dishes that were favourites with the master of the
+house, including confitures and Russian salad.
+
+Frau Wurm was a competent teacher--practical and brisk.  She drew up a
+list of menus, of shops to be dealt at, and hours for different tasks.
+As she worked she talked incessantly in excellent guttural English; her
+talk consisted of a series of personal and impertinent questions--her
+curiosity was of the mean and hungry class, and to every reply,
+satisfactory or otherwise, she invariably ejaculated, "Ach so!"
+
+Among other matters she desired to know Sophy's age--the age of her
+mother--and sister; if their washing was given out; who had paid for
+her passage and outfit; where her mother lived, the rent of her house,
+and number of servants.
+
+"So she keeps _three_ servants!" she exclaimed.  "Ach! but I thought
+she was poor!"
+
+"No, not poor," replied Sophy.  "Mother has a pretty good income."
+
+"Ach so! and that is the reason, I suppose, that you cannot cook or
+make your own frocks, or do anything useful.  Are you engaged to be
+married?"
+
+"No," replied Sophy with a laugh, "not yet."
+
+"Ach so!  I do not think your uncle will permit you to marry any of
+those silly young English officers, who play games all day and are
+ashamed to wear uniform.  Have you any relations in the Army?"
+
+"Yes, I have two cousins; one in the Flying Corps and one in a
+submarine."
+
+"Ach so!  That is _most_ interesting.  Some day you will tell me all
+about them, will you not?  I like to hear about submarines."
+
+"Very well," said Sophy, who was busy mixing a pudding according to an
+elaborate German recipe.
+
+"Yes, you are getting on," admitted Frau Wurm patronisingly.  "You will
+be a good little housekeeper before I have finished with you.  Tell
+me--how is your aunt to-day?" she asked abruptly.
+
+"She seems better, much better."
+
+"Yes, much better--better since yon came; you rouse her, though she
+doesn't get up now till eleven o'clock.  She suffers from such a
+strange complaint--very mysterious," she added with a significant sniff.
+
+"I don't think there is anything mysterious about neuralgia."
+
+"Oh, yes, there is," rejoined Frau Wurm, lowering her voice; "we often
+talk it over and wonder.  Long ago she was as others; now she is
+different, and seems but half awake--always so jaded and feeble and
+vague.  There was only one who understood the case--that was Fernanda,
+and she has gone away, ach so!"
+
+Sophy found her present life unexpectedly strenuous.  The mornings were
+devoted to incessant house-keeping, writing lists, and making pickles
+and German condiments; in the afternoons her aunt absorbed her time.
+She did not seem to come to life till then.
+
+"I know I am selfish," she confessed, as she looked through a number of
+invitations and cards which had been left for Sophy.  "I do so want to
+keep you to myself; I don't wish to share you with the Maitlands and
+Morgans and Pomeroys; you have brought me a new lease of life.  Of late
+I have felt like a half-dead creature, without even the energy to open
+a book, much less to get up and dress.  I have the Burma head, and take
+_no_ interest in anything."
+
+"Then do please take an interest in me, Aunt Flora," said Sophy
+coaxingly, putting her arm about her and smiling into her haggard eyes.
+
+"Very well, my dear; yes, I will--and at once.  I shall take you out
+and amuse you.  No time like the present!  To-day I shall telephone for
+a motor, get Lily to look out my smartest clothes, and you and I will
+make a round of calls.  You know it is the duty of a new arrival to
+wait on the residents?"
+
+Sophy nodded.
+
+"We will go in the afternoon, when they are all out, and so get through
+a number.  There are no end of sets here: the Government House, the
+civilian, military, the legal, and above all the mercantile--they
+really _count_, these merchant princes, being numerous, wealthy, and so
+generous and charitable, and can snap their fingers at precedence.
+Then there is the German set, to which I should belong--but I don't.  I
+tell Karl that my father was an English General and I am English--a
+real Englander.  We differ in so many ways from these German women--in
+what we eat, like, and believe, and how we make our beds, do our hair,
+and even how we knit!"
+
+Dressed for making a round of visits, Mrs. Krauss presented a different
+appearance from that loglike invalid her niece had first beheld.  She
+was a picturesque, graceful woman, with a pair of heartrending dark
+eyes, while a little touch of colour on her faded cheeks illuminated a
+face that still exhibited the remains of a remarkable beauty.  Mrs.
+Krauss, in a hired and luxurious motor, made a rapid round of calls
+among the principal mem-sahibs--who, as predicted, were not at
+home--and wrote her own and Sophy's name in Government House book.
+
+The last house they visited was "The Barn."  Mrs. Gregory received them
+and gave Mrs. Krauss and her niece a genial welcome.  She and Mrs.
+Krauss had known one another for years, but had never been really
+intimate or close friends.  Mrs. Gregory was energetic, modern and
+vivacious; the other, a somewhat lethargic beauty, was not interested
+in the burning questions of the day, and had long ceased to take part
+in local gaieties; but her niece, as Milly said, was charming, and Mrs.
+Gregory felt immediately inspired by a liking for this pretty,
+graceful, unaffected girl.  Sophy, for her part, was delighted with
+this large, English-looking drawing-room, with chintz-covered
+furniture, quantities of flowers, books, an open grand piano, and a
+pile of music.  The hostess, too, Mrs. Milward's cousin, attracted her
+and made her feel at home.
+
+"And what do you think of Rangoon?" inquired Mrs. Gregory.
+
+"Oh, do not ask her," interposed Mrs. Krauss with a dramatic gesture,
+"she has been with me for more than a fortnight, and this is the first
+time she has been beyond Kokine.  It is all my fault; she has had such
+a lot of housekeeping to see to and take over, and she is such a
+delightful companion that I have not been able to bear her out of my
+sight."
+
+"But, dear Mrs. Krauss, we cannot allow you to appropriate Miss Leigh
+altogether.  I hope you will spare her to me now and then.  Perhaps
+Miss Leigh could come with me to the Gymkhana dance next week?"
+
+"I should like it very much indeed," said Sophy, glancing
+interrogatively at her aunt.
+
+"Well, if I cannot take her myself, I shall be glad if you will
+chaperon Sophy.  She has not had any amusement yet and one is young but
+once!  And now we must go; no thank you, we won't wait for tea.  I
+intend to rush the child round the lakes--she has not seen them--and
+then do some shopping in the bazaar."
+
+After the departure of her visitors, Mrs. Gregory stood in the veranda
+and watched them as they sped away together--the dark faded beauty, the
+pretty, fresh girl--and said to herself:
+
+"I wonder!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE CHUMMERY
+
+The chummery to which Douglas Shafto had been introduced was a rambling
+old bungalow, and the edge of the Cantonment, sufficiently close to
+offices and work.  Although by no means modern, it boasted both
+electric light and fans, and the rent was fairly moderate; the
+landlord, Ah Kin, a Chinaman, called for it punctually on the first of
+every month, but closed his slits of eyes to various necessary repairs.
+
+Among the three chums already established was Roscoe, a dark, well-set
+up man of five or six and thirty, with a clean-shaven, eager face,
+artistic hands, and a pair of clever eyes.  Roscoe had been in turn a
+junior master, a journalist and actor.  Dissatisfied and unsatisfactory
+in these situations, his friends had found him an opening where he
+would be at too great a distance to trouble them--in short, a billet in
+a Burma oil company in Rangoon.  Amazing to relate, the post suited him
+and the rolling stone came to a standstill; well educated and
+intellectual, endowed with a curious eye and a critical mind, he was
+anxious to see, mark and learn the life of his present surroundings.
+Out of business hours, Roscoe devoted himself to this task with such
+whole-souled enthusiasm, that at times he actually imagined that he had
+his finger upon the pulse of this strange, new world.  The oldest and
+least prosperous of the fraternity, his companions liked him and spoke
+of Roscoe as "a queer fish, but a rare good sort."
+
+Patrick Ormond FitzGerald, police officer, a genial native of County
+Cork, was about thirty years of age, handsome, generous and hot-headed,
+who enjoyed every kind of scrap and sport--including chasing dacoits
+and smugglers.  He diffused an atmosphere of good humour and
+confidence, was universally popular and invariably in debt.  Chum
+number three, James MacNab, hailed from "Bonnie Scotland"--a spare,
+sandy, canny individual, who, far from being in debt, was carefully
+amassing large savings.  He had a pretty fiancee in Crieff, who sent
+him weekly budgets and the _Scotsman_.  He owned a sound, steady
+ambition, and seldom made an unconsidered remark.  "Mac" was an employe
+in the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, where he was rapidly rising, so to
+speak, to the surface.
+
+Each "chum" had a room to himself, but they took their meals together
+in a wide, open veranda, and were catered for by a fat Madrassi butler,
+who did not rob them unduly, seeing that his accounts had to be
+inspected and passed by thrifty "Mac," who ruthlessly eliminated all
+imaginative items.
+
+In their large compound their cook kept game fowl--long-legged fighting
+cocks from Shanghai--and other poultry, including the curly feathered
+freaks of Aracan.  Here FitzGerald stabled his horses--a capital pair,
+trust an Irishman for that!--and Roscoe, a stout elderly Shan,
+ironically nicknamed "Later On."  MacNab rode a bicycle; a useful mount
+that required neither oats nor groom.
+
+The three chums soon made Shafto feel at ease and at home; they were
+lively companions, too.  Roscoe was a capital mimic, and kept his
+company in roars of laughter.  FitzGerald drew notable caricatures and
+could tell a story with the best.  "The MacNab," who had a certain dry
+wit, took the stranger firmly in hand with regard to finance--namely,
+the furnishing of his room and other expenditure.
+
+"Bide a wee; go slow at first," he advised.  "Just hire a few sticks
+from Whiteway and Laidlaw, and wait your chance for picking up bargains
+at Balthasar's auction rooms; anyway, you don't want much.  A bed, a
+couple of chairs, table, washstand and tub.  I have a chest of drawers
+I can let you have cheap.  In the rains the pictures fall out of their
+frames, the glue melts, rugs are eaten by white ants in a few
+hours--and your boots grow mushrooms."
+
+"That's a cheerful look out!" exclaimed Shafto.  "Well, I have nothing
+to tempt the white ants."
+
+Shafto was adaptable and soon found his feet.  At first his entire time
+and energies were concentrated on his new job and learning an
+unaccustomed task; he spent hours on the wharves along the Strand, or
+across the river at Dallah, standing about in the glare, and dust and
+blazing sun, amongst struggling, sweating coolies and swinging cranes.
+He had also to supervise his Eurasian subordinates, see paddy shipped,
+and keep a sharp look out for their delinquencies, such as receiving
+"palm oil," or overlooking damages.
+
+In the midst of his daily work Shafto was not insensible to his
+surroundings, but, on the contrary, acutely alive to the strange
+bewildering glamour of the East, where life dwells radiantly.  He was
+interested in the ever-changing shipping, the crowds of strange craft
+lying by the wharves or moored to buoys in the great impetuous
+Irrawaddy, and the swarms of sampans darting in all directions.
+Overhead was the hot blue sky, blazing upon a motley crowd, which
+included the smiling faces of the idle, insouciant, gaily-clad
+Burmans--most genial and most engaging of nations.
+
+Down by the _godowns_, where Shafto worked, the stir and press of
+commercial life was tremendous; on every side roared and dashed trams,
+motor-lorries, traction engines  and--curious  anachronism--long
+strings of heavily-laden bullock carts.  Here was trade from the ends
+and corners of the earth; out of her abundance this rich country was
+shipping to the nations wood, oil, rice, metals, cotton, tea, silken
+stuffs, ivory, jade, and precious stones; masses of cargo lay piled on
+the wharves, amid which a multitude of noisy coolies, busy as ants,
+went to and fro incessantly, whilst in the distance the saw-mills
+screamed, the steam dredgers clanked, and tall factory chimneys
+blackened the heavens.
+
+All this amazing restless activity seemed strangely out of its natural
+perspective; the scene should have been laid in Liverpool or Glasgow,
+instead of displaying a background of palms, tropical trees, gilded
+pagodas, and a circle of gaily-dressed, idle natives.
+
+Although the British and German residents did not assimilate, Shafto
+saw a good deal of their mercantile element.  At ten o'clock every
+morning hundreds of Teuton clerks poured into Rangoon from the
+surrounding neighbourhood, and he could not but admire their
+indefatigable business activity, tireless industry, and world-wide
+radius of action.  Long, long after British firms had closed for the
+day, and their employes had rushed off to amuse themselves at football,
+golf, or boating, the German was still sticking to it and hard at work.
+But there was another feature of which Shafto was aware and could not
+applaud; this was the "spy" system.  There were rumours of an active
+gang (manipulated from Berlin), whose business it was to discover what
+English firms were doing in the way of large contracts, and
+subsequently to enter into competition, cut out, and undersell.  It was
+said that their methods were both prompt and ruthless.  It was also
+hinted that one or two firms winked at contraband, offered irresistible
+bribes, and made fabulous profits.
+
+The individual characteristics of his fellow-inmates were soon
+impressed upon Shafto, and the interest they evinced in him--a mere
+stranger--was undeniably agreeable to his _amour propre_.  MacNab, who
+was sincerely  concerned about his financial affairs, instructed him in
+many clever economies, and the localities of the cheapest shops; he was
+also emphatic on the subject of cautious outlay--and full of warning
+against the horrors of "a rainy day."
+
+FitzGerald, on the contrary, was eloquent in favour of "the best that
+was going, and hang the expense!"
+
+"You'll want two horses, my boy," he announced, "if you're going in for
+paper-chasing and the gymkhana; you might chance on a bargain, too.  I
+heard of a fellow who got a wonder for three hundred rupees, an ugly
+ewe-necked brute, but he carried off the Gold Cup and every blessed
+thing he was entered for.  On the other hand, such a windfall is a very
+outside chance; then you must have a small car for the rains--I believe
+you would get a nice little Ford for six hundred rupees."
+
+Shafto received this advice with a shout of laughter.
+
+"A racer and a car on four hundred rupees a month!  FitzGerald, you are
+raving mad.  If I followed your advice----" he paused.
+
+"You would soon be shunted out of Gregory's," supplemented MacNab, who,
+with impassive face, was lolling in a long chair, a silent but
+attentive listener.
+
+"Ah, don't be minding that fellow!" protested FitzGerald.  "Shure, he'd
+sell his father's gravestone, if he ever had the heart to put it up."
+
+"Well, I pay my way, Fitz, and can walk down Phayre Street at my case,
+whilst you----" he paused significantly.
+
+"Oh, well, I own a few bills, I know--six hundred rupees a month goes
+no way here, but it'll be all right when my ship comes in; anyhow, I'll
+have had a good time--I'll have _that_ to look back upon when I'm an
+old fellow upon the shelf.  Now you," suddenly turning to stare at
+MacNab, "never spend a rupee; you wouldn't take a taxi to save your
+life, never go to a cinema or a concert, nothing that costs money; you
+just bicycle and drink lemon squashes and write home."
+
+"Oh, if you want to ride in taxis and go to cinemas, you might as well
+be in London," put in Roscoe, who had joined them.
+
+"I wish to the Lord I was!" declared FitzGerald; "standing at the
+corner of Piccadilly Circus this blessed minute, and making up my mind
+whether to go to the Criterion grill or to Prince's?"
+
+"But as you happen to be in Rangoon, and _not_ Piccadilly Circus, why
+don't you open your eyes and see the place, and enjoy it?"
+
+"_Enjoy_!" repeated FitzGerald with a dramatic gesture; "see it?  I see
+a deal too much of it; while you fellows are snoozing in bed, I'm
+turning out filthy liquor shops, drug stores, tea houses, and stopping
+Chinese fights, smuggling and murder."
+
+"Yes, we know all that," rejoined Roscoe; "you look into the dark,
+Shafto and I see the bright side of this country."
+
+"Oh, yes, you're a bright pair, and here, I'm off!" exclaimed the
+police officer, as he suddenly caught sight of a mounted orderly and
+thundered down the stairs.
+
+Roscoe was neither economical, nor yet extravagant; he patronised the
+theatres and shows, made expeditions into the country on "Later On,"
+read many books, and occasionally took a trip up the river in a cargo
+boat.
+
+Shafto and Roscoe had one taste in common--a craving to see, know,
+understand and, as it were, get under the skin of this wonderful land.
+An impossible achievement!  From the first they had been drawn
+together; they were searching in an eager way for the same object; they
+had both been at a public school and once, when Shafto dropped a word
+about Sandhurst, Roscoe said:
+
+"I was intended for the Army, but I couldn't pass the doctor--rather a
+facer after scraping through the exam.; when that was knocked on the
+head, I got a post as assistant-master, but I couldn't stick it for
+more than a couple of years; after that, I was in a newspaper office;
+then I got badly stage-struck and went on the boards.  Unfortunately, I
+was not a success; I never could do the love parts--I neither bellowed
+nor whined; at last my people got fairly sick of me, I was so often
+'resting,' and they made a combined effort and hustled me out here into
+the oil business, and here I am in my element."
+
+"I can't say you look particularly oily," observed his companion.
+
+"Perhaps not, but I dare say to lots of young fellows I seem a dry old
+stick--anyhow, I _was_ a stick in 'the Profession.'"
+
+Occasionally Roscoe invited Shafto to accompany him of an evening, and
+introduced him to strange and wonderful sights--wrestling,
+cock-fighting, puppet _pwes_, or plays in the Burmese character.  These
+were acted by little figures wonderfully manipulated by strings behind
+the scenes; the holder of the string also supplied any amount of
+dialogue (not always of the most decorous description), and also all
+the latest and coarsest jokes from the bazaar.  To the Europeans these
+entertainments offered scanty amusement, but to natives they proved
+enthralling.  An audience would sit spell-bound and motionless for a
+whole night, soothed and cheered by the strains of the Burmese
+band--that unique and original collection of sounds and instruments.
+
+"In former days," explained Roscoe, as he and his companion sat staring
+at the bedizened actors and shrill little figures on a long, low stage,
+"these plays took place in the open air, on a _midan_; all the world
+was welcome, and as there was no charge, naturally all the world was
+present!  They were usually given by some rich Burman, or widow, in
+honour of some offering or anniversary.  An uncle of mine was quartered
+here years ago, and I remember him saying that he suffered sorely from
+these _pwes_; one play lasted for three consecutive days and
+nights--the Burmese brought their bedding.  The great _midan_ outside
+his bungalow was a seething mass of people; whose families were
+encamped--the place resembled a huge fair.  Some were bartering,
+gambling, or eating horrible-looking refreshment, and altogether
+thoroughly enjoying themselves; rows and rows squatted motionless on
+the ground in front of the stage; of course, sleep, with such a
+fiendish commotion, was out of the question, and so my uncle was
+obliged to get up and wander about among the masses until daybreak; he
+said he never could make head or tail of the play, but one of his
+brother officers loved it; he engaged an interpreter and squatted for
+hours in front of the stage, enjoying what he considered 'a priceless
+treat.'"
+
+Shafto, like Roscoe's uncle, failed to appreciate _pwes_, which were
+now held within stated bounds; he preferred out-of-door entertainments,
+as the heat, the smoke, the smell of raw plantain skins, the band, and
+the jabber were too much for him.
+
+Roscoe, his cicerone, had contrived to learn a little of the difficult
+Burmese language, and knew the town to a certain extent--including
+something of the vast underworld, and even FitzGerald admitted that
+"old man Roscoe" could tell a thing or two, if he liked.
+
+Before he had been long in Rangoon Shafto had also a glimpse into its
+depths.  One night, returning from a "sing-song," as he reached the
+bottom of the outer stairs, he was startled by a voice from the pitch
+dark space beneath the house--a voice which said in a husky whisper:
+
+"Is that you, Joe?  Joe, for God's sake stop and give me a couple of
+rupees."
+
+"It's not Roscoe," said Shafto, striking a match; "who are you?"
+
+The flickering and uncertain light discovered a gaunt and unshaven
+European in the shabbiest of clothes.
+
+"Roscoe's out; what do you want?" he brusquely demanded.
+
+"Only a couple of rupees," was the hoarse reply.  "I'm ashamed for you
+to see me; I'm down and under, as you may guess."
+
+"Drink?" suggested Shafto, lighting another match.
+
+"No; drugs--two devils: cocaine and morphia."
+
+"I say, that's bad; can't you take a pull at yourself?"
+
+"Too late now."
+
+"Nothing's too late," declared Shafto; "believe that and buck up.
+Well, here are four rupees for you."
+
+As he put them into a shaking hand the match went out, and the loafer
+noiselessly melted away into the soft and impenetrable darkness.
+
+Next morning Shafto informed Roscoe of this strange encounter.
+
+"Such a water-logged derelict was never seen!  One of your underworld
+friends, I take it?"
+
+"Worse than that," rejoined Roscoe; "he's my own first cousin."
+
+In reply to Shafto's exclamation he added: "His father was the officer
+I told you about, who was so terribly worried by the plays.  This chap
+was erratic, but a clever fellow and great at languages; he passed into
+the Woods and Forests out here, and enjoyed the wild jungle life for a
+good many years; now you see what he is--a wild man of the bazaars."
+
+"But I say, Roscoe; can you do nothing?"
+
+"Absolutely nothing; a cocaine case is hopeless.  Opium you might
+tackle; the other is beyond the power of man or woman."
+
+"But how does the fellow live?"'
+
+"God knows!" replied Roscoe.  "Most of these chaps keep body and soul
+together by stealing; there's a lot of smuggling going on in Burma, and
+I shouldn't be the least surprised if my cousin Richard had a hand in
+that!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+MR. AND MRS. ABEL SALTER
+
+Shafto had been six weeks in Rangoon and, thanks to his chums, was
+beginning to feel completely at home--as is sometimes the case with
+adaptable young people in a strange and fascinating country.
+
+His neighbours, the Salters, who were hospitable and friendly, had lent
+him a hand to find his bearings.  Occasionally, of an evening, he and
+Roscoe would stroll over there after dinner, and sit in the deep
+veranda discussing many matters with the master of the house.  Roscoe
+and Salter were more nearly of an age, and mutually interested in
+subjects that to Shafto seemed deadly dull and obscure.  He liked to
+hear about sport, the country, and the Burmese; to all such topics he
+was an eager and ready listener, but when philosophy and sociology were
+on the tapis he would join Mrs. Salter indoors, to discuss the paddy
+crop, inspect her great rice bins, and argue over prices and sales; or
+he would listen to blood-curdling tales about _nats_, or house spirits,
+related by his hostess in animated, broken English, and with
+appropriate gesticulations.  Mee Lay had a high opinion of the young
+man, and this was shared by her daughter, for "Shaft," as she called
+him, helped her to fly her kite, mended broken toys and brought her
+chocolates such as her soul loved.
+
+During one of their prowling expeditions Roscoe had imparted the
+life-history of Salter to his chum.  Salter's forbears were Yorkshire
+folk--thrifty, self-respecting, stiff-backed Nonconformists.  His
+father and grandfather belonged to what is called "the old school,"
+when parents ruled their families with an iron rod, and the meek,
+down-trodden children accepted punishment without question.  Salter's
+grandmother had dismissed grown-up sons from table and kept a
+rebellious daughter for weeks incarcerated in her room.  Salter's
+father had inherited her stern, Spartan spirit; he gave his heir a
+first-class education in the neighbourhood of London and, when he was
+twenty, recalled him to Bradford, there to take his place in the works
+and live at home.  But Salter, junior, having tasted the delights of
+liberty, found home life unspeakably irksome; the laws against drink,
+dancing, smoking and the theatre were Draconic.  He hated the long
+chapel service on Sunday, the endless hymns and emotional exhortations;
+the day concluding with family worship, which lasted three-quarters of
+an hour.  The young fellow dreaded the Sabbath and rebelled against his
+gloomy, comfortable, middle-class home, where he had no individuality,
+no rights--and no latch-key!  At last he broke loose--the flesh and
+blood of twenty-two years old revolted.  At twelve o'clock one night he
+found himself locked out and, as the first bold peal of the bell
+elicited no reply, he never again applied for admittance, but with four
+pounds in his pockets and a good saleable watch, launched his little
+skiff upon the great, wide world.
+
+Behold him now comfortably established in a foreign land, occupying a
+responsible position in a well-known firm, the husband of a clever,
+thrifty woman, who was actively engaged in building up his fortune.
+After an interval of some years, the Salters at home discovered that
+their prodigal had undoubtedly killed and thriven on his own fatted
+calf.  The usual little bird had informed them that "Abel was much
+thought of and prosperous; had a grand home in Rangoon, dozens of
+servants, and was married."  Friendly letters were dispatched--for
+"Nothing succeeds like success"--and a brisk correspondence ensued.
+Information and photographs were promptly exchanged, and the family
+received a nicely-finished presentment of Rosetta in her smartest and
+shortest frock.  They were much impressed by the grandchild born to
+them in Burma, and she was immediately installed in a handsome silver
+frame, introduced to all their neighbours and to most of their chapel
+friends.
+
+But what would have been the sensation of these worthy people if they
+had received a portrait of Mee Lay in full festival costume--flowers in
+hair and white cheroot in hand!
+
+On the subject of Mrs. Abel Salter there was but scanty information;
+her old maid sisters-in-law were given to understand that she sent them
+her best good-wishes--she also forwarded silks and jars of Burmese
+condiments, but her husband declared that she was very lazy about
+letter-writing and constitutionally shy.  Her maiden name, they were
+told, had been Mary Lee, and this information had sufficed.
+
+Besides having the entree to the Salters' domestic circle, Shafto had
+been elected a member of the Gymkhana Club, where he made various new
+acquaintances--and these increased in number as his prowess in tennis
+and cricket became evident; then, with the advice--and, indeed, almost
+under the compulsion--of FitzGerald, he purchased a smart stud-bred
+mare, certainly no longer in her first youth, but sound, clever and
+full of "go."  She was not called upon to shine on a race-course, but
+carried her master admirably in Station paper-chases on Thursday
+afternoons.
+
+By the MacNab this investment was looked upon with a dubious and
+unfavourable eye, although he was aware that the price of "Moonshine"
+had come out of a small nest-egg which her owner had brought from home.
+He pointed out the enormous price of gram, or English oats, and he
+earnestly entreated Shafto "not to be led into follies by other people"
+(meaning FitzGerald), "but to keep his head and go slow."
+
+During this month of November Shafto had frequently come across his
+fellow-passengers in the _Blankshire_; even Lady Puffle had
+acknowledged his existence with a bow; not once had he beheld the
+desire of his eyes--Miss Leigh.  She appeared to have vanished as
+completely as a summer mist and, it was whispered, had been swallowed
+up and submerged by the German colony.
+
+Mrs. Krauss had vouchsafed no notice of his visit and card; her niece
+was never to be seen either at the Gymkhana, or on the lakes--the
+principal meeting-places for young and old.  More than once he imagined
+that he had caught sight of her in the cathedral at evening service,
+but she looked so different in smart Sunday clothes--a feathered hat
+and gauzy gown--that he might have been mistaken, and he heard from
+MacNab (the gossip of the chummery) that Krauss had brought forward a
+remarkably pretty niece, who had recently played in a concert at the
+German Club, and made a sensational success.
+
+When Shafto rode in the mornings, he eyed expectantly every passing or
+approaching habit, but Sophy Leigh was never among the early
+cavalcade--for the excellent reason that she had no horse.
+
+Mrs. Gregory, in spite of multifarious occupations as the firm's
+vice-reine, had by no means forgotten pretty Miss Leigh, nor her
+cousin's emphatic instructions; the girl had failed to accompany her to
+the Gymkhana dance--"her aunt was ill; she had been unable to leave
+her"--a stereotyped excuse to every invitation.  The truth was that
+Mrs. Krauss, after two or three social efforts, culminating in a large
+dinner-party to her German neighbours, had collapsed with one of her
+worst attacks, and between nursing her relative and housekeeping for
+Herr Krauss (who was shamelessly greedy and exacting), Sophy had not a
+moment to spare, and the Madras boy turned away all callers--including
+Miss Leigh's friends--with his mechanical parrot cry, "Missis can't
+see!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+AT THE PLAY
+
+Theatrical performances are the chief entertainment in Burma; the
+Burmese as a nation delight in plays--operatic, tragic, opera bouffe
+and ballets, such as the "Han Pwe," when a number of young girls, all
+dressed as royalties, posture and dance with extreme grace; and as
+their training is perfect, the entertainment evokes unqualified
+applause.  So interested and absorbed do the audience become in long
+drawn-out dramatic performances, with interludes of dancing and
+singing, that they will bring their bedding, and not merely remain all
+night but several nights--according as the play may hold them!  As a
+rule, the background is a palace, and the plot concerns the love story
+of a prince and princess, which is interrupted by all manner of
+vicissitudes--some grotesque, others of genuine pathos; to these the
+accompaniment of soft, wailing Burmese music is admirably adapted.
+
+Po Sine, the greatest actor in Burma--an Eastern "star"--had recently
+returned to Rangoon from a prolonged tour, and his admirers, who
+numbered thousands, were all agog to see and welcome him.
+
+The principal theatre was established in a large space at the back of
+the Great Pagoda, trustfully open to the soft blue night, otherwise
+strictly encompassed with matting; for in these changed and
+money-making days, there was an official box-office at the entrance and
+no admittance without cash payment!  The stage was only raised a foot
+or two from the ground, and a long row of little lamps threw a becoming
+red light upon the scene.  Here many rows of chairs were arranged for
+the use of Europeans, whilst the Easterns sat upon the ground on mats
+and folded themselves up in easy native fashion.
+
+On the first night of Po Sine's reappearance, the arena was packed to
+the utmost limit of the matting.  In the front were assembled many
+European residents, who were treated to bunches of flowers, paper fans,
+cheroots and lemonade; also, in a reserved space and on gorgeous rugs,
+reclined a number of splendidly attired and bejewelled Burmese
+ladies--princesses of the Royal house, a sprightly and animated group;
+their flashing diamond combs and long diamond chains made a feature
+amid the audience.
+
+Mrs. Gregory had brought a small party, which included Mena Pomeroy,
+Robin Close--one of the assistants--and Douglas Shafto, who had never
+yet seen the famous Po Sine.  Somehow Miss Pomeroy and Mr. Close had
+contrived to get separated from their chaperon, but Shafto still stuck
+faithfully to his hostess.
+
+A puppet play represented the curtain-raiser, and as this, to Shafto,
+was no novelty, he stared about him at the masses of shining black
+heads; men with jaunty silk handkerchiefs twisted round their brows,
+women with their wreaths and golden combs--an undeniably smart
+audience--all smoking.  The stage was open to the dark blue sky, which
+was sprinkled with stars.  Right above them clanged a temple gong; from
+far down the river came the hoot of a steamer's syren, and during
+intervals the soft humming of the wind among the labyrinth of
+shrines--a complete contrast in every respect was this Eastern scene to
+the last play he had witnessed in a London theatre!
+
+All at once there was an influx of people surging in--crafty folk who
+knew how to avoid the curtain-raiser.  These included a number of
+Germans.  Among the party in the train of Mrs. Muller, and attended by
+Herr Bernhard, was Miss Leigh in a dainty white frock and
+flower-trimmed hat, but somehow looking a little bit out of the
+picture.  Her chaperon, magnificent in a Viennese toilet, unexpectedly
+encountered friends who had recently arrived from the Fatherland; these
+she hailed with boisterous jubilation, and as she chattered and
+gesticulated, listened and interrupted, she entirely forgot her charge;
+in fact, she moved on, still talking, and abandoned her, so to speak,
+to her fate.
+
+Sophy's fate, luckily for her, happened to be Mrs. Gregory, who signed
+to Shafto to rescue the young lady and conduct her to a place under her
+own wing.
+
+"How are you?" he said, accosting her eagerly.  "Mrs. Gregory has sent
+me to ask if you won't sit by her?  There is lots of room."
+
+"I should love to, but you see I am here officially with Mrs. Muller.
+I'll go and speak to her, but I think she has filled my seat."
+
+A hasty word to the chaperon, who had entirely forgotten her existence,
+released Sophy and, as she joined Mrs. Gregory, Frau Muller said with a
+shrug:
+
+"Oh yes, she is rather pretty in her way.  She has got among those
+odious English--let her stay with them!"
+
+(Then she threw herself once more into the interesting topic of the
+latest scandal in Frankfort.)
+
+"I am so pleased to see you," said Mrs. Gregory, making room for Sophy
+beside her; "what has become of you all these weeks?"
+
+"Oh, I have been in Kokine and quite safe," she answered, but her smile
+was not so ready and whole-hearted as it had been on board ship.  "Aunt
+Flora caught a chill and has been laid up.  Poor dear, she is a martyr
+to neuralgia."
+
+"I know she is subject to it, but surely she does not require you to be
+with her _all_ day?"
+
+"No, but Herr Krauss is at home now; the old cook has departed after a
+fearful explosion, and housekeeping is a struggle; servants are so
+difficult to find and deal with, especially by a strange 'missy' like
+myself.  And Herr Krauss is particular about punctuality and the plates
+being hot, and all that sort of thing; I have to make Russian salads,
+confitures and sauces, so I have really had no spare time."
+
+"Yes, I can imagine your hands have been pretty full.  But do you mean
+to tell me that _you_ run the house?"
+
+"I don't exactly run it, but I do my best to drag it along--and it's
+rather awkward from my being a new-comer; pice and rupees are
+novelties, and everything is supposed to be in German fashion."
+
+"German fashion!" echoed Shafto.  "What's that?"
+
+"Oh, particular hours, particular food, _Blutwurst_, sausages, Russian
+salads, cakes, creams, and plenty of them."
+
+"Well, I must say Krauss looks sleek and well fed; he does you credit!
+But don't you ever get your Sunday off or your day out?"
+
+"I suppose I do in a way.  I have been to dine with one or two of our
+neighbours, and we had some really first-rate music; and then, you see,
+we live at a long distance from the Cantonment and the Gymkhana."
+
+"But what about the car?"
+
+"Herr Krauss uses it; he is away most of the day."
+
+"But you have a horse to ride?"
+
+"Yes, there was one; rather a nice-looking little bay, but soon after I
+arrived, he was borrowed by a man who has taken it up to Prome."
+
+Mrs. Gregory had been listening to this conversation, making mental
+notes and setting down bad marks!  Her cousin was returning from
+Mandalay on the following day, and she determined that she and Milly
+would wait upon Mrs. Krauss, and request her to liberate this prisoner.
+Mrs. Krauss was a charming, indolent, clinging sort of individual, who
+had latterly sunken into a somnolent existence and rarely appeared
+above the social surface.  Formerly she had been a brilliant figure in
+Rangoon society, gave excellent dinners, danced, rode and played bridge
+and tennis; but, by degrees, she seemed to have dropped out of things,
+and Mrs. Gregory remembered how, once upon a time, when riding
+together, she had lamented that she had no children and no particular
+interests, and that her energy, such as it was, was ebbing rapidly.  Of
+course, she had been too long in Lower Burma--eight years of Lower
+Burma, merely diluted with an occasional few weeks at May Myo, was
+enough to undermine any woman's mental and bodily state.
+
+"And so your aunt has been ill?" she asked after a long pause.
+
+"Yes, but she is much better now and very cheerful, so I was able to
+leave her and accept Mrs. Muller's invitation to accompany her to this
+play."
+
+"You have seen nothing so far?"
+
+"Well, not much, but there is lots of time."
+
+Mrs. Gregory glanced at the girl and, in the searching electric light,
+noticed that her lovely colour was already fading, the lines of the
+face seemed a trifle sharper; beauty is fleeting in Lower Burma.
+Meanwhile Shafto, sitting so silent at the ladies' feet, was secretly
+boiling with rage.
+
+So the fat old German, in spite of his wealth, had made his wife's
+niece both sick nurse and house-keeper; one of these tasks was ample
+for any girl; Miss Leigh had been six weeks in Rangoon and had never
+even seen the Pagoda!
+
+"I know you are fond of riding," he began; "do you think you could come
+for a gallop if I produced a pony?"
+
+"And a chaperon," supplemented Mrs. Gregory.  "I can offer my services
+and a mount, and I'll call for you at seven o'clock on Thursday
+morning.  You may come, too," she added, turning to Shafto, "and we
+will go to the Pineapple Forest."
+
+"How delightful, and how very kind of you!" said Sophy.  "I am sure I
+can manage--as long as I am in by nine o'clock."
+
+"But why nine o'clock, my dear Cinderella?"
+
+"Because I have to interview the cook when he returns from the bazaar.
+Herr Krauss is something of a gourmand and rather querulous about his
+food, and he often brings in one or two men to tiffin or dinner."
+
+"A nice, amusing change," said Shafto.  "You must find old Krauss a bit
+monotonous.  What does he talk about?  Wolfram or sausages?"
+
+"He talks a good deal about my aunt--he really is devoted to her."
+
+"Well, I'll mark him up one for that.  I suppose the guests are his own
+compatriots?"
+
+"Yes, they come on business, and are nearly always the same.  They talk
+German all the time, which I cannot understand--only when they stare at
+me and say something about 'Englaenderin'; after dinner we have music
+and Herr Krauss and I play duets.  His instrument is the violin--most
+of the neighbours are musical, first-rate musicians and so critical; I
+appreciate that--it keeps me up to the mark."
+
+"I think, among them, they all keep you up to the mark," observed Mrs.
+Gregory, and whatever she was about to add was abruptly interrupted by
+a loud, swelling, unanimous murmur of "Ah Wah, Ah Wah," which suddenly
+rose from a thousand throats.  This rapturous acclamation hailed the
+appearance of Po Sine, the star of the Burmese theatre--unsurpassed and
+unapproachable in either tragedy or comedy.  Po Sine was nothing to
+look at--a thin, ordinary, little man, but endowed with genius; even
+those who could not understand a word he said immediately recognised
+the great actor.
+
+This particular play was a favourite comedy; shouts of laughter shook
+the audience and the encompassing walls of matting, and in this Shafto
+and his companion could not help joining.
+
+"I wonder what it is all about," said Sophy.  "I know it's very
+amusing.  What was that funny thing he said last?" she asked as the
+shrieks died down.
+
+Shafto coloured guiltily.  Although far from being an expert in the
+Burmese language, he had caught the drift of this sentence--a coarse
+_double entendre_, which he could not possibly interpret to a girl.
+Burmese plays are not always decorous; this particular performance was
+an odd mixture of ancient and modern.  The lovers, who were, as usual,
+princes and princesses, played stately roles and moved about with
+majestic dignity and in gorgeous raiment--their prototypes dated from
+the days of Buddha; on the other hand, the clown and the country men,
+who enacted the parts of villains and devils, were essentially
+modern--as quick with patter songs and up-to-date local events and
+jokes as the cleverest music-hall artist.  At intervals the weird
+Burmese band, with its clashing cymbals, harps and clarions, discoursed
+the latest Burmese operatic airs.
+
+It was one o'clock and the great bell in the heart of the Pagoda had
+throbbed out its long deep note, when Mrs. Gregory rose and collected
+her party.
+
+"I'm so sorry I can't take you with me," she said to Sophy.  "I hope
+your German friends will not remain all night.  However, I shall depute
+Mr. Shafto to look after you.  Please tell your aunt that I hope to
+call and see her very shortly--and do not forget that you are to ride
+with me on Thursday morning."
+
+As if it was likely!  Then Mrs. Gregory took her departure, leaving
+Sophy and her companion to a _tete-a-tete_.
+
+"I think we will move up closer to your friends," he said; "I see two
+empty seats behind them.  Our people can't stick this for more than
+three or four hours."
+
+"How have you been getting on?" inquired Sophy, "and how do you like
+Burma?"
+
+"Burma suits me down to the ground; I like it most awfully.  I've been
+very busy learning my job, but I've seen a good deal outside business
+hours."
+
+"What have you seen?"
+
+"Oh, well, wrestling, tattooing and cock-fights; I have been once up
+the river as far as Prome, and to several native shows, including a
+funeral."
+
+"How have you managed that?"
+
+"Salter, a fellow in our house, took me; the funeral was a strange
+affair--not a bit like ours; everyone in gala clothes, great feasting
+and a band in the house; altogether a lively entertainment.  When a man
+is dying, his friends come and gather round and cheer him, and tell him
+of all the good deeds he has done in his lifetime.  At the graveside
+there is an extraordinary business with a silk handkerchief, in which
+the nearest relation is supposed to catch and enclose the departed
+spirit, now in the form of a white butterfly--and dangerous to mortals
+for seven days and nights.  I have seen a good deal of native life
+already."
+
+"How lucky you are!" exclaimed the girl; "and I've seen nothing but
+Germans."
+
+"Salter has taken me about and naturally he has extra opportunities,
+being married to a Burmese."
+
+"Married to a Burmese?" echoed Sophy; her tone was incredulous.
+
+"Yes.  At one time it was quite a common thing.  Mrs. Salter--her real
+name is Mee Lay--is sitting over there in about the fifth row back,
+behind the fellow with the scarlet handkerchief twisted round his head.
+Presently you must turn and look at her.  She is a nice, cheery woman,
+and Salter is an interesting, original sort of man.  I dine with them
+now and then.  Mee Lay is uncommonly businesslike--has a good deal of
+land and a flourishing rice concern."
+
+"She has?  How amazing!"
+
+"I see you don't know much of Burma yet."
+
+"No; so far I am only acquainted with the bazaar prices, the gorgeous
+flowers, delicious fruit and futurist insects!"
+
+"Well, women do most of the business and do it well; the men are a
+lazy, loafing lot; very genial and sporting, fond of cock-fighting and
+gambling--absolutely regardless of expense or debt.  Mrs. Salter is
+rich; if you will look round now you will see her--the little woman
+with the yellow fan and diamond comb; notice her blazing ear-rings; and
+yet I have seen the same lady with her petticoats kilted high, standing
+knee-deep in a rice cart and diving with both hands into the grain to
+test its quality!"
+
+"That is a very pretty girl with flowers in her hair, beside her,"
+remarked Sophy; "look, she is nodding to you.  Who is she?"
+
+"Her name is Ma Chit; she is Mrs. Salter's cousin.  Sometimes she drops
+in when I am there; the Salters live close to my chummery.  I have a
+munshi now and I am learning Burmese."
+
+"And--and I am learning German!"
+
+"How do you hit it off with your uncle?"
+
+"Please don't call him my uncle."
+
+"Then I am answered."
+
+Sophy laughed and coloured brilliantly.
+
+"I suppose so.  We do not coalesce; our ideas, age and country are
+different; he is hard as a rock, brusque and overbearing--but amazingly
+clever and energetic.  He seems to hold so many threads in his hands,
+to deal with such numbers of people; his correspondence is enormous;
+his office, when he is at home, is surrounded and stormed by all sorts
+of people--Mohammedans, Chinese, Burmese, all waiting on his good
+pleasure and his nod.  I scarcely see anything of him except at meals,
+and then he is too much taken up with eating to have time to spare for
+conversation; but we meet in one spot--music-land!  He plays the
+violin; we do Beethoven together and are great friends; then when the
+piano closes----" she paused.
+
+"You are enemies?"
+
+"Not exactly enemies, but I do hate the way he gobbles his food and
+bullies the servants; and then he says such rude things about
+England--perhaps it's only done on purpose to make me angry?  He
+declares we are a wretched, rotten, played-out old country, going down
+the hill as hard as we can fly.  He is narrow-minded, too; so
+arrogant--the Germans can do no wrong, the English can never do right.
+I am telling dreadful tales, am I not?  All the same, he has an English
+wife, and is simply devoted to Aunt Flora; nothing is too good for her.
+It is really funny to see this rough overbearing man so gentle and
+thoughtful.  But then, she is a dear!"
+
+"Oh, is she?"
+
+"You shall see for yourself.  You must come to tea on Sunday.  I am
+sure I may invite you; Aunt Flora is so kind and sympathetic, and has a
+look of mother."
+
+"I'll come all right, if you think she'll not be _durwaza bund_."
+
+"No, she is ever so much better, but the last few years has been more
+or less an invalid."
+
+"What is her particular illness?  Is it fever?"
+
+"Fever and neuralgia.  Some days she will lie in a darkened room and
+see no one but her ayah; she won't even admit me, though occasionally I
+do slip in; she has had a bad attack lately, but is now convalescent.
+Oh, I see Mrs. Muller moving at last; now we shall be going."
+
+"I'm afraid you've found this show a hit dull."
+
+"Not at all--it has been a most interesting sight; I don't know when I
+have enjoyed myself so much."
+
+"So have I; it has been a----"
+
+Whatever Shafto was about to add was interrupted by Mrs. Muller, who
+pounced on his companion with a laughing apology, and handed her over
+to the charge of Herr Bernhard.
+
+Two days later Mrs. Gregory and Mrs. Milward called at "Heidelberg,"
+and on the veranda encountered Sophy, who was hurrying out to keep an
+appointment to practise duets with Frau Muller.
+
+"I'm so dreadfully sorry," she said, when the first greetings were
+over, "but I must go; I'll get back as soon as ever I can.  Aunt Flora
+is at home."
+
+But when Sophy returned the visitors had already departed, leaving
+their hostess a good deal disturbed.  Indeed, Mrs. Krauss's languid
+spirits had been violently shaken.  Mrs. Milward had remarked on
+Sophy's changed appearance, and her tone had been hostile.
+
+"It is very plain that Burma does not suit her," she said.  "I could
+not believe that any girl would have altered in so short a time; I
+shall write to her mother at once."
+
+"Oh, dear Mrs. Milward, what do you mean?"
+
+"I should think anyone could _see_ what I mean," rejoined the lady, who
+was very angry and had heard the tale of Sophy's heavy cares.
+
+"The girl looks ill.  I have known Sophy for years--known her since she
+was a small child--and I can assure you that she has never been
+accustomed to a strenuous indoor employment, to getting no exercise or
+relaxation--or ever meeting people of her own age."
+
+Her hostess was struck dumb; her torpid conscience suddenly awoke and
+condemned her; Mrs. Milward, who was immediately leaving Rangoon and
+had no fear of retaliation, continued with ruthless animosity:
+
+"It is true what you say--that your niece has been a wonderful comfort
+to _you_, but will it be a comfort to her mother when she hears that
+she is merely a hard-worked lady-help?  I think it would be well to
+arrange that she should return home with _me_."
+
+Tears now trembled in the culprit's dark eyes, and she fumbled for her
+handkerchief.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Milward," she said piteously, "I do see what you mean.  I
+have been ill and stupid; my husband has always spoiled me, and thinks
+that other people are only brought into the world to wait upon _me_.  I
+realise my selfishness now.  Yes, you are right, the child looks pale
+and no longer flits about the house singing her little songs.  I beg
+you will not alarm my sister; I will undertake that things are altered
+and you may depend upon me, dear Mrs. Milward; you have made me feel
+horribly guilty.  I know I am a self-centred invalid, but I intend to
+mend my ways."  And tears, no longer to be restrained, trickled down
+the worn, cadaverous face of Mrs. Krauss.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE CHINESE SHOP
+
+The solemn promise Mrs. Krauss had made to Mrs. Milward was honourably
+redeemed, and a new and agreeable vista opened before Sophy Leigh.  Her
+aunt roused herself, as it were, from a long sleep; the little bay
+horse was recalled from Prome; a Rolls-Royce was purchased (Herr Krauss
+signed the cheque without a murmur); a highly-recommended Portuguese
+butler was engaged to undertake the heavier forms of housekeeping; and
+Mrs. Krauss once more re-entered society--figuratively leading by the
+hand a lovely niece, of whom she was unaffectedly proud and who, she
+imparted to her friends, "had given her a new interest in life."
+
+Hitherto, she declared, she had felt like a flower that was withering
+for the lack of sun; now Sophy supplied the sunshine.  Sophy was
+endowed with a personality that inspired happiness, and looked on the
+world as the abode of joy.  And so at last pretty Miss Leigh tasted the
+delights of the Gymkhana Club, and took part in tennis, golf and
+dancing.  There were boating parties on the Royal lakes and picnics in
+the woods.  She made many acquaintances and had quite "a waiting list"
+of partners.  Sometimes of a morning, but much more frequently of an
+evening, after tennis or boating, Mrs. Krauss would drive down to
+Phayre Street.  There the shops were on the best European lines, and
+exhibited all the latest articles from London, Paris, or Berlin,
+tempting rupees out of people's pockets.  Mrs. Krauss was a liberal
+purchaser, whether of European stores, fancy goods, drapery, or
+jewellery; this generous aunt presented Sophy with a pair of heavy gold
+bangles, a string of pearls and an exquisite fan and kimono.  These
+latter were found at an Indian repository owned by a well-known
+Bengali, with a large clientele (Burmese themselves are too indolent to
+make successful shopkeepers--they much prefer to look on, and laugh,
+and bargain).  In this and other emporiums of the same class were to be
+found rare embroideries, ivory carvings, eggshell china, Oriental
+draperies, jade, and piles of Chinese and Japanese silks of the most
+exquisite fabric and colour.  Sophy liked to wander round, to marvel
+and admire, but soon discovered that to do the latter was to be
+immediately endowed with her fancy--be it an enormous Chinese jar, or a
+lacquered cabinet, or a mere silver bowl.  Mrs. Krauss firmly resisted
+every denial and excuse.
+
+"My dear," she would protest, "do not refuse me; mine is the pleasure.
+I don't know how to spend all my money, and never until now have I had
+a girl to whom I could offer presents--and to _give_ is such a joy.  I
+am a rich woman, with no belongings except you and yours.  Certainly, I
+don't deny that this big gong" (the present in question) "is rather a
+clumsy affair, but it is old and a beauty.  What a deep, rich,
+melancholy tone!  When struck it seems to tell of some sad, sad story
+that happened hundreds of years ago.  After you are married, dear
+child, it will be so useful in your hall."
+
+On these excursions there was one little shop that was never neglected
+or overlooked; this was situated in a narrow slum, a long way from the
+great artery of traffic and fashion.  After negotiating various
+tortuous windings and encountering horrible gusts of stale _napie_ and
+the ever-odorous _dorian_, the car halted at a certain corner, and Mrs.
+Krauss and her companion made their way into a narrow ill-lit lane, and
+entered a mean den kept by a fat, crafty-looking Chinaman and his lean,
+pock-marked son.  There was, as far as Sophy could discern, nothing
+whatever to interest or attract upon the premises.  The stock was
+ordinary and scanty; a few coarse china tea-sets, some teapots in cane
+baskets, paper fans, lacquer trays and odds and ends of the cheapest
+rubbish; but Mrs. Krauss solemnly assured her niece that "it was the
+_only_ place in Rangoon for the real guaranteed netsukes," of which she
+was making a collection.
+
+A Japanese netsuke is an elaborately-carved ivory button of various
+shapes and sizes--no two are alike; they take the form of men or
+animals and, as a rule, are executed with amazing delicacy, and, if
+signed and old, are of considerable value.
+
+Mrs. Krauss, who spoke a little Chinese--and was proud of her
+accomplishment--appeared to know the fat proprietor rather well, and
+together they would retire into a dim inner recess, illumined by an oil
+lamp hanging before an altar, and there examine, bargain and gloat over
+treasures.
+
+Meanwhile Sophy, who remained in the outer shop, was offered a seat and
+tea, without milk or sugar, in what resembled a doll's cup; by her
+aunt's express desire she always accepted this refreshment, although
+she found the decoction unspeakably nasty; it seemed to taste of an
+evil odour.  Sometimes Mrs. Krauss would linger for fifteen minutes,
+sometimes for longer, talking over netsukes and Hong Kong with Ah Shee.
+The atmosphere of the place was overpowering; such a stifling reek of a
+mysterious effluvium, the combination of joss sticks, stale fish,
+rancid oil, and a sickly taint like the fetid breath of some mortal
+sickness; it made Sophy feel faint and, after a short interval, she
+invariably made her way into the street, where the air--though by no
+means fresh--was an improvement on that within the shop.
+
+The street was narrow and squalid and the houses were dilapidated--even
+for a native quarter; passers-by had a slinking stealthy gait, and cast
+glances of surprise and suspicion at the young lady who lingered
+outside the premises of Ah Shee.
+
+One evening, as she waited thus, in the warm, damp dusk, FitzGerald in
+uniform clattered by; he caught sight of Sophy out of what is called
+"the tail of the eye," and pulled up so suddenly as to throw his horse
+upon its haunches.
+
+"Miss Leigh!" he exclaimed.  "Yes, it is!  May I ask why you find
+yourself among the Seven Dials, or devils, of Rangoon?"
+
+"Oh, Aunt Flora comes to Ah Shee's shop hunting for ivories; she is
+collecting netsukes."
+
+"Netsukes!" he repeated; "netsukes _here_!"
+
+"Oh yes, and such good ones--the best in Burma; but it's a horrible
+place, and as to the odours!" and she made a gesture expressive of
+disgust.
+
+"Yes, by Jove, the Chinese beat all the world in stinks; but I say,
+Miss Leigh, try to persuade your aunt to hunt elsewhere for
+ivories--this part of the world is unhealthy."
+
+"I'm not surprised at that."
+
+"Be advised by me and make _this_ your last visit to this chinky shop.
+Well, I must be shoving on," and he trotted away.
+
+A moment later Mrs. Krauss emerged and, by the quivering eye of an
+electric lamp, Sophy noticed that she looked strangely animated--indeed
+almost radiant.  No doubt she had secured some wonderful prize.
+
+"Who were you talking to, my dear?" she asked.
+
+"Mr. FitzGerald; he was so surprised to see me and says we ought not to
+come here--the place is unhealthy and, indeed, Aunt Flora, I wonder you
+can stand the reek of Ah Shee's den for so long without feeling
+horribly sick."
+
+"Oh, Mr. FitzGerald--the police-officer?  Yes, he is right; it is a low
+neighbourhood and the air is poisonous, but I've managed to get what I
+wanted," and she held up a pocket handkerchief bulging with ivories.
+"I won't have to come again for ages and ages."
+
+Meanwhile Ah Shee and son had shuffled off to summon the chauffeur, and
+the car now appeared round the corner of the street, looking like some
+crouching black monster, with round, fiery eyes.  Attended by the two
+obsequious Chinamen, Mrs. Krauss and her niece entered the motor and
+were speedily borne away.  For a considerable time the former did not
+open her lips, but lay back in her corner in an attitude of contented
+lassitude.
+
+They made their way homewards through the teeming bazaar and
+brilliantly illuminated Phayre Street, with its brave show of shops,
+offering a kaleidoscopic review of jewellery, glittering silver, cut
+glass and brass work, or masses of rich, many-coloured stuffs and
+silks, each shop with a special circle of admirers.
+
+It was the hour when offices disgorge their employes, when idlers come
+to lounge and stare, and between foot-passengers, trams, taxis and
+carts, the thoroughfare was almost impassable.  During a block Mrs.
+Krauss suddenly roused from her condition of happy contemplation, and
+said, as she opened her handkerchief:
+
+"My dear Sophy, I've got _such_ treasures--such finds; real, old
+netsukes, signed, and _so_ cheap!  Do look at this delicious rabbit!"
+holding out a beautiful model.  "Is it not too perfect, exquisitely
+carved, and smooth with age?  And the tortoise with the little tiny one
+on its back--what a darling!" and she took it up and kissed it with
+rapture.
+
+It puzzled Sophy to witness this extraordinary enthusiasm and then to
+recall the cold fact that, on her return to "Heidelberg," her aunt's
+interest in these ivories seemed to wane and disappear.  Was there not
+a bowl of specimens in the drawing-room already consigned to oblivion
+and dust?  Aunt Flora's character exhibited an amazing combination of
+fantastic caprice and invincible good nature.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+CHAFF
+
+It was Thursday, the Station holiday.  A capital paper-chase had
+recently engaged the entire community; the pace had been unusually
+severe; the obstacles large and formidable--especially the notorious
+Log Jump--and casualties were not a few.  Shafto and FitzGerald, on hot
+and heaving horses, had only halted for a moment at the hospitable
+"Finish," where refreshments were being served, as care for their
+precious steeds was taking them and their animals home.  After an
+unusually long silence FitzGerald exclaimed, apropos of nothing in
+particular:
+
+"So--sits the wind in that quarter?"
+
+Shafto turned his head and met a pair of knowing Irish eyes.
+
+"That quarter!" repeated FitzGerald, indicating the red-tiled roof of
+the Krausses' bungalow, where it peeped out from amid a solid mass of
+palms and bamboos.
+
+"I haven't the remotest idea what you are driving at," said Shafto
+impatiently.  "Is it a bit of dialogue in the play you are rehearsing?"
+
+"No, me boy, that is fiction--this is fact!  In my official capacity I
+am bound to take notes, and within the last week I have twice met you
+early of a morning riding with Miss Leigh--no third party visible to
+the naked eye.  In fact, you were there before the rest of the
+crowd--and, of course, the early bird gets the worm!"
+
+"And which is the worm--Miss Leigh or I?"
+
+"Oh yes, you may try to laugh it off, but there's some reason for these
+early _tete-a-tetes_.  The reason is as plain as the stick in my
+hand--no, I beg its pardon, the reason is uncommonly pretty."
+
+"FitzGerald, you are talking most blatant bosh."
+
+"Maybe I am and maybe I'm not, and, let me tell you, you're not the
+only string to the lady's bow; she has as many as a harp!  There's
+Fotheringay, the A.D.C.; there's Captain Howe; there's Bernhard----"
+
+"Bernhard's a beast," burst out Shafto.
+
+"Naturally _you_ would think so--it's only human nature.  But Otto is a
+handsome man and has a fine seductive voice; and mind you, music has
+charms to soothe the breast, savage or otherwise; as for your
+prospects, you may apply to me for a testimonial of character: steady,
+sober----"
+
+"There, Fitz, that's enough--drop it!"
+
+"Drop it!" repeated FitzGerald with a laugh.  "Don't get your frills
+out, old boy, I mean no harm; she is by a long way the prettiest girl
+in the place."
+
+"That will do," exclaimed Shafto impatiently; "leave the ladies alone,
+or, if you must discuss them, what about the little American Miss
+Bliss?  You danced with her half the night at the last Cinderella."
+
+"Ah! now I suppose you think you're carrying the war into the enemy's
+quarter, don't ye?  Dancing is not compromising--like solitary rides
+with a girl before the world is warm, and Miss Bliss, by name and
+nature, is the only girl in Rangoon who can do a decent turkey trot.
+Now, as to Miss Leigh----"
+
+"Oh, for goodness' sake leave Miss Leigh alone and talk about something
+else--talk about horses."
+
+"Talk about horses," repeated FitzGerald in a teasing voice, "and if he
+isn't blushing up to his ears!  I'll tell you what, young Shafto, it's
+a treat to see a real blush in this part of the world; blushing is rare
+in Burma, and I'd just like to have your coloured photograph,"
+continued FitzGerald, whose methods of chaff were as rude and crude as
+those of any schoolboy.
+
+"Come, don't let's have any more of this, Fitz, or you and I will
+quarrel."
+
+FitzGerald grinned from ear to ear, delighted at the rise he had taken
+out of his companion, touched his cap, and said:
+
+"All right, yer honour," but to himself he added, "by Jingo, it's
+_serious_!  Well, well!  However, he's as poor as a rat and that's a
+great comfort."
+
+Comfort was constituted by the fact that, in these circumstances, there
+could be no immediate prospect of a break-up of the congenial chummery.
+
+"See here, Mr. Shafto, on your high horse, if you promise not to trail
+your coat and frighten me, I'll tell you something that will interest
+you.  I know you have been poking round with Roscoe and diving into
+queer places--are you as keen as ever?"
+
+"I am, of course," rejoined Shafto, still stiff and unappeased.
+
+"Well, then, I can show you a quarter where Roscoe has never dared to
+stick his nose--a cocaine den."
+
+"Not really?  Surely you couldn't take me in there."
+
+"I can so, as one of my subordinates; I am looking for evidence in a
+murder case; I'll lend you a coat, and all you will have to do is to
+look wise and hold your tongue."
+
+"This is most awfully good of you," exclaimed Shafto, "and I needn't
+tell you I'll go like a shot."
+
+"Oh, I'm good now, am I?" jeered FitzGerald; "but, joking apart, this
+will be an experience.  Not like puppet plays and dances--but a black
+tragedy."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so; I know it's pretty awful."
+
+"Cocaine smuggling is playing the very devil with the country and
+there's no denying that."
+
+"But can't you do something to stop it?"
+
+"Is it stop it?  You might just as well try to stop the Irrawaddy with
+a pitchfork.  And it's growing worse; there are some big people in
+it--the Hidden Hand Company--who keep out of sight, pay the money,
+employ the tools and collar the swag.  They have agents all over this
+province, as well as India, China and the Straits."
+
+"Where does the stuff come from?"
+
+"It's chiefly manufactured in Germany, though some comes from England."
+
+"What, you don't mean that!  I always thought it was concocted out
+here."
+
+"'Tis little ye know!  It is mostly sent in from Hamburg, and in all
+manner of clever ways; the smugglers are as cute as foxes and up to
+every mortal dodge.  A lot of the contraband is done by native crews,
+of course without the knowledge of the ships' officers.  Hydrochloride
+of cocaine travels in strong paper envelopes between fragile goods, or
+in larger quantities in false bottoms of boxes, under plates in the
+engine room, or in the bulkheads."
+
+"But how can they possibly land the stuff?" inquired Shafto.
+
+"Easier than you think!  There are lots of nice, lonely, sequestered
+coves, where goods can be put ashore of a dark night, or dropped
+carefully overboard, hermetically sealed, with an empty tin canister as
+a float, and picked up at daybreak by a friendly sampan.  Of course,
+the customs house officers have to be reckoned with from the moment a
+ship enters till she leaves the port, but sometimes in this drowsy
+climate a man falls asleep in his long chair, and here is the
+_serang's_ chance--the _serang_ being the head and leader of the crew.
+The contraband is quickly lowered in gunny bags to the sampans and
+carried off in triumph to its destination.  However, not long ago, the
+customs made a haul of twelve hundred ounces; out here cocaine sells
+for six pounds an ounce.  So that was a nice little loss, and yet only
+a drop in the ocean--for every grain that is seized a pound enters the
+market.  Oh, I'd make my fortune if I could run one of these foxes to
+earth."
+
+"I wish you could," said Shafto; "have you no clue, no suspicions?"
+
+"Hundreds of suspicions, but no clue.  There's a fellow in a sampan who
+unnecessarily hoists a white umbrella--I have my best eye on him; and
+there is said to be a broken-down, past-mending motor-launch in a creek
+beyond Kemmendine, which I propose, when I have a chance, to overhaul
+on the quiet.  Chinese steamers plying between Japan and Rangoon run
+stacks of contraband; as soon as one method of landing is discovered
+they find another; their ingenuity is really interesting to watch.  The
+chief smugglers are never caught--only their satellites, who get about
+four months' gaol and never blow the gaff.  If they did I wouldn't give
+much for their lives."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that their employers wouldn't stick at murder?"
+cried Shafto aghast.
+
+"They stick at nothing; a murder done second-hand is quite cheap and
+easy--just a stab with a _dah_, or long knife, and the body flung into
+the Irrawaddy; you know the pace of that racing current and how it
+tells no tales!  Well, here we are!  You see, for once I can discourse
+of other things than horses; and, talking of horses, these fellows had
+better have a bran-mash apiece; but once you get me on cocaine
+smuggling, I warn you I can jaw till my mouth's as dry as a lime-kiln."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE PONGYE
+
+Late one warm afternoon in January, when Shafto was unusually busy on
+the Pagoda wharf--consignments of paddy were coming in thick and
+fast--suddenly, above the din of steam winches and donkey engines,
+there arose a great shouting, and he beheld an immense cloud of white
+dust rolling rapidly in his direction.
+
+"Look out, it's a runaway!" roared a neighbouring worker.  "By George,
+they'll all be in the river!"
+
+Sure enough, there came a rattle-trap hack _gharry_ at the heels of a
+pair of galloping ponies.  The reins were broken, a yelling soldier sat
+helpless on the driver's seat and several of his comrades were inside
+the rocking vehicle.  The animals, maddened with fear, were making
+straight for the Irrawaddy and, as Shafto rushed forward with
+outstretched arms to head them off, they swerved violently, came into
+resounding contact with a huge crane, and upset the _gharry_ with a
+shattering crash.  Several men ran to the struggling ponies; Shafto and
+another to the overturned _gharry_ and hauled out two privates; number
+one, helplessly intoxicated; number two, not quite so helpless; the
+third person to emerge was, to Shafto's speechless amazement, no less a
+personage than a shaven priest--a full-grown _pongye_ in his yellow
+robe!  He looked considerably dazed and a good deal cut about with
+broken glass.  Waving away assistance, he tottered over and sat down
+behind a huge pile of rice stacks.  Shafto immediately followed to
+inquire how he could help him, but before he had uttered a word, the
+_pongye_, who was much out of breath, gasped:
+
+"Bedad! that was a near shave!"
+
+Could Shafto believe his ears?
+
+"Whist! now, and don't let on!" he continued, staunching a cut with a
+corner of his yellow robe--which he presently exchanged for Shafto's
+handkerchief--"the fright knocked it out of me!"
+
+"So you're not a Burman?"
+
+"Faix, I am not; I'm a native of Cork and was born in Madras, and only
+for yer honour we'd all be floating down the Irrawaddy this blessed
+minute."
+
+His honour found it impossible to articulate; he merely stood and
+gaped.  The Irish _pongye_, born in Cork and Madras, was a tall, gaunt,
+middle-aged man, with high cheek-bones, a closely-shorn head, and horn
+spectacles.
+
+"Might I ask yer name, sorr?" he inquired at last, "and where ye live?"
+
+"My name is Shafto; I live in a chummery at the corner of Sandwith
+Road."
+
+"Oh, an' well I know it an' its old compound.  They say it's full of
+_nats_, because of a murder as was done there.  My name is Mung Baw, at
+yer service, and I'll not forget what ye did for me this day, and I'll
+call round.  Blessed hour! where's my begging-bowl?"
+
+As soon as Shafto had discovered and restored his _patta_, the _pongye_
+arose, gave himself a shake and, without another word, stalked away, a
+tall, erect, unspeakably majestic figure.
+
+When Shafto met Roscoe he lost no time in recounting his extraordinary
+adventure, and added triumphantly:
+
+"So you see, Joe Roscoe, you are not the only man here who makes a
+strange acquaintance."
+
+"I'm not surprised," he rejoined; "I've heard more than once of these
+white _pongyes_.  I dare say the chap will be as good as his word and
+will look you up; I foresee an interesting interview."
+
+In about three weeks Roscoe's prediction was verified.  Returning home
+late one evening Shafto was struck by the unusually impressive
+appearance and gestures of the fat Madrassi butler who, beckoning him
+aside with an air of alarming mystery, informed him that "someone was
+in his room waiting to see his honour."
+
+"In my room," he repeated indignantly.  "Why the mischief did you put
+him in there?  Couldn't he sit in the veranda, like other people?"
+
+"No, saar, he refused; he would not."
+
+Shafto flung open the door of his apartment with a gesture of annoyance
+and, to his profound amazement, discovered the _pongye_ seated in easy
+comfort upon his bed.  He was surrounded by an odd medicinal aromatic
+atmosphere, his sandals, begging-bowl and umbrella were carefully
+disposed beside him and he appeared to be thoroughly at home.
+
+"I thought I'd give ye a call, sorr, before I went up country.  I'm off
+to Mandalay to-morrow on a pilgrimage."
+
+"Oh, are you?" said Shafto, taking a seat and feeling at a complete
+loss what he was to say and how he was to handle this novel situation.
+
+"I thought," resumed the _pongye_, "that I'd like to offer ye an
+explanation of the way I happened to be in that 'ere accident."
+
+"Yes," assented his host; "I suppose this," pointing to his yellow gown
+with his stick, "is a fancy dress, for, of course, you are not a real
+_pongye_?"
+
+"Troth, I am so," he rejoined with indignant emphasis; "I've been
+properly initiated--I know Burmese and the Pali language, and can
+intone a chant with anyone."
+
+"All the same, you're an Irishman and your speech bewrayeth you.  I
+wonder you are not kicked out."
+
+"Is it kick me out?  No fear!  For besides being well respected and
+well liked, I'm a magician."
+
+"Oh, come, that's all rot!" exclaimed Shafto impatiently.
+
+"'Tis not," he rejoined in a vigorously defensive tone; "and 'tis
+little ye know.  This is a queer country; the people are terribly
+superstitious and weak in themselves, on account of _nats_ and bad
+spirits."
+
+"Oh, that I can believe," replied Shafto; "your pals in the _gharry_
+could tell you something about bad spirits."
+
+"Wait now and I'll explain," said the _pongye_, with an intimate
+gesture of his great bony hand.
+
+"Sometimes I've a sort of ache to be mixing up with European
+soldiers--even if it's only for a couple of hours."  After a pause he
+added in a thoughtful tone, "For ye see I was wance a soldier meself."
+
+"What!"
+
+"It's the pure truth I'm tellin' ye--a corporal, with two good-conduct
+stripes; the other week Paddy Nolan had drink taken, and nothin' would
+please him but that he must drive, so he turned off the _garriwan_ and
+made a cruel bad hand of it--as you saw for yourself!  They were a
+couple of raw new ponies, come down out of last drove, and unused to
+trams and motors, and frightened dancing mad; only for you heading them
+off, we were all as dead as mutton."
+
+"But how did you get into the Burmese priesthood?" inquired Shafto with
+abrupt irrelevance.
+
+"It was like this, sorr, I'm country-born; me father was a sergeant in
+the Irish Rifles, me mother was a half-caste--an Anglo-Indian from
+Ceylon--so I'm half Irish, quarter Cingalese.  I was left an orphan
+when I was seven years old and educated at the Lawrence Asylum.  I
+always had a wonderful twist for languages; it came as easy as
+breathing to me to talk Tamil or Telugu.  Well, when I was close on
+eighteen I enlisted and put in seven years with the Colours, mostly in
+Bengal; then we come over here and lay in Mandalay and, after a bit,
+I--somehow got lost."
+
+"That is, you deserted," sternly amended Shafto.
+
+"Oh well, have it whatever way ye like, sorr.  I was shootin' in the
+jungles and was took terribly bad with fever and nearly died.  The
+natives are good-natured, kind, soft people--none better; they took me
+in and nursed me, and one of the _pongyes_ doctored me.  You see, I was
+entirely out of touch with Europeans, and when I got cured was just a
+walking skeleton.  Some thief had made away with my boots and breeches,
+so I stopped among the natives and never laid eyes on a white face for
+two years.  I soon picked up the Burmese lingo, which some say is
+difficult; but to me it was aisy as kiss me hand.  Then I was received
+into the priesthood; that was over seven years ago, and here I am
+still.  Of course, as ye know, I can go or stay as I please; but I
+stick to the yellow robe as if it was me skin.  Still and all, I won't
+deny that the sight of a soldier draws me, and that," he concluded
+modestly, "is my only wakeness."
+
+"I say, you don't mean to tell me that you are a _real_ Buddhist?"
+
+"Why, of course I am; what else would I be?  The religion is pure and
+good and friendly; the other priests know that I'm from India--and
+that's enough for _them_.  In this country no questions is asked--and
+that's what makes livin' so nice and aisy.  And, sure, aren't we
+Buddhists all over the world?  Our doctrines are wise and ancient; we
+pray and keep fasts and live to ourselves, and there's little differ,
+in my mind, between us and the Catholic religion--in which I was born
+and reared.  Haven't we the mass, and vespers, and beads, and
+monasteries, and Lent,--all complate?"
+
+"So then you're a celibate--a monk?"
+
+"And to be shure I am; ye don't think I look like a nun, do ye?"
+
+"A water drinker?"
+
+"Well, sorr, I'm tell ye no lie--not altogether; I am not a teetotaller
+all out, I'm a sober man, and I mostly drink cocoanut water and tea.
+It's a fine, free life, I can tell ye."
+
+"Fine and idle, eh?"
+
+"I'm not more idle than the rest of them; it's true that I don't teach,
+and, of course, it's only the young fellows that do the sweeping,
+water-carrying and filtering, and the work at the _kyoung_.  I see a
+heap of the country and have many friends, who give me small presents,
+and smokes and food; I have a far better time--a thousand times a
+better time--than sweating in route marches and carrying round Orderly
+books in Rangoon or Calcutta; and many's the quare tale I could tell
+ye--tales about animals and elephant dances and big snakes, ay, and
+spirit tales that would open your eyes."
+
+"Well, if it's any comfort to know it, you've opened my eyes about as
+wide as they will go.  What is your real name?"
+
+"Michael Ryan.  Me father came from Cork--a real fine country for
+fighting men, and I understand that, once upon a time, my ancestors had
+a great kingdom beyond the Shannon.  Well, sorr," now beginning to
+unfold himself and rise from the bed, "I thought I'd just drop in and
+explain matters a bit before I go up country."
+
+"That was very thoughtful of you, Mung Baw."
+
+"I'll be back in a while, and I needn't tell ye, Mr. Shafto, that as
+long as I draw breath I'll never forget how I'm beholden to ye.  I'm
+vowed to poverty, of course, but I'm a rover and go about a lot, and
+some day I may be able to put a good thing in your way, and I can tell
+ye one thing--ye have a lucky face!"
+
+"I'm glad to hear it; and now, before you depart, will you tell me
+something else?  How do you contrive to get so much liberty--careering
+round the town with Tommies and coming to look me up?  It's past seven
+o'clock--and I understand your Roll Call is at six."
+
+"That's true," assented the _pongye_, "but there are exceptions, and
+I'm one of them," suddenly sliding off the bed and drawing himself up
+to his full height--about six feet two.  "I don't enjoy very good
+health being, as ye understand, no native of the country; so I'm
+allowed a certain margin and liberty.  Well now, I'll be takin' leave
+of ye; but before I go, I want you to accept something I brought
+you--just a small trifle of a talisman."
+
+And from some mysterious receptacle he produced a good-sized dark
+stone, about the size of a pigeon's egg.  "Now, whatever ye do, put
+this carefully away and keep it safe and secure."
+
+Shafto took it in his hand, examined the gift and murmured his thanks.
+
+"No harm of any sort can come next or nigh ye," continued the _pongye_,
+"as long as that stone's in your possession--and that's as shure as me
+name's Mung Baw."
+
+And hastily collecting his umbrella and bowl, before Shafto could
+realise the intended move the stranger was gone.  Nothing remained of
+his visit but the curious aromatic odour and the so-called "talisman."
+The stone was round, dark and by no means beautiful, and at first
+Shafto was inclined to throw it into the compound, but, on second
+thoughts, he thrust it into his dispatch box and locked it away.
+
+"Evil spirits, a magician, a talisman," he said to himself.  "I suppose
+the poor fellow was discharged from the Service as a hopeless lunatic."
+
+Having arrived at this conclusion, Shafto changed his clothes and went
+to dinner in the veranda, where he was well chaffed about his recent
+visitor.
+
+"Been stealing something up at the Pagoda and they sent a _Bo_ after
+you," suggested FitzGerald; "I must say your new friend is a
+rum-looking customer; a powerful, strapping _pongye_.  He'd make a
+grand constable!  What did he want?"
+
+"Oh, he merely came to pay a visit of ceremony," replied Shafto.  "He
+was in a _gharry_ accident a few weeks ago, and I happened to come to
+his rescue and pick up the pieces; he called to express his thanks and
+drop a P.P.C."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE COCAINE DEN
+
+"To-night's the night," said FitzGerald to his confederate.  "You and I
+will creep out in half an hour's time, and no questions asked.  Roscoe
+has gone up to Tonghoo about oil; the MacNab is dining at the Pegu Club
+with one of his Big Pots and talking Flotilla and finance."
+
+"All right, I'll be ready in two jiffs--you won't forget the coat?"
+
+"Not likely!  We will taxi down to the end of Dalhousie Street, and
+into the bazaar about half-past nine o'clock, and then proceed on foot.
+I am taking two constables--both armed."
+
+It was a gay and busy scene; Dalhousie Street--which, it is said, never
+sleeps--was a blaze of light, humming with noise and excitement and
+packed with crowds of pleasure-seekers; a crude mixture of races,
+struggling and pushing to their different goals of entertainment.
+
+As the two young men halted for a moment at a popular corner, it seemed
+as if the whole town and bazaar flowed past in a wave of colour and
+movement.  Burmans' and Shans, male and female, clothed in coloured
+silk and satin, the women decked with flowers and jewellery, all
+smoking and jabbering in their strange monosyllabic tongue; solid,
+well-set-up Germans parading in couples; rollicking sailors; Chinamen;
+Malays in great numbers; stately Sikhs and the inevitable Babu filled
+the scene.
+
+"They are all out to-night," observed FitzGerald, "lots of shows on;
+well, now for _ours_."
+
+As he spoke he turned into a narrow street that led through an endless
+maze of curves and angles and, followed by two stalwart Sikh police,
+they made their way into the heart of the China bazaar and plunged into
+the worst slum quarter of this crowded, cosmopolitan city--a city, at
+least, in wealth, extent, population and importance.  They passed
+flaring joss-houses, gambling dens and brazenly naked haunts of vice,
+and after picking their steps through a particularly noisome
+gully--odorous of _napie_ and rotten vegetables--they arrived at an
+innocent little door in a high blank wall.  After some whispered parley
+with an old Chinaman, the pair were admitted and ushered into a large,
+low saloon, where scores of gamblers were engrossed in the hypnotic
+pleasures of "Fan Tan," or the "36 animal lottery," so popular and so
+simple!
+
+The adjoining room was a well-appointed opium resort.  Here the roar of
+the bazaar and pulsing of tom-toms were blurred and almost inaudible.
+A reek of _bhang_ and _betel_ hung in the air; there were rows of neat
+bunks, lacquered pillows, and small trays containing the opium pipe,
+lamp and other necessaries.  Everything was apparently carried out
+decently and in order; the clients were of a respectable, well-to-do
+class--some who had merely dropped in for a pipe of _chandu_, or a jolt
+of opium; and Shafto noticed quite a number of Europeans and, among
+them, at present asleep, a man whom he knew and frequently met on the
+Strand.  He had sometimes wondered at his dried-up, withered skin and
+lank, dead-looking black hair.  _Now_ he understood.
+
+The police officer was not disposed to linger on these premises.  A
+cocaine den was his goal, and after a short talk with an affable old
+Chinaman, who spoke perfect English, he took leave and once more they
+were threading the odorous gloom of the slums.  They soon came to a
+halt and, leaving the two constables outside, after the usual delay and
+mystery, were admitted and entered a most evil-smelling den.  This was
+lighted by two or three smoky oil-lamps, the rank smell of which, with
+the sickly reek of squalid humanity, struck them like a blow in the
+face.  Between forty and fifty victims appeared to be present, all
+belonging to the poorer classes, and nothing could be more repulsive
+than their appearance.  Excessive emaciation and festering sores were
+their most marked characteristics.  Some were lying on their mats in
+semi-stupor, several who had just received an injection were patiently
+awaiting their dreadful sleep--one of the chief attributes of cocaine
+is its almost immediate effect.  Here was a group squatting round a man
+armed with a syringe--fatal germ-carrier--busily engaged in mixing the
+cocaine and morphia.  When the concoction had been prepared, one of the
+customers turned up his sleeve to discover--if he could--a spot in
+which to insert the needle; but there was not a place, even the size of
+a pin's head, so he rolled up his _lungyi_ and searched for a site on
+his thigh; then the needle was produced, its contents were pumped in,
+and the man made room for the next victim.  This performance held
+Shafto with a sort of hideous fascination; the crowd appeared to be
+entirely insensible to his presence and only alive to the enjoyment
+awaiting them.
+
+At the far end of the room was an iron-bound enclosure, behind which
+sat a wily and inscrutable Chinaman who, having received a formal
+notice that this visit was "safe and unofficial," obligingly exhibited
+his scales and small packets of drugs--wares to bring rich delights to
+the narcotised--which he disposed of in infinitesimal quantities, at
+from four to six annas a dose.
+
+Sprawling about on filthy rush mats were numerous Chinese, Burmese and
+Indians; also a few women of the lowest class, each and all sunken in
+the various stages of an ecstatic slumber.
+
+As FitzGerald was now engaged in whispered conference with a
+pock-marked Malay (who was awaiting his turn), Shafto stood back
+against the wall, a completely detached figure, acutely sensible of the
+chill horror of this unknown sphere--the so-called "underworld."
+
+He noticed that one or two customers sat round covetously watching the
+operation of the syringe--not having the money with which to indulge
+themselves; he also observed several who appeared to be in the last
+stage of their existence--thin to emaciation, mere wrecks, like
+half-dead flies, scarcely able to crawl about the floor.
+
+Quite in the shadow, he caught sight of a tall figure in European
+clothes, who was, like himself, an impassive spectator, and, with a
+start, he recognised Roscoe's cousin.  To-night he appeared cleaner and
+more human; he had shaved recently, and there was an undeniable family
+likeness between him and his relative--such a resemblance as may exist
+between a dead and broken branch and one still flourishing upon a
+healthy tree.  On this occasion he was evidently not ashamed to be seen
+and recognised, for he nodded to Shafto, then crossed the room and
+joined him.
+
+"Ah, so you've not taken a pull at yourself yet?" said Shafto.
+
+"No, the cocaine debauchee has no power to resist the drug," he replied
+in a thin refined voice.  "I am fairly normal to-night; it is not a
+case of virtuous repentance, but merely because I have no money."
+
+As he made this statement the despairing eyes that looked into Shafto's
+were those of some famishing animal.
+
+"You have the power to raise me from the pit," he continued in a husky
+voice; "you can lift me straight into heaven!"
+
+"Only temporarily," brusquely rejoined Shafto.
+
+"Even that is something when it offers peace and satisfaction to the
+restless human heart."
+
+"But surely you can free yourself and your restless heart?  Why not
+walk out of this filthy den with us?  Roscoe will help you, so will I.
+Come, be a man!"
+
+"It would be impossible for me to regain the normal balance of life,"
+declared the victim of the drug; "also, I am no longer a man--I am a
+fanatical worshipper of cocaine, and only death can part us.  Some day
+soon I shall fall out of her train, the police will find me in the
+gutter and take the debased body to the mortuary, whence, unclaimed and
+unknown, it will be carried to a pauper's grave."
+
+"But can nothing be done to stop this hellish business?"
+
+"Nothing," replied the victim with emphasis, "nothing whatever, until
+sales are rendered impossible and the big men--the real smugglers who
+are trading in the life-blood of their brothers--are reached and
+scotched.  As for myself, I am past praying for; but thousands of
+others could and ought to be saved--by drastic measures and a stern
+exposure.  The fellows in this business are as cunning as the devil;
+the stuff arrives by roundabout channels and from the most surprising
+quarters.  Now and then they allow a consignment to be seized, but as a
+mere blind, a sop, and trade flourishes; there is no business to touch
+it in the money-making line."
+
+He paused and met Shafto's searching eyes, then went on:
+
+"It must amaze you to hear a fellow in this sink talking plain
+grammatical English, but before the cocaine fiend caught and tortured
+me I had brains.  Joe Roscoe is a good chap--he has often held out a
+helping hand, but it was not a bit of use, I only sank deeper.  When I
+recall the things I have done, the meannesses I have stooped to, I
+squirm and squirm and _squirm_!  Well, I am nearly at the end of my
+tether, and a hair of the dog that bit me is all I ask.  Your friend
+FitzGerald here, now looking up evidence from that rascally Malay, is
+working his very best to find some clue to the headquarters of the
+gang; but they are much too clever and are making their thousands and
+tens of thousands; profits are enormous, and the servants of the
+company are well paid for any risks or prosecutions."
+
+"But what about informers?" asked Shafto.
+
+"Oh, as for betraying secrets or giving the game away, the employes
+know exactly what to expect.  More than one would-be witness has
+disappeared; his epitaph is, 'Found drowned.'  Ah, I see FitzGerald
+moving, and so you must take your departure out of this inferno into
+the clean upper-world."
+
+"You come along with us," said Shafto, suddenly seizing him by the arm.
+
+But Roscoe threw him off with astonishing force and shook his head
+emphatically.  Nevertheless he followed the pair to the entrance--a
+tall wraith-like form moving behind them, a shadow in the shadows.
+
+As soon as the door had closed and the visitors were once more in the
+street, the police officer broke out:
+
+"Upon my word, Shafto, you ought to be ashamed of yourself!  Didn't I
+see you slip money into the hand of that broken-down Englishman?"
+
+"Yes, you did," Douglas boldly admitted; "I was obliged to, right or
+wrong.  If you had only seen his eyes, his starving, despairing eyes!
+I believe they will haunt me as long as I live; somehow I feel to-night
+as if I had looked through the gates of hell!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE APPROACHING DREAD
+
+The cold weather was waning in the month of March, women and children
+were flocking to cooler climes than Lower Burma--chiefly to May Myo,
+north-east of Mandalay.  Once a stockaded village, it was now a
+fair-sized and attractive station, with a garrison, a club, many
+comfortable bungalows, an overflowing abundance of flowers and fruit,
+and in its neighbourhood beautiful moss-green rides.  When the hot
+weather had begun to make itself felt, and the brain-fever bird to make
+himself heard, Mrs. Krauss had insisted on dispatching her niece to
+this resort, chaperoned by Mrs. Gregory; but as far as she herself was
+concerned nothing would induce her to leave home.
+
+"I love my own veranda and my own dear bed," she declared; "I shall
+have lots of electric fans and ice, all the new books, and Lily will
+look after me; but you, Sophy, being a new-comer and not acclimatised,
+must positively depart."
+
+Sophy exerted her utmost eloquence to induce her aunt to follow the
+fashion and spend, at least, two months in the hills, and her efforts
+were warmly supported by Mr. Krauss, but his wife made no reply--she
+merely beamed and shook her head.  Eloquence and persuasion were
+wasted.  He and Sophy might just as well have appealed to the alabaster
+Buddha in the drawing-room.  Flora Krauss never argued--possibly this
+was one phase of her indolent nature.  She merely assumed an immovable,
+negative attitude and met every suggestion with a smile and a shake of
+the head.
+
+Sophy had no desire to leave Rangoon; she protested that she had only
+been out seven months and really required no change; but her appeal was
+silenced by the voice of authority.
+
+"My dear child," said her aunt, "you've no idea what you would be like
+in three months' time.  I am hardened and acclimatised, but your nice
+complexion would soon take leave, never to return.  You would be
+covered with hideous spots and you would probably get fever.  Mrs.
+Gregory is most anxious for your company and _I_ am equally anxious for
+your departure.  You will have a very good time up at May Myo and go
+you must!"
+
+Sophy had no alternative and was compelled to obey orders.
+
+"I shall miss you most dreadfully, my dear," said her aunt; "it is so
+nice to have you flitting about the house, not to speak of your
+vivacious company and delicious music.  Your music is really wonderful;
+it seems to exorcise an evil spirit that gives me no peace."
+
+"Oh, Aunt Flora," expostulated the girl, "how can you say such things?
+Surely you don't believe in evil spirits?"
+
+"But, my dear child, how can I help it when I live in a country where
+millions of people worship and fear them?"
+
+"Those are only ignorant natives; you would not allow their
+superstitions to affect you."
+
+"Well, at any rate, your playing uplifts and soothes me; I can't
+imagine how you inherited this gift; your mother was not particularly
+musical, nor was I.  I recollect my misery as a girl in struggling
+through 'The Harmonious Blacksmith,' and I never remember hearing that
+we had any musical genius in the family.  Of course, the natives here
+would find an easy answer and say that you had been a great musician in
+another incarnation."
+
+On hearing this solemn explanation Sophy burst into peals of laughter,
+at which rejoinder Mrs. Krauss looked both shocked and hurt and, after
+an awkward silence, the subject dropped.
+
+And so, in spite of Sophy's efforts to remain in Rangoon, she was
+figuratively driven into the arms of Mrs. Gregory.  The Maitlands and
+the Pomeroys had also invited her to May Myo, but Mrs. Gregory overbore
+all competition and insisted that she must have Sophy as a companion to
+share her bungalow and accompany her songs, and departed in triumph,
+carrying the girl with her.
+
+Mrs. Krauss attended her niece to the railway station, loaded her with
+books and fruit and saw her off with urgent and affectionate
+injunctions and many kisses.  During the last few months Mrs. Krauss
+appeared to have become a transformed person; she went about
+continually in her smart new car, was seen at dances, little dinners
+and the theatre, and had recovered a faint shadow of her former good
+looks and something of her old animation.
+
+Herr Krauss naturally attributed this change to her niece, and showed
+his gratitude to Sophy in various abrupt ways, suffering her to mix
+with the English society without sneers or interference.  Sophy did not
+now see so much of the German community; she was aware that Mrs. Muller
+and others no longer approved of her, and Frau Wurm had said openly,
+"that although the girl had done her best to learn how to keep a house,
+her heart had never been in the business and she was not
+_schwaermerisch_ to German people or German ways!"
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Whilst Sophy Leigh had been enjoying herself at May Myo, among the
+green hills and soft airs of Upper Burma, Shafto, in the oppressive
+sultry heat, had had some pleasant and unpleasant experiences.
+
+The pleasant experience was that his salary had been raised.  Now he
+could afford to buy another horse and keep a _tum-tum_; with a heavier
+purse he was able to send home some well-chosen and handsome
+presents--a China crepe shawl for Mrs. Malone, ivory carvings to the
+Tebbs, an Indian _chuddah_ to his aunt and a heavy gold bangle for each
+of the girls.  Unfortunately one gift to "Monte Carlo" had a dire and
+unexpected result--it brought him a deluge of letters from Cossie, who
+was rapturous over his promotion and "his beautiful, exquisite,
+_darling_ gift," which she wore on her arm day and night!
+
+"I felt sure you had _not_ forgotten me," was her ominous opening; "you
+could not; there is a secret telepathy between us, and I am _always_
+thinking of you, dear old boy."
+
+Several mails later there arrived a letter from Sandy, the contents of
+which almost made his cousin's hair stand on end.  After one or two
+preliminary sentences, Shafto's eyes fell upon these lines:
+
+"By this you will have heard that our Cossie will be afloat; she has
+been very restless and unsettled for a long time--almost ever since you
+left; nothing seems to please her.  First she took up nursing and soon
+dropped that; then she took up typing and soon dropped that.  At last
+she has got the wish of her life, which is to go abroad.  She has
+answered an advertisement and secured a top-hole situation, as lady
+nurse in Rangoon.  She starts in ten days in the ship that took you
+out--the _Blankshire_, and is so busy and excited that she is nearly
+off her nut."
+
+The same post delivered a thick letter from Cossie, which her
+ungrateful and distracted relative tore up unread.  Already, in his
+mind's eye, Shafto could see Cossie permanently established in Rangoon,
+informing everyone that she was his cousin, bombarding him with
+_chits_, worrying him for visits, treats and attentions.  Heaven be
+praised! neither of his horses carried a lady, it was as much as he
+could do to ride them himself.  He could not possibly leave Rangoon and
+so effect his escape; he was nailed down to his work, not like his
+lucky chums, whose business duties occasionally carried them up the
+country.  His job was confined to Rangoon itself, for eight hours a day.
+
+The prospect filled him with despair; life would become intolerable.  A
+vivid imagination painted the picture of Cossie, helpless and
+plaintive, appealing for information and advice, coming to him to patch
+up disputes between her and her employer, to take her on the lakes, to
+the gymkhana, or the theatre on her days out.  And what would Sophy
+Leigh think when she saw him accompanied by Mrs. So-and-So's European
+nurse?  Putting her absurd partiality for him on one side, Cossie in
+her normal condition was a good-natured, amiable creature, and, of
+course, when she arrived in Burma he, as her only relative in the
+country, would be bound to look after her and show her attention;
+probably all the world would believe that they were engaged!
+Unchivalrous as was the idea, he had a hateful conviction that it would
+not be Cossie's fault if they did not arrive at that conclusion.
+
+With this sword of Damocles hanging over his head, and the object of
+his apprehension being daily brought nearer and yet nearer, Shafto was
+and looked abjectly miserable.  FitzGerald rallied him boisterously on
+his glum appearance, and on being "off his feed."
+
+"What on earth ails you?"
+
+To his well-intended queries he invariably received the one brief
+unsatisfactory answer: "Nothing."
+
+Roscoe, too, endeavoured to puzzle out the mystery.  It was not the
+lack of money--Shafto was prompt in his payments; _his_ door was never
+haunted by bill-collectors, nor had he got into hot water in his
+office; both his horses were sound.  What could it be?
+
+In due course the _Blankshire_ was signalled and arrived, and the usual
+mob of people swarmed aboard to meet their friends.  Among these,
+carrying a heavy heart, was Shafto; after all, he realised that he must
+do the right thing and go to receive his cousin; but, amazing to
+relate, there was no Miss Larcher among the passengers!  On inquiry he
+was presented to an excited lady, who had brought her all the way from
+Tilbury, filling the situation of lady nurse.  Miss Larcher had not
+completed the voyage, but had landed at Colombo!  On hearing of his
+relationship to her late employe, Mrs. Jones, a hot-tempered matron,
+fell figuratively tooth and nail upon defenceless Shafto.  In a series
+of breathless sentences she assured him that "his cousin, Miss Larcher,
+was no better than an adventuress, and had behaved in the most
+dishonest and scandalous manner."
+
+After a moment--to recover her breath--she went on in gasps:
+
+"I took her on the recommendation of a mutual acquaintance, and at our
+interview she appeared quite all right and most anxious to please; but
+once on board ship, with her passage paid, I soon discovered that she
+was not anxious to please _me_, but any and every unmarried man she
+could come across!  Such a shameless and outrageous flirt I _never_
+saw.  As to her duties, she was absolutely _useless_; I don't believe
+she had ever washed or dressed a child in her life before she came to
+me; she did nothing but dress herself and sit about the deck with men,
+leaving me to do her work.  When I spoke to her she simply laughed in
+my face; the children couldn't endure her and screamed whenever she
+came near them.  So I was obliged to do nursemaid whilst she danced and
+amused herself--and all at my expense.  She made no secret of the fact
+that she was on the look out for a husband; and she has gained her
+end--for she is married."
+
+"Married!" repeated Shafto.  The news was too good to be true.
+
+"Well, at least they landed at Colombo with that intention," announced
+the lady sourly; "she and a coffee planter, a widower, with a touch of
+black blood.  They were going up country to his estate, and she
+declared that she was about to have the time of her life--but I doubt
+it."
+
+This piece of news was an unspeakable relief to Shafto.  The hypocrite
+listened to the long list of his cousin's enormities with a downcast
+and apologetic air, whilst all the time he could have shouted for joy.
+When at last he was permitted an opportunity of speaking, he assured
+the angry matron that he much deplored Miss Larcher's shortcomings.
+His sympathy even took a practical form, for he generously offered to
+refund Mrs. Jones half of Miss Larcher's passage money; this the lady
+vouchsafed to receive and subsequently always spoke of young Shafto as
+"a remarkably nice, gentlemanly fellow."  Little did she suspect that
+the cheque so punctually lodged at her banker's was in the form of a
+heartfelt thank-offering--the price of a young man's peace!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+MYSTERY AND SUSPICION
+
+One evening after dinner the four chums--unusual circumstance--were all
+present; MacNab, seated at the big round table, engaged in putting up a
+remarkably neat parcel, the others lounging at ease, smoking and
+talking.
+
+"Bedad, I know the address of that!" drawled FitzGerald from his long
+cane chair, "St. Andrew's Lodge, Crieff, Perthshire, N.B.
+Ahem--presents endear absents."
+
+"N.B.," retorted MacNab, "_you_ don't send many!"
+
+"Why, man alive, it's all I can do to keep myself in boots!  And you're
+wrong about presents, for I did send my sister a ruby ring out of
+'Top-Note's' winnings.  Things are getting so bad with me
+financially"--here he struck a match and then went on--"that some day
+I'll be obliged to make a present of myself!"
+
+Shafto, who was reading, looked up over the edge of his book and said:
+
+"How do you know you won't be declined with thanks?"
+
+"I will take an observation and make sure, me boy--I'm not a confounded
+fool.  Talking of fools--what about your crazy expedition to-morrow?  I
+say," addressing himself particularly to Roscoe and MacNab, "did you
+know that this fellow is going out tiger shooting?  Tiger shooting, if
+you please!  Tiger shooting is to be his way of spending the Sabbath;
+what do you say to _that_, my stiff-necked Presbyterian?"
+
+"Tiger shooting where?" inquired Roscoe.
+
+"Somewhere near Elephant Point, with Stafford of the Buffers," replied
+Shafto.  "We have got leave, a pass and two trackers."
+
+"You'll find it a pretty expensive business," remarked the canny
+Scotsman.
+
+"Worse than that!" supplemented  Roscoe.  "There will be no bag, no
+tiger skin, claws, whiskers, or fat.  As long as I've been in
+Rangoon--and that's some years--I've been hearing of this same tiger.
+Dozens of parties have been out after him, with no success; he is still
+living on his reputation--just a myth and a fortune to the trappers.
+Lower Burma is much too wet a district for the great cat tribe."
+
+"But I am told that there are plenty of elephants and tigers in this
+district," argued Shafto.  "And what about the tiger that was actually
+crawling on the Pagoda not so very long ago!  Why, hundreds of people
+saw the brute; it was shot by a fellow called Bacon."
+
+As this was a hard and unanswerable fact Roscoe was for the moment
+silenced.  After a short pause he continued:
+
+"All the same, I don't believe in the Elephant Point tiger; the other
+was no doubt a pious beast--who came from Chin Hills to make a
+pilgrimage."
+
+"You'll have a fine, rough journey, me boy." said FitzGerald; "nasty
+deep swamps, terrible thorn thickets, grass ten foot high--it wouldn't
+be _my_ idea of pleasure."
+
+"No," retorted Shafto, "tiger shooting and turkey-trotting are widely
+apart."
+
+"But look here," exclaimed FitzGerald, as if struck by a thought and
+now sitting bolt upright.  "Mind you keep your eyes skinned and your
+ears pricked when you are down there," and he threw his friend a
+significant glance; "you never know your luck, and you might happen on
+valuable _kubber_--and start some rare sort of game."
+
+FitzGerald's warning was amply justified; the tiger-shooting expedition
+proved a much rougher business than the sportsmen had anticipated.
+Once they quitted the roads and foot-path, vegetation became rank and
+overpowering and in places impassable.  Swampy ground, dense thorn
+thickets and elephant grass made progress enormously difficult--the
+jungle guards well its many secrets and is full of dangers to mankind.
+
+It was a bright moonlight night when Shafto and his companions alighted
+at the selected area and tossed for posts.  These were at a
+considerable distance apart, each in a tree, over a "tie-up"--which, on
+this occasion, happened to be a goat.
+
+The hours dragged along slowly; Shafto, doubled up in a cramped
+position on a _machan_, felt painfully stiff and was obliged to deny
+himself the comfort of a cigarette.  There was no sound beyond the
+bleat of the victim--unwittingly summoning its executioner, the buzz of
+myriads of insects, the bass booming of frogs and the stealthy,
+mysterious movements of night birds and small animals.  Then by degrees
+the moon waned and the stars faded--though the sky was still light.  It
+was about three o'clock in the morning and Shafto was beginning to
+agree with Roscoe respecting the tiger myth and to feel uncommonly
+drowsy, when his ear was struck by a far-away sound, entirely distinct
+from buzzing insects or booming frogs.
+
+The spot which had been thoughtfully selected by the trapper, was
+within a few hundred yards of a small cove, chosen as an inviting place
+for the tiger to come and slake his thirst.  The distant sound came
+from this direction and, by degrees, a faint but definite pulsation
+grew more audible and distinct, and finally resolved itself, into the
+steady throbbing of a motor-launch.  It was approaching.
+
+Then from the back of Shafto's mind he dragged out a memory of
+FitzGerald's mention of a broken-down petrol boat.  Here was probably
+the very one--by no means a derelict; on the contrary, a fast
+traveller.  For a moment he was startled, then promptly made up his
+mind.  This was a chance, perhaps, to secure some really valuable
+_kubber_.  More than once he had heard it rumoured that, in these
+distant creeks and bays, some of the smugglers had discharged their
+valuable cargo.  Well, if the cargo was now about to be landed, here
+was his opportunity!  As the bleating of the goat would undoubtedly
+give him away, he must get rid of the animal immediately, so he quickly
+shinned down the tree and commanded the trapper to remove it.
+
+"Tiger not coming to-night," he explained to the astonished Burman, who
+rejoined:
+
+"Tiger coming soon, soon, now; after the waning of the moon."
+
+"Oh well, never mind," said Shafto impatiently, "you take away the
+goat.  Look sharp--take him quickly, quickly and _keep_ him."
+
+This was an extraordinary _thakin_, who, at the very climax of the
+tiger hour, climbed out of the _machan_ and liberated the bait!
+Certainly these English folk were mad.
+
+"You go towards the camp," he ordered, "and take my gun."
+
+The Burman, still completely bewildered, obeyed; he could not
+understand the situation, but he felt bound to do what he was told, and
+presently he disappeared, moving with obvious reluctance, leading the
+goat and carrying gun and cartridges.  His employer did not immediately
+follow, but remained for a considerable time motionless--listening.
+The pulsation had almost ceased--evidently the motor-boat had arrived
+at her destination, which was unfortunately not in his immediate
+vicinity.  He crept stealthily along in the direction of the possible
+anchorage, fighting his way through roots and undergrowth; it was all
+of no use--a barrier of morass and elephant grass proved absolutely
+impassable, so he turned back towards his camp, pausing now and then to
+listen.  He could make out voices--one in an authoritative key
+summoning "Mung Li."  Well, he had at least discovered something
+definite--he was in the vicinity of smugglers.  In a short time he
+discovered something else; through a breach in the undergrowth he
+caught a glimpse of a Burman leading a stout, grey pony carrying a
+European saddle and--unless his eyes entirely deceived him--the animal
+was Krauss's well-known weight carrier, "Dacoit."
+
+
+Two evenings later, at the Gymkhana Club, Krauss lounged up to Shafto,
+who happened to be looking on at a billiard match.  Taking a cigar out
+of his mouth he astonished him by saying:
+
+"Well, so you had no luck after that tiger down the river!"
+
+This was taking the bull by the horns indeed.  "No," replied Shafto,
+"but Stafford saw him and got a shot.  He is there all right."
+
+"Perhaps you will have another try?" suggested Krauss.
+
+"Perhaps so--but not for some time."
+
+"Too much work, eh?  Gregory is doing a big trade just now."
+
+"Pretty well," rejoined Shafto, who was secretly surprised that Krauss
+should accost and talk to him in this way.  Hitherto their acquaintance
+had been slight and, when he had been to tea at "Heidelberg," the
+master of the house was invariably absent.
+
+"How is Mrs. Krauss?  I hope she is better."
+
+"No, she has been pretty bad the last few weeks--her niece is coming
+home in a day or two and that will cheer her up."  As he concluded he
+gave Shafto a nod and a curious look and then, with a sort of
+elephantine waddle, lounged away.
+
+So far Shafto had never spoken of his _kubber_; even with the evidence
+of his own eyes he shrank from suspecting anyone connected with Sophy
+Leigh; but links were joined in spite of his reluctance to face facts.
+How could Krauss have known that he had gone tiger shooting?  Surely
+the affairs of an insignificant fellow like himself never crossed the
+mental horizon of such a big and busy person as Karl Krauss?  There was
+no doubt that the animal he had seen near Elephant Point bore a
+suspicious resemblance to Krauss's weight-carrying grey pony!  What was
+"Dacoit" doing in the jungle, thirty miles from Rangoon?  He could make
+a pretty good guess.  Krauss had motored down, sent the animal on
+ahead, and ridden through the grass and jungle in order to superintend
+the landing.
+
+Could this be a fact?  Or was the whole thing a mere coincidence?  Was
+he obsessed by FitzGerald and suspecting an honest man, who might have
+been shooting in the swamps--why not?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+SENTENCE OF DEATH
+
+When Sophy Leigh returned from May Myo she had half expected her aunt
+to meet her at the station, and was much concerned to discover, when
+she arrived home, that Mrs. Krauss had suffered a serious collapse, had
+not been out of the house for weeks, but was confined to her own
+apartments, nursed and attended by the ever-faithful Lily.  Her
+condition seemed as serious as when Sophy had arrived from England, ten
+months previously, she found the patient propped up among her pillows,
+weak, apathetic, and terribly wasted.  She looked dreadfully ill and
+her whole appearance was unkempt and strange.
+
+"Oh, my dear Aunt Flora," said Sophy kneeling beside her and taking her
+limp hand, "why did you not let me know?  _Why_ did you not wire for
+me?  I would have come back at once."
+
+"No, no, no!" murmured Mrs. Krauss as she rolled her head slowly from
+side to side and closed her drowsy, dark eyes.
+
+"But yes, yes, yes! and when you wrote to me you never said one word
+about being ill--though I might have suspected it.  Your writing was so
+feeble--so shockingly shaky.  How long has my aunt been like this?" she
+asked, appealing to Lily.
+
+"About three--four weeks," replied the pouter pigeon, with calm
+unconcern; "ever since Mr. Krauss went to Singapore."
+
+"Most of her friends have been away and my aunt has had no one to look
+after her, except you?  Did the German ladies come to see her?"
+
+"They did--yes, three, four times; asking plenty questions.  Mem-sahib
+would not receive them, she liking only be left alone."
+
+To-day Mrs. Krauss appeared almost unconscious of Sophy's presence and
+to be sunken in a sort of stupor.
+
+As soon as Herr Krauss arrived home Sophy accosted him and deplored her
+aunt's condition.
+
+"If you had only sent me a line I would have been here the next day."
+
+"Oh yes, of course," he acquiesced brusquely.  "She wanted you to have
+a good time.  I have been away, too.  Now that you are here I expect
+she will pick up, same as before."
+
+"But do you not think that Aunt Flora should see a doctor?  The pain is
+so agonising that she seems quite stupid and dazed!"
+
+"A doctor--no," he replied; "she would not allow him inside the
+compound; her complaint comes and goes after the manner of its kind;
+just now it has been troublesome and this damp climate is bad for
+neuralgia.  Your aunt refuses to leave home, and so there it is!  Lily
+knows the remedies; she has been with us for years, and I have every
+confidence in her nursing."
+
+After this Sophy realised that there was nothing more to be said or
+done, but patiently to await her aunt's recovery.
+
+It was now the cool weather and, by degrees, Mrs. Krauss was able to
+leave her bed and repose in a long chair in the veranda.  As her
+husband predicted, Sophy's company was a wonderful help towards her
+convalescence.  She liked to hear all the news from May Myo about the
+people, their clothes, their doings and their gaieties.  She even
+roused herself to play patience and picquet, to read, to enjoy Sophy's
+music, but she showed no inclination to emerge into society, or receive
+friends.
+
+"You must go about and amuse yourself, Sophy; I do not feel up to
+motoring round, as I did last winter, but I won't keep you cooped up
+here with me--then we should have, not one invalid, but two.  You must
+enjoy your young days, mix with other young people, dance and ride,
+bring me the gossip and tell me all your love affairs, honour bright!
+Mrs. Gregory has promised to chaperon you until I am better."
+
+"No, indeed, Aunt Flora, I'd much rather stay with you," she protested.
+"I could not enjoy myself half so much if you are not with me.  Don't
+you remember how nice it was last year, talking over everything
+together after dances and the theatre?  I will play to you and read
+aloud, and if I ride in the morning, that will be as much outing as I
+shall require."
+
+But in spite of Sophy's anxious protestations, once more her aunt
+consigned her to the charge of Mrs. Gregory, who, delighted in the
+responsibility, escorted her to dances and tennis parties, rode with
+her, and proved, in spite of the disparity in their years, a dear and
+congenial friend.
+
+When at home Sophy would sit with her relative in her darkened room,
+which always seemed to hold a peculiar and distinctive atmosphere,
+resembling that of a chemist's shop.  She brought her all the news that
+she thought would interest or amuse her, read the letters from home,
+tempted her to drive out, and read her new novels; but in these days
+Aunt Flora seemed to take but a languid interest in life, and her
+recovery was strangely tardy and fitful.  On some days she was better,
+on others worse.  Occasionally she would crawl out to the motor, or
+appear at dinner, but she looked dreadfully ill, her face so yellow and
+wrinkled, her whole appearance unkempt and peculiar.  She was also
+abstracted and odd in her manner, at times even a little incoherent;
+and her eyes had a glazed, fixed expression.  Sometimes as Sophy sat in
+the darkened room her mind was burdened with vague anxieties; she
+recalled the looks and questions of Frau Wurm; could it be altogether
+neuralgia that brought her aunt to such a pass?  And if not, what?  A
+casual eye might suppose that the invalid was under the influence of
+drink, but this was not the case.  Mrs. Krauss was exceedingly
+temperate--her favourite stimulant was strong black coffee.
+
+The rains were over and Rangoon was unusually full, and the committee
+of the Pegu Club decided to give a dance.  This dance was to be the
+cheeriest of the season, the secretary had exerted himself to the
+utmost, and the great ballroom looked particularly well, all colour and
+glow, with splashes of bright shades, a profusion of palms and flowers,
+and a reckless prodigality of electric light.  Practically everyone was
+present, even Herr Krauss, who, on this supreme occasion, had
+volunteered to chaperon his niece.  The band was playing the newest
+waltzes and a varied assortment of Rangoon residents swung over the
+polished floor--men well known and otherwise, stout girls of German
+ancestry, daughters of judges, and soldiers, princesses of the Burmese
+dynasty, and dark-eyed maidens of Anglo-India.
+
+Shafto had only succeeded in securing two dances with Sophy
+Leigh--besides the privilege of conducting her to supper.  They were
+resting in the veranda, after a long, exhausting waltz, watching the
+crowd pour out of the ballroom; among others they noticed, approaching
+them, Mr. FitzGerald and his partner, Miss Fuchsia Bliss, a little
+frail American, who had dropped out of a touring party from the
+Philippines, and since then, as she expressed it, "had been staying
+around in Rangoon," first at the Lieutenant-Governor's, next at the
+Pomeroys', now, with a slight descent in the scale of precedence, with
+the Gregorys.  She had struck up a demonstrative but sincere friendship
+with Sophy Leigh and stood in the forefront of her admirers.
+
+Fuchsia Bliss was an orphan, absolutely independent in every sense of
+the word, who looked considerably younger than her real age, and
+appeared so small and so fragile that, like thistledown, she might
+almost be blown away.  Nevertheless, she was anything but light, in
+either head or purse.  Fuchsia was not pretty; indeed, to be honest,
+was barely good-looking.  Her complexion was colourless, her thick hair
+a dull, ashen shade, her eyes, though remarkably lively, were much too
+small, her chin, on the other hand, was much too long.  Beautifully
+marked brows, white teeth, and a fairy figure, were her assets; and, as
+she herself said, "she had plenty of snap!"  Miss Bliss was uncommonly
+shrewd and vivacious.  Her friends (these were many) were somewhat
+afraid of Fuchsia's plain speaking (her thoughts were too close to her
+tongue); she professed to be enormously interested in Burma and found
+it such a quaint old country, declared that the pagodas were "too sweet
+for words," and the Burmese women "just the dearest, daintiest, best
+tricked out, little talking dolls!"
+
+(A cynical critic might have compared Miss Fuchsia herself to a
+"talking doll.")
+
+"America," she announced, "was a brand-new nation, bubbling over with
+energy and vim, whilst this drowsy old Eastern land was most
+deliciously restful and ancient--it made a nice change."
+
+Down at the bottom of a good-sized heart Miss Fuchsia was aware that it
+was not altogether an admiration for the East which detained her
+lingering in Burma.  For the first time in her life the pale-faced
+heiress was seriously interested in one of the other sex.  This
+fortunate man happened to be Patrick FitzGerald, of the Burmese Police;
+a fellow without a penny beyond his pay, but well set up,
+self-possessed, and handsome; a capital partner, a congenial spirit,
+and a complete contrast to herself.
+
+The couple now approached Shafto and his companion, FitzGerald, rather
+warm, mopping his good-looking face, Miss Bliss, tripping airily beside
+him, in an exquisite green toilet, still--as always--talking.
+
+"Only think--he has got to go!" she announced with a dramatic gesture,
+halting in front of Sophy as she spoke.  "Isn't it too--too awfully
+provoking?  He has been sent for, right now in the middle of the
+ball--engaged to me for two more waltzes, supper and an extra, and here
+am I, side-tracked!"
+
+"A true bill--I am off," said FitzGerald, with a significant glance at
+Shafto; "I leave Miss Bliss and my reputation in your hands."
+
+"Miss Bliss can take good care of herself," she announced, sitting down.
+
+"No doubt of that," assented Shafto; "all the same, Miss Leigh and I
+will attend Miss Bliss to supper."
+
+"No, no," she protested, "I have planned to take in Mr. Gregory."
+
+"That is if you can get hold of him," argued her late partner; "he is
+playing bridge."
+
+"Oh well, anyway, _I_ shan't go begging!" said Fuchsia, leaning back on
+the lounge and crossing her tiny, exquisitely shod feet.
+
+"But whoever dreamt of that?" exclaimed Shafto.  "And here by great
+good luck comes Gregory.  I say, he looks as if his last partner had
+gone No Trumps on a Yarborough!"
+
+Almost before he had joined them the police officer disappeared, and
+the party adjourned to the supper-room, where they found places at the
+same round table as Mrs. Pomeroy and Herr Bernhard.  Herr Krauss, a
+ponderous free lance, who was completely detached, joined the circle
+uninvited, and pushed his huge person into an empty chair, next to Miss
+Bliss.  The soup, hot quails, and champagne were above criticism.  Miss
+Bliss, as usual, did most of the talking and entertained the company.
+
+"What a difference there is between our dancing and the native
+performance," she remarked.  "Our tangos and turkey-trotting are just
+an amusement, ending in a feast, whilst their diversion is mostly
+prayers, intoning, gongs, and bells, burning candles and telling beads.
+The Burmese seem to be always thinking of their souls; Oriental nations
+beat us at religion."
+
+"Religion, such as it is!" rejoined Bernhard with a sneer.  "After all,
+what does it amount to with them but the fear of evil spirits and the
+propitiation of _nats_ and demons?  Crowds go to the Pagoda and offer
+flowers, prayers and candles, yet all the time their faith is not in
+Buddha, but in devils.  They cover up their pillars and offer
+sacrifices to the _nats_, build them nice little houses, make them
+flattering speeches, and look for a return in the shape of a piece of
+luck!  Buddhism is merely a philosophy--not a religion," he concluded
+sententiously.
+
+"Well, there is one item in their faith which I admire," said Shafto;
+"they have no fear of death--they firmly believe that we shall pass
+into another existence, and how we fare in the next world depends on
+our good or evil deeds in this."
+
+"Surely that is an ordinary point of view," said Fuchsia, "and talking
+of evil deeds, such as big and little lies--murder--robbery--fraud,
+does anyone think there is _real_ harm in smuggling?  No one would call
+that an evil deed, although it is punishable by law.  I must confess
+that it appeals to me enormously; it's like a game, a sort of hide and
+seek.  If I only had an opening, I feel confident that it is _in_ me to
+become a most accomplished professional!  There is no injury to anyone,
+and it must be so exciting, and if you bring it off, oh, what a
+triumph!  I did envy a woman I came across with from France.  She
+landed a twenty-thousand pearl necklace in a hair-pad."
+
+"You needn't go far for smuggling--there's plenty of it in this
+country," said Mrs. Pomeroy, in her slow, decided manner.  "My husband
+says it is on the increase, and is a most serious question--a matter of
+vital concern."
+
+"Increase!" echoed Krauss.  "No, no, my dear lady, that is nonsense;
+don't you believe it.  Smuggling isn't worth while in Burma--it
+couldn't pay."
+
+"Oh, but it does exist and it pays hand over fist," argued Shafto.
+"Why only last week a piano-case full of opium was taken off a Chinese
+steamer."
+
+"Opium smuggling!" broke in Fuchsia eagerly.  "We know all about that
+in the States.  Opium smuggling is frightfully bad in 'Frisco.  There
+are deadly dens in parts of the town, where they say they make away
+with people."
+
+"And here people make away with themselves," supplemented Shafto, whose
+thoughts flew to a recent suicide.
+
+"Did any of you ever happen to read a story by Frank Norris about a
+girl who was lost?"  And Fuchsia planted her sharp elbows on the table
+and cast an interrogative glance round her audience.  "No, I expect
+not; but it's perfectly true.  Then listen," she proceeded with an air
+of genial narration.  "A pretty girl and her fiance--both from New
+York--were poking round the sights in 'Frisco and, leaving the rest of
+their party, pushed on into the worst Chinese quarter, without a guide.
+It had such a bad name that even the police gave it a wide berth.
+Well, in they went, these two innocents; it looked quite all right,
+just the same as other places they had visited, and they found a real
+dandy tea-house and ordered tea.  Whilst they waited a most superior
+Chinaman appeared and invited the young man to come and inspect a
+wonderful piece of silk.  He said it would not take him a moment to
+look at, while the young lady was resting; so the young man accepted
+the invitation, examined the beautiful piece of silk, made an offer for
+yards and yards, and hurried back, only to find that the girl had
+disappeared.  Her gloves and sunshade were there all right, but she was
+never seen again, although her people offered an enormous reward, and
+more or less raised Cain!"
+
+"Oh, that's just a bit of sensational fiction," growled Herr Krauss,
+"and I dare say brought the author a couple of hundred dollars.  They
+pay high rates for that sort of rubbish in the States."
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised if it couldn't be pretty well matched here,"
+was Shafto's bold declaration.  "Not in the way of kidnapping
+inquisitive young ladies, but there are dens and spiders' webs in
+Rangoon where people are drawn in like flies--and die like flies."
+
+Krauss threw back his head, gave a loud harsh laugh, and tossed off a
+tumbler of champagne.
+
+"Young Shafto," he exclaimed, "you _are_ a funny fellow!"
+
+"I do believe there is something in what Mr. Shafto says," said Fuchsia
+in her thin nasal voice.  "I was told this as a mighty secret--but of
+course it's safe here," throwing a complacent glance round the table,
+"and I'd just like you all to know that the reason Mr. FitzGerald was
+sent for in such a hurry is that the police have been given the
+straight tip, and expect to make a real fine haul of smugglers and
+opium--this very night!"
+
+Herr Krauss glanced quickly at his neighbour, his eyes flickering.
+
+"Mr. FitzGerald," she continued, "said that if he could only get hold
+of one or two big men who are behind the cocaine and opium trade he'd
+be doing a service to the world; he is most frightfully keen on
+catching them."
+
+"Not easy to catch what doesn't exist," declared Herr Krauss in his
+guttural voice.
+
+"But smuggling does exist--surely you know that, and smuggling on an
+enormous scale," pronounced Mrs. Pomeroy authoritatively; "there are
+awful dens off the China bazaar."
+
+"Yes, the place is honeycombed with them," supplemented Shafto.
+
+"Pray, how do you know?" demanded Krauss with asperity.
+
+"Well, since you ask me--I've been in one or two."
+
+"Getting copy for a book, eh?  Local colour--and local atmosphere."
+
+"The atmosphere was pretty foul," rejoined Shafto; "I don't attempt to
+write."
+
+"Not even fiction?"
+
+There was a bitter sneer in Krauss's question.
+
+"No, not even fiction," echoed Shafto stolidly.
+
+"Now, I'll tell you all something that sounds like fiction or a dime
+novel," volunteered the irrepressible Fuchsia.  Then, without a pause,
+she continued: "Mr. FitzGerald got a note from a broken-down European
+loafer; a gentleman who had lost every single thing in the wide
+world--self-respect, money, friends and wits--through drugs and nothing
+else; he could not keep away from them unless he was chained up, but he
+wanted to save others from his own wretched fate."
+
+"That was very splendid of the loafer!" remarked Mr. Krauss, and
+leaning back in his chair he beckoned to a waiter and said: "Boy,
+champagne!"  When the champagne was brought, he said: "Let us all drink
+the health of this noble loafer, who cannot help himself but helps
+others.  Here's to the benevolent informer!  Let us hope he will meet
+with his reward--even in this life," and he raised a brimming glass.
+
+"I'm afraid there's not much chance of that, poor chap," murmured
+Shafto, "for if he is a man I know, he is down and under--his case is
+hopeless."
+
+Mrs. Pomeroy, who had been slowly drawing on her gloves, now pushed
+back her chair and rose and, with sudden unanimity, the company broke
+up and dispersed.
+
+Little did Fuchsia suppose, as she chattered unguardedly and gave away
+a confidence, that, in doing so, she had signed what was neither more
+nor less than a sentence of death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE LATE RICHARD ROSCOE
+
+Two days after the ball, as Shafto was passing through the veranda,
+Roscoe met him, took him by the arm, accompanied him into his room, and
+solemnly closed the door.
+
+"Anything up?"
+
+"Well, yes, there is," replied Roscoe gravely, "and I thought I'd tell
+you when we were by ourselves.  That cousin of mine, Dirk Roscoe, has
+been done for.  He was found this morning in a back drain, in one of
+the gullies, with the stab of a _dah_ in his back."
+
+"Oh, poor chap!" exclaimed Shafto.
+
+"Well, he hadn't much of a life to lose, had he?  However, such as it
+was, he laid it down for others."
+
+"Then I suppose it was he who put FitzGerald on the track of this
+splendid haul--six hundred ounces of cocaine?"
+
+"It was--yes, although he knew the risk he ran.  He sent FitzGerald a
+line and warned him that there would be two sampans in Bozo creek; that
+one sampan would be a decoy, loaded with stones, but that they would
+find what they wanted in the other, which would attempt to clear off
+whilst they were examining the dummy.  It's a pretty big loss to some
+people, and cocaine will be scarce for a week or two--and dear."
+
+"It beats me to understand how these beggars manage to find the money?"
+
+"Oh, they prowl round at night and thieve--and are capable of the most
+daring theft.  I've known them steal a whole lot of furniture out of a
+sitting-room, a man's evening clothes out of his dressing-room--not
+forgetting his gold watch and chain and even tooth-brush and tumbler.
+Once they actually had the cheek to take a pony belonging to the Chief
+Inspector of Police and sell him over at Moulmein.  The small fry take
+taps, pipes, bits of zinc roofing, rope--anything that will bring in a
+few annas."
+
+"What about your cousin?  Tell me more."
+
+"Not much more to tell.  He is in the mortuary and, of course, there
+has been the usual inquest; he will be buried this evening, quite late;
+FitzGerald and I are going to the funeral."
+
+"I'll come, too, if I may."
+
+"All right, do.  Our padre is a brick--he is having a quiet service in
+the cemetery at ten o'clock; there is a good moon.  If it had been a
+public, daylight affair, lots of questions would have to be asked--and
+answered."
+
+At ten o'clock the three Englishmen and the chaplain stood round the
+grave of a man who, within the last few hours, had arrived at the end
+of a wasted life--a victim to the drug that deals misery and
+destruction.  As the three chums walked away to where their horses
+awaited them, Roscoe said:
+
+"My cousin Richard, although he looked any age under eighty, was only
+thirty-five--two years younger than myself."
+
+"Look here, Joe," said FitzGerald, "your cousin was murdered for giving
+me information.  He knew the risk he was running, he knew that there
+are eyes and ears all over the place, and the chances were ninety to
+one he would be put out of the way--he hinted as much in his letter.
+Now then, I'm going to put my back into the business, and if I don't
+find out something about this cocaine smuggling, I'll--I'll----" he
+reflected for a moment and added abruptly, "never go to another dance!
+It's a syndicate who had this crime carried out; they have their hired
+assassins like the 'Black Hand' in Sicily.  Some of the crew are bound
+to be in Rangoon, for Roscoe's sentence and execution took place within
+a few hours.  Now it is my aim and intention to discover who they
+are--and to carry war into the enemy's quarter."
+
+"Well, Fitz," said Roscoe, "I know how you love adventure--and the
+smoke of battle, and I feel fairly confident that you will do your best
+and, let us hope, storm and shatter the cocaine stronghold."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+FITZGERALD IMPARTS INFORMATION
+
+Up to the time of the murder of Roscoe, Shafto had kept his experience
+to himself; even with the evidence of his own eyes he shrank from
+suspecting anyone connected with Sophy.  After all, there were plenty
+of Shan ponies in Rangoon, and Krauss's inquiry about the tiger might
+be just a mere coincidence; but now facts were forming up in stern
+array, despite his reluctance to face them.  There was no doubt that
+Krauss had spies and tools, and if that was his grey pony "Dacoit,"
+what was "Dacoit" doing in the jungle, thirty miles from Rangoon?  It
+was suspiciously strange that, after Miss Bliss's mention of a loafer
+who had given information--a loafer toasted by Krauss--an individual
+answering the description had so promptly disappeared.  Well now, Sophy
+or no Sophy, FitzGerald must be told!
+
+Shafto found his opportunity the following night, when he and the
+police officer had the veranda to themselves.  Roscoe, with an actor's
+unquenchable ardour for the theatre, was patronising a play.  The tour
+of "Charley's Aunt" had reached Rangoon.  The MacNab was dining with
+the Presbyterian minister.
+
+After the table had been cleared and cheroots produced, without any
+circumlocution or preface, Shafto plunged into his subject and laid his
+information and suspicions before his friend who, to his amazement,
+replied:
+
+"Oh well, I've had my own ideas for some time, me boy.  I have noticed
+that Krauss is one of the loudest in crowing whenever we make a haul of
+contraband; it has struck me that his enthusiasm is a bit overdone.  I
+believe he is in with a pack of swindlers, but has a wonderful knack of
+safeguarding his own ugly carcass.  His wealth is a well-known fact,
+but its source is distinctly mysterious.  He is not like the usual
+business man, who puts by a few thousands every now and then, made in
+teak or paddy; Krauss has a share in everything that's any good.  Oil,
+rubies, trams, wolfram, rubber, and so on.  The capital he invests in
+these concerns cannot come from ordinary speculation in rice and
+teak--so the question is, where does he get it?"
+
+As Shafto made no reply, FitzGerald put down his cheroot, drew his
+chair closer to the table and, leaning over to his companion, said:
+
+"Look here, me boy, you are a thundering good sort, and I'd like to
+tell you one or two small things--and give you a bit of advice that may
+be useful.  From what you say, I have no doubt that Krauss suspects
+that you have seen something of his game--how much he cannot be sure;
+but one thing is absolutely certain--he won't trust you, and you'll
+find that, in some way or other, he'll have his knife into Douglas
+Shafto."
+
+"Same as the late Richard Roscoe?"
+
+"Let us hope he won't feel obliged to take such strong measures; but I
+wouldn't put it past him to do you a devilish nasty turn."
+
+"This is pleasant but indefinite."
+
+"Well, let me advise you to take cover; do not go about alone after
+dark, or on foot."
+
+"I never do, except over to the Salters."
+
+"Don't stir, even over to the Salters, or when you do go, take Roscoe;
+he and Salter are birds of a feather--a couple of philosophers, clever,
+deeply-read cranks.  I shall notify to my men to keep a sharp eye on
+you."
+
+"So then I'm to be under police protection, am I?"
+
+"I am afraid it will be a distressing necessity; but the fact will
+naturally be known only to you and me."
+
+"So you honestly believe that Krauss is not on the square?"
+
+FitzGerald nodded and then replied:
+
+"He does not associate with the best German people here--I think they
+smell a rat; and the English give him a fairly wide berth.  His manners
+are impossible; even in Rangoon money is not everything, and his record
+is peculiar.  He came away from China stony-broke, picked up a few
+thousands in Singapore and then settled in Rangoon about twelve years
+ago--and Rangoon has suited him down to the ground.  When they first
+arrived Mrs. Krauss was an extraordinarily handsome woman, popular and
+lively; could keep a whole dinner-table going and was always splendidly
+dressed.  On the whole, a valuable, but unconscious tool!  Latterly her
+health has failed and she has subsided.  Besides his German hangers on,
+the oddest sort of guests collect at 'Heidelberg,' though you and I may
+not meet them--men from Calcutta, the Straits and even China.  Not long
+ago I came across Krauss's brown motor in a block in Phayre Street.  I
+happened to glance inside; there was Krauss himself and two fat
+natives, one a notorious _budmash_, and I noticed that, after I had
+passed, a hand _pulled down the blind_.  Why?  In a place like this,
+and indeed everywhere, a man is judged by his friends.  Krauss tries to
+keep in with Rangoon society and poses as a brusque, eccentric sort of
+a fellow, with a rude manner and a good heart.  The days of his grand
+dinner-parties came to an end some time ago.  Now the fat grey spider
+at 'Heidelberg' has to rely more or less on his wife's pretty niece;
+she is bright and popular and attracts a lot of useful people into his
+web.  To see that girl pouring out tea, or sitting at the piano, making
+delicious music, who would suppose that 'Heidelberg' was the
+headquarters of a gang of thieves?  Mrs. Krauss is a back number, her
+health has gone to pieces, and lately I believe she is in a bad way."
+He paused, and surveying Shafto with half-closed eyes, added:
+
+"I suppose you don't know what her complaint is?"
+
+"Oh, yes--acute neuralgia."
+
+"Acute grandmother!" scoffed  FitzGerald.  "Guess again!"
+
+"Well--what?"
+
+FitzGerald leant over, took a long breath, and whispered the word
+"Cocaine."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!" And Shafto burst out laughing.  "Why, man, you're mad!"
+
+"Mad--not a bit of it!  I happen to know where she gets the stuff and
+I've known for a good while, Krauss has no idea that his wife drugs;
+it's all so artfully managed.  That Madras ayah is a rare treasure and
+as cunning as the devil; she ought to be in our Secret Service.  I
+needn't tell you that she is extravagantly paid."
+
+"Well--but, Fitz, I don't believe it; no, and I won't believe it."
+
+"All right, then.  Look here, have you never noticed how brilliant and
+lively Mrs. Krauss is at times, with shining eyes and a colour in her
+cheeks?  Then on other days, if she does appear, she is limp as a wet
+rag, depressed and old; there is a complete lack of all vital force.
+Now tell me how you account for that?"
+
+"Her illness," stammered Shafto; "the climate."
+
+"Neither the one nor the other.  But bar the cocaine habit, Mrs. Krauss
+is all right and straight; she has no suspicion of her husband's ill
+practices, nor he of hers."
+
+"And you suspect both?"
+
+"Why not?  Suspicion is part of my trade.  I think you and I had better
+be seeking our beds; I have seen the _chokidar_ peering round the
+corner of the staircase; I don't know what he is up to; he may imagine
+that we are hatching mischief.  I caught his eye when I was whispering
+just now, and it is more than likely that he has suspicions of us both!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+A ROPE TRICK
+
+This conversation with FitzGerald gave his housemate ample food for
+serious reflection.  If Krauss was a deep-dyed scoundrel, and his wife
+a victim of the cocaine habit, what a home for Sophy!  If he could only
+take her away from it!  But what grounds had he for hoping that she
+would marry him?  In spite of their pleasant meetings, their rides and
+dances, he had never ventured to hint at his real feelings, knowing
+that he was far from being what is called "an eligible match," and
+having a surprisingly humble opinion of his own merits.  He was now
+receiving five hundred rupees a month, which, after all, did not go far
+in expensive Rangoon.  Could a man marry on such an income, or on the
+supposition that what was barely enough for one would be sufficient for
+two?
+
+As far as he was in a position to judge, Sophy's ideas were not
+extravagant, and she would be better almost anywhere than in her
+present abode; but he had not the slightest right to suppose that she
+cared two pins for him; on the other hand, he had a hateful and
+well-founded conviction that not a few of the young men among her
+acquaintances would be glad to claim Miss Leigh as a wife.  There were
+Fotheringay the A.D.C., Gubbins of the Oil Company, and one or two
+others, fluttering about her and scorching their wings.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+After a month of procrastination and delay, the Rangoon Commissariat
+Department, under an energetic new official, decided to embark a
+collection of sixty elephants, which had long been awaiting transport
+from the neighbourhood of Rangoon, to India.  Now a large sailing-ship
+had been chartered to carry this interesting cargo across the Bay of
+Bengal to Vizagapatam, where they would be scattered to work in all
+parts of the country.
+
+The sailing-ship was anchored across the river at Dallah, and, in order
+to reach their destination, the elephants were called upon to swim the
+Rangoon River--sixty, no fewer, mostly young animals which had been
+caught and trained, the property of the Indian Government.  The move
+took place upon Thursday (the Garrison holiday), and a large number of
+people were assembled to witness this unusual departure.  The emigrants
+were ranged up in groups, two huge tuskers appeared to be in charge of
+the business of embarkation, and, to do them justice, carried it out
+with conspicuous success, taking it in turn to convoy select parties
+across the river, here a mile wide.  The "personally conducted" were at
+first delighted to be in the water.  They splashed and played about
+like huge porpoises, and were smacked and kept in order like naughty
+children by their great tusker nurse, and eventually guided to a
+landing.  Some, on the other hand, did not enjoy the excursion, were
+alarmed by the force of the current and turned tail.  These were
+chased, vigorously chastised, herded in the way they should go, and
+escorted to the other side--all save one, which obstinately refused to
+quit terra firma, and was accordingly fastened to a launch, in order to
+be towed across; but the powerful and headstrong brute towed the launch
+inland and, having utterly smashed it and destroyed several bamboo
+sheds, effected its triumphal escape.
+
+Meanwhile the fifty-nine were assembled at Dallah, patiently awaiting
+their fate.  A number of people had collected on the landing-stage,
+close to the big ship, to watch her strange cargo being placed on
+board.  The lower hold of this huge four-master had been entirely
+cleared, and into this receptacle the devoted elephants were lowered by
+a gigantic steam crane.  Meanwhile they were formed up behind a huge
+shed in order that none should witness the scheme of departure, or the
+undignified transfer of its companions.  A selected victim was coaxed,
+flattered, caressed, and then marched proudly down the pier between two
+deceitful and majestic tuskers, a pair of stern old gentlemen that
+would stand no nonsense; soothed and bribed by a generous supply of
+sugar-cane, the unsuspicious traveller was halted directly under the
+crane; a belly-band encircled his enormous waist, and to this was
+attached a hook; then, at a given signal, the astonished animal was
+suddenly hoisted into the air.  And what a sight!  Trunk waving madly,
+legs wildly reaching for foothold, a helpless and ridiculous monster,
+endeavouring to clutch the rigging.  Presently the frantic passenger
+was slowly lowered to the hold, where his own beloved mahout and a pile
+of luscious lucerne awaited his agitated arrival.
+
+Lookers-on found the spectacle of a helpless elephant struggling in
+mid-air excessively amusing, and the immediate neighbourhood of the
+ship was crowded.  Here were the Pomeroys, Maitlands, Morgans, Puffles,
+Mrs. Gregory, Miss Leigh, and numbers of others, including Shafto, who,
+much interested in this novel sight, had taken several snapshots.  Just
+as he snapped the last elephant, he felt the sharp jerk of a rope round
+his ankles, and in another second was swept into the racing Irrawaddy.
+
+As the water surged over his head, the sharp shock and the submersion
+momentarily took away his breath.  Shafto was a strong swimmer, but the
+current was tremendous and not to be denied; it carried him right out
+into the middle of the river, spinning him round and round like a leaf
+in a torrent.  He realised his danger and that his lease of life could
+now be counted by seconds.  His thoughts flew straight to Sophy; with a
+sensation of piercing agony he felt that he would never see her again.
+By extraordinary good fortune a steam launch which was crossing had
+noticed the swimmer's dark head, as well as the shouts and the signals
+from the landing-stage, and promptly overtook him, drew him breathless
+and half drowned on board, and landed him at Dallah.  Shafto had had a
+miraculous escape, for those who fall into the Irrawaddy rarely emerge
+alive; his adventure was much discussed and debated for one whole day
+at Gregory's and elsewhere.
+
+"How on earth did it happen?  Lucky you were clear of the ship,
+otherwise you would have been sucked underneath and never been found,"
+remarked a friend; "we cannot imagine how you tumbled in--did anyone
+_shove_ you?"
+
+"Oh, I just tripped over a rope," he announced, when questioned at the
+Club; but to FitzGerald he confided the truth--the whole truth:
+
+"I was standing pretty close to the edge of the stage--among a lot of
+natives, as it happened--taking snapshots of the elephants, when all of
+a sudden I felt a rope twist round my legs; it gave a sort of sharp
+pull, and the next moment I was in the water!  It's a nasty experience
+to have the Irrawaddy closing over your head; I have its taste in my
+mouth still!  I'll swear that there were hands at the end of the rope,
+and that I saw no rope about when I first came on the pier, for I
+happened to be early--and it was pretty empty.  Later, there was a big
+crowd and a lot of pushing and hustling.  I noticed several Chinamen
+hanging round and pressing together; now that I come to think of it,
+they surrounded me.  The rope was not the usual thick hawser, but
+something thinner and more flexible--more like whipcord such as a
+fellow could carry in his pocket."
+
+"What did I tell you?" said FitzGerald, thumping on the table with both
+his fists.  "We must get a move on and try to corner Krauss; that rope
+was a preliminary experiment, and all but landed you in Kingdom Come!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+MA CHIT
+
+Although Shafto had many acquaintances and continual engagements, he
+never forgot his first friends, the Salters, and still strolled over of
+an evening, accompanied by Roscoe, to sit in the veranda, talk, smoke,
+and listen, until his companions began to discuss such abstract
+questions as, "What is the real driving force of life?" or to argue on
+the philosophy of Buddhism, or Herbert Spencer's "Descriptive
+Sociology" and the "Unknowable."
+
+When conversation turned in this direction Shafto felt entirely out of
+his element and slipped indoors to play games with Rosetta or her
+mother.  Recently it had struck him that Ma Chit appeared to have
+become more or less a permanent member of the establishment, being so
+constantly with her cousin.  She took an enthusiastic interest in
+Rosetta's brick-building, superintended and sharply criticised Mee
+Lay's games of dominoes, and even suggested herself as a substitute.
+Burmese dominoes are black, with brass points, and held in the hand
+like cards.  Mrs. Slater, a keen and clever opponent, indignantly
+refused to relinquish her post to her relative, and was radiant and
+triumphant when she carried off a stake of eight annas.  Shafto would
+have enjoyed these matches, and this contest of wits and luck, had Ma
+Chit been elsewhere, instead of leaning on his chair, looking over his
+hand, laughing, throwing quick glances, and making idiotic remarks.
+Once he had been not a little startled to find her tiny brown fingers
+inserted between his collar and his neck!  He shook them off
+impatiently; he hated such practical jokes, and said so in no measured
+terms.
+
+More than once, he had been solemnly assured, the fascination of this
+girl's personality worked like a charm, and it had become disagreeably
+evident that she wished to cast a spell over _him_.  How often had her
+bright black eyes imparted an alluring tale!  However, he felt himself
+well protected by an impenetrable shield on which was inscribed the
+name of "Sophy," and Ma Chit gracefully posturing with tingling bangles
+and twittering talk, had no more effect upon her prey than on a stone
+image.  No; although she hung over him, tapped him with too eloquent
+fingers, whispered jokes in his ear, and filled his nostrils with an
+exquisite and voluptuous perfume, she was powerless!
+
+One evening he happened to be playing chess with Salter; Roscoe was at
+_pwe_; Mee Lay was putting Rosetta to bed, but Ma Chit was present,
+listening, smiling, and smoking her white cheroot.  At the conclusion
+of a close and hard-fought game, in which Shafto was victorious she
+leant over, gazed into his eyes, and stroked his face with two
+caressing fingers.  As he drew back quickly, she burst out laughing and
+exclaimed:
+
+"But why are you so shy, dear boy?  Always so shy--so odd and so
+foolish?"
+
+Shafto found the siren undeniably pretty and seductive, but at the same
+time irrepressible and odious.  He hated her catlike litheness, her
+undulating walk, and the unmistakable invitation of her whole
+personality.
+
+"Come, Ma Chit, behave yourself!" said her host sternly.  "If you
+can't--you don't come here again."
+
+The beauty received this admonition with a scream of laughter, tossed a
+flower at Salter, wafted a kiss to his guest, and faded away into the
+veranda.
+
+By degrees, thanks to his constant encounters with Ma Chit, Shafto
+avoided the Salters' bungalow, and Roscoe made his visits alone; but as
+it was not more than three hundred yards from the chummery Shafto had a
+painful conviction that, when dusk and darkness had fallen, the
+neighbourhood of his compound was haunted--not by the malignant and
+resident _nat_, but by the graceful and sinuous figure of a little
+Burmese girl!  Once a stone, to which was attached a paper, was thrown
+into his room.  On it was inscribed in a babu's clerkly hand:
+
+"Do come and talk to Ma Chit."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+MUNG BAW
+
+Returning one evening from a lively dinner at the "Barn," Shafto was
+surprised to see a light in his room, and still more surprised to find
+the _pongye_ once again seated on his bed.
+
+"Oh, so you've come back!" he exclaimed aghast, and a shadow of
+annoyance settled on his face.
+
+"I have so," calmly responded this late visitor; "as I was passing I
+thought I'd give you a call in.  I came down a couple of weeks back--as
+I have some small business here and wanted to show myself to a doctor.
+I don't hold with them native medicines and charms, and I'm inclined to
+a weakness in me inside."
+
+"Why, you look as strong as a horse!" was Shafto's unsympathetic
+rejoinder, as he sank into a chair and pulled out a cigarette.  The
+_pongye_ contributed a special personal atmosphere, composed of
+turmeric, woollen stuff and some fiercely pungent herb.
+
+"Looks is deceitful, and so is many a fine fellow," observed the
+_pongye_ in a dreamy voice.  After this pronouncement he relapsed into
+a reflective silence--a silence which conveyed the subtle suggestion
+that the visitor was charged with some weighty mission.  At any rate,
+it was useless for Shafto to think of undressing and going to bed,
+since his couch was already occupied by the holy man, who appeared to
+be established for the night.
+
+Interpreting Shafto's envious glance, he said:
+
+"You'll excuse me sitting on the _charpoy_, but I've got entirely out
+of the use of chairs, and me bones are too stiff to sit doubled up on
+the floor like a skewered chicken."
+
+"Oh, that's all right," said Shafto, who was very sleepy.  "I suppose
+you have just come from Upper Burma?"
+
+"Yes, that's the part I most belong to and that suits me.  I can't do
+with this soft, wet climate, though I am an Irishman.  I'm from Mogok,
+that's the ruby mine district, but what I like best is the real jungle.
+Oh, you'd love to see the scenery and to walk through miles and miles
+of grand trees on the Upper Chindwin; forests blazing with flowers and
+alive with birds, not to speak of game.  Many's the time I've been
+aching for the hould of a gun, but, of course, it was an evil thought."
+
+"Your religion forbids you to take life?"
+
+"That's true; I've not tasted meat for years, but there's not a word to
+be said agin fish or an odd egg."
+
+"Tell me something more about your new faith!"
+
+"Well now, let me think," said the _pongye_ meditatively.  "We have no
+regular service for marriage or burial, and no preaching.  We keep the
+five great rules--poverty, chastity, honesty, truth, and respect all
+life.  There are two hundred and twenty-seven precepts besides.  Most
+men can say them off out of the big book of the Palamauk, and there are
+stacks and stacks--thousands of stacks--of sacred writings, but I just
+stick to the five commandments, the path of virtue and the daily
+prayers.  The singing and chanting is in Pali--a wonderful fine, loud
+language.  Many of the _pongyes_ is teachers, for every boy in Burma
+passes through their hands; but I'm no schoolmaster, though I was once
+a clerk in the Orderly room.  I could not stand the gabble of them
+scholars, all roaring out the same words at the top of their voices for
+hours together."
+
+"I can't imagine how you pass your time," remarked Shafto, "or how you
+stand the idleness--a man like you who were accustomed to an active
+life."
+
+"Oh, I get through me day all right.  In the early morning there's
+prayers and a small refreshment, and I sit and meditate; the young
+fellows, like novices, sweep and carry water and put flowers about the
+Buddha; then we all go with our bowls in our hands, parading through
+the village, looking neither right nor left, but we get all we want and
+more--for giving is a great merit.  When we return to the _kyoung_ we
+have our big midday meal, and then for a few hours I meditate again.
+The life suits me.  It's a different country from India, with its
+blazing sun and great bare plains; there the people seldom has a smile
+on them.  Here they are always laughing; here all is green and
+beautiful, with fine aisy times for flowers and birds and beasts.
+There's peace and kindness.  Oh! it's a fine change from knocking about
+in barracks and cantonments, drilling and route-marching and sweating
+your soul out.  By the way, have ye the talisman I give you?"
+
+"If you mean the brown stone--yes."
+
+"That stone was slipped into my begging-bowl one day."
+
+"Not much of a find as an eatable!"
+
+"That is so, though according to fairy tales the likes has dropped out
+of people's mouths before now.  Ye may not suspicion the truth, but
+it's a fine big ruby!  I believe it was found stuck in red mud in the
+ruby district, and someone who had a wish for me dropped it into the
+_patta_, and I--who have a wish for you--pass it on."
+
+"But if it is so valuable I could not dream of accepting such a gift,"
+protested Shafto.  "You will have to take it back--thanks awfully, all
+the same."
+
+"Oh, ye never rightly know the price of them stones till they are cut;
+but the knowledgeable man I showed it to said it might be worth a
+couple of thousand pounds, and I've come to tell ye this--so that ye
+can turn it into coin--and if ye wanted to get out of Burma, there ye
+are!"
+
+"That _is_ most awfully good of you, but I really could not think of
+accepting your treasure, or its value in money--and I have no wish to
+leave Burma, the country suits me all right."
+
+As he ceased speaking Shafto got up, unlocked a leather dispatch box
+and produced the ruby, which he placed in the large, well-kept hand of
+the visitor.
+
+"Well, now, I call this entirely too bad!" the latter exclaimed as he
+turned it over.  "An' I need not tell ye that I can make no use of the
+ruby, being vowed to poverty--which you are not; and I want to offer
+some small return for what ye did for me last time I was down in
+Rangoon.  I can't think what ails ye to be so stiff-necked; is there
+nothing at all I can do for ye?"
+
+"Well, Mung Baw, since you put it like that, I believe you could give
+me what would be far more use than a stone--some valuable help."
+
+"Valuable help!" repeated the _pongye_, adjusting false horn spectacles
+and staring hard.  "Then as far as it's in me power the help of every
+bone in me body is yours and at your service."
+
+"Thank you.  Now, tell me, have you ever heard of the cocaine trade in
+Burma?"
+
+"Is it cocaine?  To be sure!  It's playing the mischief in Rangoon and
+all over the country."
+
+"I want you to lend a hand in stopping it; if we could only discover
+the headquarters of the trade, it would be worth a thousand rubies."
+
+"I have a sort of notion I could put me finger on a man that runs the
+concern; ever since he come into Burma he has been pushing the world
+before him and doing a great business.  From my position, being part
+native, part British, part civilian, and more or less a priest of the
+country and clever at languages, I've learnt a few things I was never
+intinded to know."
+
+"Then I expect you have picked up some facts about cocaine smuggling?"
+
+"That's true, though I never let it soak into me mind; but from this
+out I promise ye I'll meditate upon it."
+
+"If you can help the police to burst up this abominable traffic you
+will deserve to go to the highest heaven in the Buddhist faith."
+
+"I'll do my best; I can say no fairer.  I'm sorry ye won't take the
+ruby,"--turning it over regretfully.  "Maybe your young lady would
+fancy it?  It would look fine in a ring!"
+
+"But I have no young lady, Mung Baw."
+
+"Is that so?"  He paused as if to consider the truth of this statement,
+cleared his throat and went on: "The other day, when I was down by the
+lake, I saw a young fellow, the very spit of yourself, riding alongside
+of a mighty pretty girl on a good-looking bay thoroughbred?"
+
+Here he again paused, apparently awaiting a reply, but none being
+forthcoming, resumed:
+
+"And now, before I go, I want to give ye what ye can't refuse or
+return--and that's a wise word.  It was not entirely the ruby stone as
+brought me here--it was some loose talk."
+
+"Loose talk, Mung Baw, and you a Buddhist priest!  I'm astonished!"
+
+"Yes, talk straight out of Fraser Street, my son.  Many of our priests
+are holy saints; altogether too good to live; with no thought whatever
+of the world--given over entirely to prayer and self-denial, blameless
+and without one wicked thought; but there does be others that is
+totally different.  'Tis the same in a regiment--good soldiers and
+blackguards.  Some of the _pongyes_, when the prayers is done, spend
+all their days gossiping, chewing betel nut and raking through
+bazaar--_mud_!"  Then suddenly he leant forward and stared at his
+companion as if he were searching for something in his face, as he
+asked: "Do you happen to know a girl called 'Ma Chit'?"
+
+Shafto moved uneasily in his creaking wicker chair; after a moment's
+hesitation he replied:
+
+"Yes, I know her."
+
+"Don't let her put the 'Comether' on you!  These Burmese dolls have a
+wonderful way with them.  She's a gabby little monkey, and they say she
+has chucked Bernard and taken a terrible fancy to you!  I would be main
+sorry to see you mixed up with one of these young devils--for I know
+you are a straight-living gentleman."
+
+"There is not the smallest chance of my being what you call 'mixed up'
+with any young devil," said Shafto in a sulky voice.  "As for Ma
+Chit--she is not the sort you suppose."
+
+"Oh, may be not," rejoined the _pongye_ in a dubious tone.  "Still, I
+know Burma--lock, stock and barrel, and a sight better nor you.  Av
+course, I never spake to a woman and give them all a wide berth--but I
+cannot keep me ears shut.  Listen to me, sir.  These young torments
+have no scruple.  Ma Chit is dead set on you, and that's the pure
+truth.  Now, there's one thing I ask and beg--never take or smoke a
+cigarette she might offer."
+
+"Not likely!  I only smoke Egyptians, or a pipe.  But tell me--why am I
+to refuse Ma Chit's cigarettes?"
+
+"The reason is this, and a good one--these black scorpions employ what
+they call 'love charms.'  Oh yes, laugh, laugh, laugh away!  But one of
+these charms would soon make you laugh the wrong side of your mouth.
+They are deadly, let me tell you; a cigarette loaded with a certain
+drug has been the ruin of more than one fine young fellow.  I
+disremember the name of the stuff--it begins with an 'M,' and is surely
+made in hell itself, for it drives a man stark mad.  Once he smokes it
+he falls into a pit and is lost for ever, body and soul."
+
+"Come, I say, isn't this a bit too thick, Mung Baw?"
+
+"Well, you ask the doctors.  There's a good few cases of lunacy and
+suicide in this country--all caused by a love charm; so when Ma Chit
+sidles up, showing her teeth, and offers you a smoke--you will know
+what to do.  Now," concluded the visitor, scrambling to his feet, "I
+must be on the move.  I am stopping for a while at the big Pongye
+Kyoung, near the Turtle Tank, and if you should happen to be riding
+round that way, we might have a talk on this cocaine business.  If I am
+to go into it, neck and crop, I can't be coming about here--as it would
+excite suspicion."
+
+"All right then; I'll turn up and you will report progress; but how am
+I to spot you among the crowd of priests?"
+
+"Easy enough!" replied Mung Baw, drawing himself up to his full height;
+"I'm the tallest _pongye_ in Rangoon."
+
+"Yes, no doubt.  Burmese are a bit undersized."
+
+"But fine, able-bodied fellows.  I suppose you've seen the wrestlers?"
+
+"Yes.  Now, before you go, can I get you a drink or a smoke?"
+
+"Oh, as for a smoke, I'm thinking your tobacco would not be strong
+enough for me, but I don't say that I wouldn't like a drink, although I
+am a sober man; just the least little taste of whisky and water, as a
+sort of souvenir of old times.  Ye might bring it in here, for I don't
+want them native chaps makin' a scandal about me."
+
+As soon as the _pongye_ had been secretly supplied with a fairly
+moderate souvenir, he resumed his sandals, picked up his umbrella and
+begging-bowl and, with a military salute to Shafto, swept down the
+rickety stairs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+ENLIGHTENMENT
+
+Miss Fuschia Bliss was still in Rangoon and, as she modestly expressed
+it, "crawling round, on approval."  She had brought letters of
+introduction to the Lieutenant-Governor, the Pomeroys, and the
+Gregorys.  Sir Horace and Lady Winter had no young people, so she
+presently passed on to the Pomeroys, who in their turn reluctantly
+yielded their guest to Mrs. Gregory.
+
+Hosts and hostesses were only too glad to secure the company of Miss
+Bliss, a girl who had seen so many strange countries, and noticed so
+much with her sharp eyes, that her inferences and original remarks were
+equally novel and interesting.  Fuchsia's society was invigorating, and
+the American could easily have put in twelve months in Burma if so
+disposed.  But one obstacle--and one only--interposed, and detained her
+from joining her friends in Cairo.  (This is in the strictest
+confidence.)  She was awaiting the moment when that great, big stupid
+Irishman would speak!
+
+Although Fuchsia looked no more than two- or three-and-twenty,
+eight-and-twenty  summers  had passed over her ash-coloured head.  She
+had received an excellent education, had travelled far, and was as
+experienced and worldly-wise as any matron of fifty.  Indeed, in
+natural wit and the art of putting two and two together, she was
+considerably ahead of most of her sex.
+
+Mrs. Gregory enjoyed having young people with her, but her mornings
+were engaged.  She had a hand in the principal benevolent societies in
+the place; was treasurer of this, or secretary of that, apart from her
+house-keeping and large correspondence, so that she was rarely at
+liberty before tiffin; therefore Fuchsia had all the forenoon to
+herself, and spent the time visiting her girl friends or shopping in
+the bazaar.  The heiress had hired a motor, a little two-seater that
+she could drive, and with respect to locomotion was entirely
+independent of her hostess.  No one in Fuchsia's circle received so
+many visits as Sophy Leigh; she was fond of Sophy, and frequently
+turned up at "Heidelberg" to tiffin or to tea, although she did not
+care about the set of people that she met there--stout German ladies
+with somewhat aggressive manners, or second-rate women from the fringe
+of Society.  Everyone of these was, in the eyes of the little American
+democrat, an "Outsider."  Fuchsia was fastidious, an aristocrat to her
+finger-tips, and it was no drawback to Pat FitzGerald that his maternal
+uncle was an earl.
+
+"How could Sophy tolerate these stupid people," Fuchsia asked herself,
+"with their sharp, probing questions and heavy jokes?  Why did Mrs.
+Krauss invite them?"
+
+And here she came to yet another question: What was the matter with
+Mrs. Krauss?  There was something strange and mysterious about her
+ailment; her attacks were so fitful; now she appeared brilliant and
+vivacious, with gleams of her former great beauty, the gracious and
+agreeable hostess; again, her condition was that of sheer indifference
+and semi-torpor.  And who was the officious and familiar ayah, her
+attendant and shadow, an obtrusive creature with bold black eyes and a
+resolute mouth?  Why did she speak so authoritatively to her mistress?
+Why did she wear such handsome jewellery and expensive silk saris,
+heavily fringed with gold, and strut about with such an air of
+importance?
+
+Lily appeared to have enormous influence with Mrs. Krauss--she knew
+something!  She held some secret.  This was the conclusion at which
+Fuchsia the shrewd arrived, after she had paid a good many visits to
+"Heidelberg."
+
+Fuchsia, with her long chin resting on her hand, set her active brain
+and cool judgment to work.  She recalled a certain scene one evening
+when she had driven over in her car to take Sophy to the theatre, and
+was sitting in the veranda half hidden by a screen, awaiting her
+friend, whilst Mrs. Krauss, lying prone upon the sofa, fanned herself
+with a languid hand.  Presently, from a doorway, Lily noiselessly
+drifted in.  She was amazingly light-footed for her bulk.
+
+"Now, it is nine o'clock," she said, addressing her mistress, "and you
+have got to go to bed."  Her voice was sharp and authoritative.  The
+reply came in a low murmur of expostulation.
+
+"I'm going to the Pagoda to-night," continued Lily, "but you will be
+all right.  As soon as you are undressed you shall have your _dose_."
+
+On hearing this promise Mrs. Krauss furled her fan, rose from the sofa
+with astonishing alacrity, and followed her ayah as commanded.
+
+Now the question that puzzled Fuchsia was, what was the nature of the
+dose?  It must have been something agreeable, or Mrs. Krauss would not
+have bounded off the sofa and hurried away--and who would rush for a
+dose of quinine or even the fashionable petrol?  Undoubtedly the dose
+was a drug--some enervating and insidious drug.  This would amply
+account for the lady's lethargy and languor.  The crafty Fuchsia threw
+out several feelers to her hostess on the subject of "Heidelberg"--she
+wondered whether anyone shared her suspicions.  Certainly Mrs. Gregory
+did not, but sincerely lamented her neighbour's miserable health, and
+deplored her obstinacy in remaining season after season in Rangoon.
+
+"It's rather a dull house for poor Sophy," suggested her friend; "when
+her aunt has one of her bad attacks she sees no visitors for days.  Mr.
+Krauss is absent from morning till night--not that I consider his
+absence any loss, for I dislike him more than words can express."
+
+"Well, I can't say that I am one of his admirers," admitted Mrs.
+Gregory; "but I agree with you that Sophy has some long and lonely
+hours; she can come over here whenever she pleases, and she cannot come
+too often, for she is a dear girl, and I would be glad to have her
+altogether.  You know she and I were house-mates up at May Myo, and
+when you live with another person in a small bungalow that is your
+opportunity to get down to the bed-rock of character."
+
+It was about a week after the elephants had been transported across the
+river, and Sophy and Fuchsia were sitting in the latter's bedroom at
+the "Barn."  Sophy was altering a hat for her companion; she was
+remarkably clever in this line, and a surprising quantity of her
+friends' millinery had passed through her fingers.
+
+"Mr. Shafto had a narrow squeak this day week," remarked Fuchsia, who
+was lounging in a chair, doing nothing.  "Did you hear someone say that
+he was _pushed_ in?"
+
+"Oh, no!  By accident--or on purpose?"
+
+"Whichever you please; the result was the same."  Then, after a
+considerable pause, she added significantly:
+
+"Perhaps he knows too much."
+
+"Too much of what?" asked Sophy, looking up.
+
+"Oh, there are many secrets in Rangoon," said Fuchsia, nodding her
+head; "I have grasped that, although I have only been here two months,
+and you a whole year.  Have you never noticed anything?  Have you no
+suspicions about people?"
+
+"No--not of anything that matters.  I suspect that the eldest Miss
+Wiggin rouges and darkens her eyebrows, that Lady Puffle wears a wig,
+and that the Grahams are thoroughly sick of their paying guest.  But
+you are ten times cleverer than I am, Fuchsia, and, according to Mr.
+Gregory, singularly intelligent and acute."
+
+"Acute--rubbish!"  Fuchsia dismissed the idea with a gesture of her
+tiny hand.  "I'm not thinking of wigs, or paint, or such piffle.  Say,
+have you never heard of the cocaine business?"
+
+"Oh, yes; Mr. Shafto is tremendously keen on the subject."
+
+"Pat FitzGerald is mad about it, too, and is having a great big try to
+rope in the boss smugglers.  He has told me the most terrible tales.
+Once the drug--it's cocaine and morphia mixed--gets a fast hold of a
+man, or woman, he or she is doomed!"
+
+"Oh, Fuchsia, surely not so bad as that!"
+
+"It's true; the poor thieve to get a few annas to spend in the dens;
+the rich and educated buy it by stealth, and absorb it at home in
+secret."
+
+"What are the symptoms?" inquired Sophy.  "Have you ever seen anyone
+who took those drugs?"
+
+"Well, I could not say," she answered evasively; "but I am aware that
+the symptoms are unaccountable drowsiness and lethargy, followed by a
+deathlike sleep, and, they say, the most _heavenly_ dreams.  Later, the
+dreamer wakes up, haggard, feverish, and miserable; the skin has a
+dried, shrunken look.  And you can always tell a drug-taker by the
+eyes; the pupil is either as small as a pin's point or else enormously
+enlarged."
+
+Fuchsia glanced sharply at Sophy, who was carefully manipulating a
+large bow.
+
+Was she recalling a domestic picture?  Did any suspicion sink into her
+simple mind?  If such was the case the girl gave no sign.
+
+"These drug-maniacs' lives are a real burden," continued Fuchsia; "they
+become indolent and slovenly; all they want in the whole world is more,
+and more, and more--cocaine.  The effect on some is to clear and
+stimulate the brain and, for a short time, they seem superhuman; but
+soon this marvellous illumination that has flared up dies down like a
+fire of straw, and leaves them nothing but the cold ashes."
+
+"Fuchsia," said her companion, suddenly raising her head and gazing at
+her steadily, "I believe you are thinking of someone."
+
+"Why do you say that?"
+
+"Tell me who it is."
+
+But Fuchsia merely looked down on the ground and maintained an unusual
+silence.
+
+"Do you know anyone that the cap fits?" persisted Sophy.  Then, with a
+quick movement, she put the hat aside and, confronting her companion,
+said, "Surely--surely, you don't mean _Aunt Flora_?"
+
+Fuchsia's reply was a slow, deliberate nod.
+
+"Oh, Fuchsia, this is too dreadful--how can you?  Tell me--why you have
+such a hideous suspicion?"
+
+"All right then, I will," and Fuchsia sat bolt upright.  "I'm older
+than you are, and have knocked about the world a bit, and I can't help
+seeing things that are thrust under my nose and drawing an inference.
+I must tell you that my grandfather was a notable lawyer, and who knows
+but that a scrap of his mantle may not have descended upon me!  Now to
+answer your question right away--you will admit that pretty often your
+aunt is dressed like a last year's scarecrow; that she is drowsy,
+stupefied, and generally inaccessible.  At another time she is real
+smart and vivacious, and puts other women in the shade.  Then suddenly
+she disappears, shuts herself up along with Lily ayah, and not a soul
+may approach her--no, not even you.  Undoubtedly Lily provides the drug
+and is handsomely paid.  I ask you to look at her jewels and her
+diamond nose-ring.  Your aunt refuses to see a doctor, for a doctor
+would diagnose her case the instant he set eyes on her; she also
+refuses to quit Rangoon, and why?  Because she would be torn away from
+what is killing her inch by inch--and that is cocaine!"
+
+By the time Fuchsia had ended this speech Sophy's face was colourless,
+and, as she unconsciously stroked a piece of ribbon between her
+fingers, many facts in support of Fuchsia's verdict flocked into her
+brain and forced themselves upon her comprehension.  She had a
+conviction that what her friend had just told her was neither more nor
+less than a dreadful truth.  An instant of clear vision had come;
+scales had fallen from her eyes; she recalled those strange excursions
+to Ah Shee's stifling den, the purchase of ivories so soon thrown
+aside; undoubtedly this collection of netsukes was a blind--her aunt's
+real object was to procure _drugs_!
+
+"I'm afraid this is an awful blow to you, Sophy," resumed Fuchsia, "and
+you will think I had no business to crowd in; but it is best that you
+should have your eyes opened before it is too late.  What do you think
+yourself, dear?"
+
+There was an agonising pause.  Self-deception was no longer possible.
+With an effort she replied:
+
+"I am afraid what you have told me is terribly true; it was stupid of
+me not to have guessed at something of the sort.  I see things clearly
+now that you have put them before my eyes.  Many puzzles are
+explained--the reason Aunt Flora keeps herself isolated; the reason why
+she has no really intimate friends; the reason why she is so untidy in
+her dress at times and talks so strangely.  I suppose Mr. Krauss knows?"
+
+"No!" replied Fuchsia with emphasis, "I have watched him carefully, and
+I don't believe he has the faintest suspicion, any more than you had
+yourself.  Your aunt's ayah, and possibly the cook, are
+fellow-conspirators, and no doubt the cause of 'the Missis's' long
+strange illness is common talk in the compound."
+
+"What can be done to cure it?  Oh, Fuchsia, _do_ advise me!"
+
+"If I were to offer you one piece of advice you would not take it."
+
+"Well, at least allow me to hear it."
+
+"It is to clear out of the house altogether and return home."
+
+"I shall certainly not take that advice; I was invited to Rangoon to be
+a companion to Aunt Flora, and the moment that I find she has something
+frightful to fight against is surely not the time for me to run away
+and leave her in the lurch.  No, I shall stay here and do what I can."
+
+"Ah, if you only could; but, my dear girl, I'm afraid it is too late.
+I have been questioning Pat FitzGerald--of course without letting him
+know that I had any 'case' in my mind's eye.  From what I have
+gathered, Mrs. Krauss has been taking this drug for a long time--and is
+past all help."
+
+"Then do you mean, Fuchsia, that I am to sit by, utterly helpless,
+whilst my aunt slowly puts herself to death?"
+
+"Of course you might try various things.  You could make it your
+business to find out and destroy the hypodermic syringe--or perhaps
+your aunt takes it in pellets.  I should interview the ayah and inform
+her that you know the nature of her mistress's complaint; threaten that
+you will tell Mr. Krauss and have her discharged.  I expect she gets
+enormous wages and has feathered her nest handsomely.  If you could
+inveigle your aunt into taking a voyage to Australia, that might be of
+use.  But these are just suggestions; in any way that I can help or
+back you up I will.  All the same, I must return to my first statement,
+which is, that no matter how you strive, and hope and fear, your effort
+will come too _late_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+SEEING IS BELIEVING
+
+The recent enlightenment had given Sophy a painful shock; thoughts
+troublesome and insistent buzzed about her all day long and kept her
+awake at night.  At first she had wept and abandoned herself to misery;
+then she summoned her strength and will and made plans, hoping that she
+would have the courage to carry them out.  She resolved to invade her
+aunt's bedroom and discover the true state of affairs.  During the last
+two or three days Mrs. Krauss had withdrawn into seclusion, being
+threatened with one of her so-called "attacks."  On these occasions no
+one but Lily was permitted to cross the threshold of her apartment.
+
+Late on the following evening, when the house was quiet and the
+servants had departed to their _godowns_, or the bazaar, and the
+"missy" was supposed to have retired, Sophy slipped on a dressing-gown
+and soft slippers and made her way into the anteroom, usually occupied
+in the day-time by her aunt, now dimly illuminated by one electric
+light.  Before the door of the next apartment hung a heavy curtain
+which, when drawn aside, revealed a thick darkness, a peculiar odour,
+and the sound of rapid breathing.  Sophy groped with her hand along the
+wall, found the switch, and the room and its contents were instantly
+revealed.  A richly-carved bedstead, a masterpiece of Burmese work,
+stood in the middle of the floor; at either side were small tables, one
+heaped with an untidy pile of books and magazines; on the other were
+bottles, glasses and little boxes.  In turning the switch Sophy had lit
+the bulb which hung directly over Mrs. Krauss's couch, and there, by
+its pitiless glare, she lay fully exposed, sunken in a sleep resembling
+a swoon, her splendid black hair lying loose upon the pillows.  She
+looked woefully old and shrunken, her arms, displayed by an
+open-sleeved silk nightgown, were thin and strangely discoloured.
+
+As Sophy stood surveying the scene the bathroom door opened softly and
+Lily stepped over the threshold.  "Oh, my missy!  Whatever are you
+doing here?" she exclaimed, throwing up her hands.
+
+"I am searching for the hypodermic syringe by which you reduce my
+aunt," pointing to the bed, "to this horrible condition.  Come with me,
+Lily," leading the way to the outer room.  "I have something to say to
+you."
+
+The ayah's face was almost green; she was shaking all over, but after a
+moment's hesitation she ultimately obeyed in sullen silence.
+
+"I was not aware until two days ago," resumed Sophy, "that my aunt took
+drugs and that you supplied them."
+
+"I don't know what the missy is talking about," stammered Lily.
+
+"Oh yes, you understand, and Mr. Krauss will understand.  At present he
+has no idea of my aunt's real ailment."
+
+"Missy going to tell _him_?  Well, if I am sent away to Madras and the
+drug taken from the missis she will soon die--you will see!"
+
+Lily's tone was more triumphant than regretful.
+
+"She will die anyway," rejoined Sophy, "and it were better that she
+should die in her senses than a drugged victim to cocaine.  How long
+has this been going on?"
+
+"Two, three years--maybe four years."
+
+"Four years!" repeated Sophy incredulously.
+
+"Yes, missis plenty sick--no sleep getting; doctor ordering small dose
+sleep mixture; missis liking too much, taking more and more, and more."
+
+"And you have kept her supplied--you get it from Ah Shee?"
+
+"If not me, then some other woman.  I plenty fond of missis and I kept
+her secret."
+
+"And, no doubt, she has paid you well."
+
+"Yes, giving money; but too much trouble to get morphia and cocaine and
+to keep people from talk.  One or two times she took too big dose, and
+then nearly die--but missis will have it all the same--die or no die!"
+
+"Well, now, if I promise you one thing will you promise me another?  I
+will not say a word to Mr. Krauss if you will agree to buy no more
+cocaine."
+
+"I will promise not to give so much; but no more cocaine taking at all,
+missis would shrivel up and go out like one bit of paper in a candle!
+I will do what I can, missy, but missis always taking plenty--two
+grains is nothing."
+
+"I am astonished," said Sophy, "that my aunt has never been suspected
+of taking drugs."
+
+"Missy, you never suspect it yourself, and yet you have lived in same
+house for fifteen months.  It was hard to keep it dark, but all the
+servants know.  Of course, that is no matter, and as for the big
+mem-sahibs, they do not come here _now_."
+
+"It seems so strange," said Sophy, "that my aunt should have sunk into
+this state--all through one little dose of morphia."
+
+"Well, you see, missy, she was ill; it was in the rains; she was
+awfullee melancholy and depressed, and she had not much to fill her
+mind.  She did not sew or ride or make music, like you do.  Mr. Krauss
+was away, she was sick and lonely, and so she got the doctor's
+prescription made up over and over again.  If she could have gone to
+Europe two years ago she might have cured herself of taking the stuff.
+Two--three times she has begun to stop it, but it was no good.  I have
+talked to her and given her wise words and tried to help her--and
+_cheat_ her, but she always found me out; so all I can do or have done
+is to stand between her and the other mem-sahibs and hide her--trouble."
+
+The sound of light footsteps stealing across the veranda caused Lily to
+pause--then she added under her breath:
+
+"It is that Moti ayah, missy; she very cunning, same like little snake
+and we had better go.  I will keep my promise, though it will be plenty
+bother; I am glad that you know--for it will make business more easy
+for me now there is one less to hide it from."
+
+Thus the conspirators parted, Sophy having maintained from first to
+last her mastery of the situation.
+
+It was not long before Mrs. Krauss became aware, more by instinct than
+actual knowledge, that her niece had discovered the real cause of her
+illness.  One evening as Sophy bent over to kiss her and say good
+night, she took her hand in both of hers and, with tears trickling down
+her face, whispered:
+
+"Sophy darling, I've tried--it's no use; whatever happens, keep it from
+_him_!"
+
+And this was the sole occasion on which Aunt Flora ever alluded to her
+failing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+ON DUTY
+
+The veil that shrouded her aunt's secret being now withdrawn, by a
+strange paradox a heavy cloud of darkness descended upon Sophy; she
+seemed to have suddenly passed from a warm glow of sunlight into a cold
+shadow-land of mystery and fear.  Before Herr Krauss and the outer
+world she still carried a buoyant standard of false high spirits.  Her
+rippling laughter and cheerful repartees were to be heard where young
+people were assembled at the Gymkhana, or elsewhere; but this Sophy
+wore another aspect when she sat on duty in her aunt's bedroom, whiling
+away restlessness and want of sleep with reading and talk, and even
+cards.  Many a time the dawn was breaking before she was at liberty to
+go to bed.  No wonder that she looked pale and fagged--no wonder people
+gazed at her keenly and inquired about her health.  It is not easy even
+for a girl of two-and-twenty thus to burn the candle at both ends!
+Riding, dancing, and playing tennis in the daytime, and then sitting up
+half the night, with a restless and fretful patient.  It was _this_
+Sophy who conferred so long and earnestly with Lily ayah, respecting
+methods to be adopted, pretences effected, infinitesimal doses
+exchanged for the usual amount, and the patient craftily beguiled--but
+it is almost impossible to beguile a person who is suffering from the
+fierce craving for a drug; and the want of her normal supply soon began
+to make itself apparent in Mrs. Krauss, and there were not a few
+exhausting scenes.
+
+Sophy found it necessary to take her ayah Moti into her confidence--a
+humiliating obligation (as it happened, Moti had always been in the
+secret), and among the three it was arranged that the mistress of the
+house was to be watched and never left alone.  Occasionally Mrs. Krauss
+had disputes and dreadful altercations with Lily; but by degrees she
+appeared to acquiesce; her strength was unequal to a prolonged
+struggle, and the victim of cocaine would throw herself down on her bed
+and moan like some dying animal.  These moans pierced the heart of her
+unhappy niece.
+
+Herr Krauss was seldom at home, but, when in residence, his personality
+obtruded itself in all directions, and it was surprising to Sophy that
+he never noticed any cause for anxiety in his wife's appearance, she
+looked so ill and emaciated; it was true that he was preoccupied with
+important affairs, and that he only saw her of an evening when the
+lights were shaded.  She still appeared in the afternoon and at dinner,
+particularly if they were alone.  When she received visitors,
+especially her German neighbours, Sophy felt exceedingly uncomfortable.
+It seemed to her--although this might be imagination--that the ladies
+exchanged coughs and significant glances, and noticed the trembling
+hand with which Mrs. Krauss helped herself to cake, her sudden lapses
+into silence, her abrupt interruptions and cavernous yawns.  For years
+Mrs. Krauss had been at home once a week to her German neighbours.
+They are a gregarious nation, and the "Kaffee-Gesellschaft"--an
+afternoon affair, beginning at four o'clock--is greatly beloved by
+German women.  Here they enjoy strong coffee, chocolate flavoured with
+vanilla and whipped cream, and every description of rich cake.  These
+coffee parties are generally an orgy of scandal, and that at
+"Heidelberg" was no exception.  Whether Mrs. Krauss was well or ill,
+the guests never failed to arrive.  It was a standing institution and
+enjoyed their approval and countenance.
+
+One bright hope upheld Sophy; Herr Krauss now talked of returning
+home--that is, to Germany.
+
+"Business is booming, my dear old lady; I shall close down, and we will
+all depart.  You have been in Burma too long, but in six months we
+shall be aboard the mail boat and watch the gold Pagoda gradually
+sinking out of sight.  I shall take a handsome place in the
+neighbourhood of Frankfort, and entertain all my good friends.  Then we
+will make music, and eat, drink, and be merry."
+
+His talk was invariably in this hopeful strain; he never exhibited the
+least anxiety with regard to his wife's illness; it had become her
+normal condition, and he spoke of it as "that confounded neuralgia" and
+cursed the Burmese climate.
+
+Sophy listened and marvelled, and yet she herself had been equally
+dense.  Neuralgia covers various infirmities, just as the cloak of
+charity covers a multitude of sins.  She had become excessively
+sensitive and suspicious, a sort of domestic detective--a post that was
+by no means to her taste.  She had thought long and earnestly over the
+situation, and from her reflections emerged the solid word "Duty."  It
+was her duty to fight for her aunt, to contend against the demon
+drug--and fight she did.  Oh, if she could only maintain the struggle
+until her charge was en route home, what a victory!
+
+Mrs. Krauss never alluded to her illness--a remarkable contrast to many
+invalids; but one afternoon, as Sophy sat beside her in the dimly-lit
+lounge, she suddenly broke an unusually long silence:
+
+"Life is very difficult, Sophy, my dear; death is easy, and I shall
+soon know all about it."
+
+"Oh, Aunt Flo, why do you say this?"
+
+"Because, before long, I shall die.  Karl is full of great plans and
+talks of our wonderful future.  I see no future for myself in Europe; I
+shall remain behind when you and he go down the Irrawaddy--but I am not
+afraid.  On the contrary, I look forward."
+
+"As for death, I hope you are mistaken, Aunt Flora, but I confess that
+yours is a most enviable frame of mind."
+
+"It is, dear, I suppose, from living so long in the East, I have
+imbibed some of the people's ideas.  In all the world these Burmans
+cannot be matched for their radiant cheerfulness--they make the best of
+the present, and, as they say, 'merely die to live again.'  There is
+not one of them who does not believe in and speak of his past life, and
+look forward to a future existence; this is why they wear such an air
+of happiness and contentment."
+
+"And do you really believe there is anything in this comfortable faith,
+Aunt Flora?"
+
+"Yes, my dear, I have a sincere confidence that my soul, not this
+miserable wicked body, will live again, and be given an opportunity of
+being better in another world."
+
+"Well, at any rate that is a consoling creed.  For my own part, I know
+little about Buddhism, but I can see that the Burmans are a religious
+people, much given to worship and offerings, and with a good deal of
+gaiety in their ceremonies; but, Aunt Flora, although they are
+delightfully picturesque, and so merry and cheerful, as a mass they are
+terribly pleasure-loving and lazy; no Burman will work if he can help
+it; even the women are difficult to get hold of.  Mrs. Blake, who is in
+the District, told me that her ayah, who never exerted herself, had put
+in for a _year's_ holiday and rest."
+
+"But what had that to do with religion, my dear?"
+
+"Just this--that they are as a race too indolant and easy-going to
+study any big question, or to take the trouble to think for themselves."
+
+"But what about the hundreds and thousands of holy priests who spend
+all their lives in profound meditation?  What do you say to that?  Come
+now."
+
+"I say that they live a life of incorrigible idleness; they have no
+need to maintain themselves; they just eat, and sit, and muse;
+everything is supplied to them, including their yellow robe and betel
+nut.  Their religion is selfish."
+
+"Well, well, I'm too stupid to argue, my dear child, my brain is like
+cotton wool; but I have my hopes, my sure hopes.  Karl is different.
+He is cultured, he reads Marx and Hegel, and says we are like cabbages
+and have no future; when we go it is as a candle that is blown out.
+Oh, here are visitors!  What a bore!  I shall not appear!  Run and tell
+the bearer."
+
+"Oh, but these are your own special old friends, Mrs. Vansittart and
+Mrs. Dowler.  _Do_ let them come in; they will amuse you--poor dears,
+you know they always call after dark."
+
+These visitors, friends of former days, were social derelicts, who had,
+so to speak, "gone ashore" in Rangoon.  One was chained to Burma by
+dire poverty and a drunken husband; the other, who had been a wealthy
+woman of considerable local importance, was now a childless widow,
+supporting herself with difficulty by means of a second-rate
+boarding-house.  To these old friends, and in many other cases, Mrs.
+Krauss had proved a generous and tactful helper.  Both visitors were
+wearing costumes which had been worn and admired at "Heidelberg" and
+were still fairly presentable.
+
+After a stay of an hour the ladies withdrew, leaving their hostess well
+entertained but completely exhausted.  Then they hastily sought out
+Sophy in order to express to her, in private, their horror at the
+terrible change in her aunt.
+
+"Her spirit is there all right," said Mrs. Dowler (who had a
+hundred-rupee note in her glove), "but oh, my dear Miss Leigh, _how_
+she's wasted!  I felt like crying all the time I was sitting with her."
+
+"Yes, she should see a doctor, and that this very day," added Mrs.
+Vansittart.
+
+"Oh, but you know Aunt Flora," protested Sophy; "she cannot bear
+doctors, and Lily, her ayah, knows pretty well what to do."
+
+"Tell me, Miss Leigh, what is the real truth about your aunt's
+illness?" said Mrs. Dowler, suddenly dropping her voice to a mysterious
+whisper.  "It has been so long and so tedious--off and on for at least
+three years.  She has been worse the last four months, and indeed ever
+since you went up to May Myo.  It is not a malignant growth, please
+God?"
+
+"Oh, no, nothing of that sort; just weakness and this relaxing climate."
+
+"She should have returned home years ago," said Mrs. Vansittart; "and
+when she does go--oh, it will be a bad day and a sad day for me and
+many others, not to speak of all the animals she has befriended.  She
+is wonderfully sympathetic to dumb creatures and indeed to everybody."
+
+"That's true," echoed her companion, "no one knows of your aunt's good
+deeds and charities, not even her own servants, and that is saying
+_everything_.  Her hand has raised many an unfortunate out of the dust."
+
+Thus whispering, advising and hoping and bemoaning, the two ladies were
+conducted by Sophy to their jointly-hired _ticka gharry_, and were
+presently rattled away.
+
+Sophy, too, had her own particular visitors, Mabel Pomeroy, Mrs.
+Gregory and Fuchsia--Fuchsia, almost daily.  To her it seemed that
+Sophy's confidences were frozen; she rarely mentioned her aunt, and
+gave evasive answers to her friend's probing inquiries.  At last the
+brave American spoke out:
+
+"You are frightfully changed, my Sophy girl--changed in a month.  You
+have become so dull and absent-minded, and have lost all your pretty
+colour.  Of course, _I_ know the reason, but you can do no good--no,
+not a scrap.  You had much better have gone home when you discovered
+the secret--you are as thin as a walking-stick, and look as if you sat
+up all night and never went to bed."
+
+"Well, even if I did and, mind you, I'm not saying that I do, it is no
+worse for my health than dancing all night, is it?  I'm very fond of
+Aunt Flora, and I'd do more than that for her."
+
+"She has added years to your life; the gay flitting-about Sophy, with
+her pretty kittenish ways and harmless claws, has been thrust in a
+sack--and drowned!"
+
+"Well, I do think you might have given her Christian burial," protested
+Sophy with a laugh.
+
+"Christian burial brings me to the Marriage Service.  What do you
+think--that great stupid Irishman, has at last blundered out a
+proposal, and in me," rising and making a curtsey, "you behold the
+future Mrs. Patrick FitzGerald."
+
+"Oh, Fuchsia!" jumping up to embrace her, "I do congratulate you, and I
+do hope you will be very happy."
+
+"Yes, I believe we shall.  I have money and he----" she hesitated, and
+Sophy added:
+
+"Has a warm, kind heart."
+
+"Oh, well, I was about to say _looks_, but I'll throw in the heart as
+well!  Next week I am going up to Calcutta to see about the trousseau
+and business.  I'm real sorry to be the means of smashing up the
+Chummery Quartette."
+
+"And when does the blow fall?"
+
+"Not for some time; Patsy has asked for a long day."
+
+"Fuchsia!"
+
+"Well, no, it's not that; but he's obliged to finish some inspections.
+He really is fond of me--I dare say he's not as fond of me as Shafto is
+of someone!  But _his_ is a more serious, rigid character.  If someone
+would smile, he would melt like a shovelful of snow on a coal fire!"
+
+"My dear Fuchsia, do give your imagination a rest."
+
+"Maybe you are right, and my tongue, too.  I've only just one thing
+more to say," she paused and walked into the veranda in silence.
+
+In silence Sophy followed her down to the car and, as she tucked in the
+knee-sheet, she raised her eyes and asked:
+
+"What is this wonderful last word?"
+
+"That I think 'Sophy Shafto' would be a nice easy name to say."
+
+In another second Fuchsia's car had panted away and nothing remained of
+her visit but a cloud of red dust.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+SOPHY
+
+Sophy had a difficult part to act--in fact no less than three separate
+roles: one with her aunt, one with Herr Krauss, and a third in public.
+Those who saw Miss Leigh dancing and playing tennis at the Gymkhana,
+little guessed how she spent the remainder of the day, soothing and
+interesting a fretful invalid, or sitting up half the night on
+duty--and on guard.  Herr Krauss was frequently from home, being
+incessantly engaged in winding up his affairs.  Business took him one
+week to Moulmein, the next to Calcutta.  This fat, elderly man
+displayed a sort of volcanic energy; he lived in a fever of repressed
+excitement and scarcely gave himself time to gobble his huge meals.
+Numbers of people--principally natives--pressed for interviews; one or
+two arrived in fine motor-cars; evidently it was not a European
+business that appeared to absorb all his time and faculties.  However,
+whatever its nationality, Herr Krauss was happy and exultant; there was
+an expression of assured triumph upon his frog-like visage.
+
+Naturally this triple life left its mark on Sophy, though she kept her
+miseries and responsibilities to herself.  Mrs. Gregory and other
+friends put their heads together and decided that she looked ill and
+careworn; and the ever-active Fuchsia laid certain information before
+Shafto, with the result that the following day he arrived at
+"Heidelberg" to make a formal call.  Of late he found that he could
+never have a word with Miss Leigh; she rarely rode in the morning and
+was seldom to be seen at the Gymkhana, and so he, as Fuchsia had
+suggested, "bearded the lioness in her den"--that is, he called at
+"Heidelberg" between the orthodox hours of four and five.
+
+"This is very formal," exclaimed Sophy, as he entered the somewhat
+dusky drawing-room; "visiting hour and visiting card complete.  What
+does it mean?"
+
+"It merely means that I wish to see you," replied Shafto; "I can never
+get a look in elsewhere.  One would almost think that you avoided me
+and wanted to cut me."
+
+"What a ridiculous idea!" she exclaimed, sitting down and motioning him
+to a chair.
+
+"Well, it does seem ridiculous that we see so very little of you.  I
+hope you are not ill?"
+
+"No, indeed, why should I be ill?  Do I look like an invalid?"
+
+"Since you ask me, I don't think you seem particularly fit.  How is
+Mrs. Krauss?"
+
+"Oh, much the same.  Sometimes she is able to be out in the car and
+sits in the veranda; other days she cannot appear at all."
+
+"And you and Herr Krauss are _tete-a-tete_!  How do you get on
+together?"
+
+"Oh, pretty well.  I only see him at breakfast and dinner, and we talk
+about food and cooking and the servants.  It's all right when he is
+alone, but when he brings friends to dinner it is rather disagreeable.
+I understand German now and am able to make out the hateful things they
+say about us as a nation.  Naturally I stick up for my own country.  I
+talk to them in English--they gabble to me in German, and we make an
+awful clatter.  Herr Krauss looks on, or joins in, and roars and bangs
+the table.  I am fighting one to five, and with my back to the wall!
+They are full of facts that I cannot dispute--not being posted up in
+statistics.  When I attempt to bring forward our side they interrupt
+and shout me down.  Now we have declared open war.  Last night I got up
+and left them in possession of the field, and I have told Herr Krauss
+that the next time he has a session I prefer to dine alone.  He treats
+it as a splendid joke and says I am a silly, ignorant _Backfisch_."
+
+"Of course, a lot of it is trade envy," said Shafto; "but the Germans,
+to give them their due, are energetic, thrifty and pushing, and are
+taking places in the sun all over the world.  Have you heard from Mrs.
+Milward lately?"
+
+"No, not for some weeks; she writes such amusing letters."
+
+"So I should imagine.  She has a wonderfully elastic mind, and says and
+does the very first thing that comes into her head.  Do you remember
+one day on the _Blankshire_ when, half in joke, she said that we were
+two young lambs about to be turned out in strange and unknown pastures,
+and if one of us got into any difficulty the other was bound to help?"
+
+"Yes, I remember perfectly well.  It was after Mr. Jones, the
+missionary, had been giving us a lecture on what he called 'Pitfalls in
+the East.'"
+
+"Well, now I warn you that I'm going to be officious and interfering.
+I have a notion that you are in some difficulty.  What Mrs. Milward
+said in joke I repeat in deadly earnest.  If you are in any sort of
+hole, let me lend a hand."
+
+"But why should you imagine that I am in any difficulty or, as you call
+it, 'a hole'?"
+
+Sophy tried to carry it off gaily, but her eyes fell.
+
+"Because you look so changed and depressed and seem to have lost your
+spirits.  Perhaps, as you have no bodily ailment, there is something on
+your mind?"
+
+"And who can minister to a mind diseased?" she quoted with a smile.
+"No, I'm really normal and absolutely sane."
+
+"I wish you wouldn't put me off," he protested; "I know there _is_
+something."
+
+"Even if there were, do you expect me to make you my Father Confessor?"
+
+"No, indeed; but I do think you might give us a hint--I mean your
+friends--of what it is that has come between us."
+
+For a moment she found it difficult to answer.  At last she said:
+
+"Well, there _is_ something, I admit; something that claims all my
+time.  I am sorry I cannot tell you more, for it is not my own secret."
+
+"I see--it belongs to another."
+
+Evidently Sophy had discovered the truth at last--a truth that was
+withering her youth and crushing her to the earth.  His quick eye
+understood the signs of strain and fatigue; all life and light had
+faded from her face, and he realised that she was, as Fuchsia had
+described, "terribly changed."
+
+For a moment neither of them spoke; she fidgeted with a turquoise
+ring--it was much too loose, or her fingers were much too thin, for it
+suddenly slipped, dropped into her lap and then rolled far away upon
+the floor with an air of impudent independence.
+
+Shafto, as he searched for and picked up this ring, felt something
+forcing and driving him to speak and, after a moment's reflection, he
+made up his mind to dare all.
+
+"I believe I know your secret," was his bold announcement, as he
+restored her property.
+
+"You!" she ejaculated.  "That is impossible."
+
+"At least, I can guess," he said, dropping his voice.
+
+Then he got up and, standing before her with his hands in his pockets,
+looked down at her steadily and continued:
+
+"It has to do with a drug."
+
+At the word drug she winced visibly, and her pale face changed.
+
+"The drug is cocaine," he went on slowly, "and the victim is--a lady in
+this house."
+
+Sophy's white cheeks were now aflame; bright tears stood in her eyes;
+she was passing through a painful crisis.  To assent would amount to a
+betrayal.  Should she put him off with a _lie_?  There seemed to be an
+interminable pause before she spoke.
+
+"Why do you say this to me?" she asked in a low voice.
+
+"FitzGerald has means of finding out curious facts, and sometimes he
+tumbles into a thing by accident; he is mad keen to scotch this cocaine
+business, and incidentally discovered that one of Ah Shee's best
+customers was--_you know who_.  She has been procuring the stuff for
+the last three years.  I believe you have only recently found out the
+hideous fact, and this accounts for what anyone can see with half an
+eye--your look of care and anxiety.  I am well aware that I have
+undertaken a dangerous mission in coming here to tell you this.
+Possibly you may never speak to me again; but I take the risk, because
+I do want so very, very badly to be of some use and to stand by you."
+
+There was nothing for it but to accept the situation, and at last she
+said:
+
+"The only way in which you can help me is by keeping silent."
+
+"How long have you known?"
+
+"About six weeks."
+
+"So now I understand why we see you so seldom at tennis or the
+paper-chases."
+
+"Yes; and now that you _do_ understand, perhaps you will help me and
+put people off when they ask tiresome questions."  She spoke with a
+catch in her voice.  "I scarcely ever leave my aunt.  I read and talk
+and play the piano, and do my best to keep her amused; I am very fond
+of Aunt Flora."
+
+"You must be!" he exclaimed sharply.
+
+"But, indeed, she is not so much to blame as you suppose.  Think of her
+loneliness and illness!  Years of this relaxing climate and intense
+depression tempted her to seek relief, and once she had touched the
+drug it gripped her like a vice and made her a prisoner."
+
+"Whom you are struggling to release?  Does Herr Krauss know?"
+
+"No; he has no suspicion.  No more had I till recently.  Lily, the
+ayah, Mr. FitzGerald, you and I, are all that are in the secret."
+
+"It is much too heavy a load for your shoulders.  Won't you tell Mrs.
+Gregory?  She is so practical and so safe, and full of clever
+expedients and energy."
+
+"No, I shall not open my lips; how could I?  Mrs. Gregory is my loyal
+and kind friend; but once I began to take people into my confidence, I
+could never tell where it would end; soon it might be all over Rangoon
+that my aunt takes drugs.  As it is I am making a little headway; we
+have diminished the quantity, and I have great hopes that the craving
+is _less_.  Of course, I am obliged always to be on guard; that is why
+I am so rarely able to leave home.  Herr Krauss talks of retiring in
+four months, and if I can only keep Aunt Flora safe until _then_, the
+day of our departure means the day of her escape.  And now, please, let
+us talk of something more cheerful.  I suppose you have heard about
+your friend, Mr. FitzGerald, and Miss Bliss?"  And she threw him a
+charming confidential smile.
+
+"Oh yes, rather!  FitzGerald was in the most awful funk and talked of
+writing his proposal, but I choked him off, and told him that it was a
+cowardly way of putting his fate to the touch--the telephone would have
+been better--and that he must face the music like a man."
+
+"You wouldn't be in the least nervous in similar circumstances."
+
+"No, honestly, I would not, if I believed the girl cared two straws
+about me.  Anyone that wasn't stone blind could see that Miss Bliss
+liked FitzGerald; he is a rattling good sort, and I believe they will
+suit one another splendidly."
+
+But Shafto had not come to "Heidelberg" to discuss FitzGerald and his
+affairs; he wanted to talk to Sophy about herself.
+
+"I do wish you would confide in Mrs. Gregory," he urged.  "She is a
+tower of strength.  I don't think you are strong enough to tackle the
+situation here."
+
+"Oh, yes I am," she answered, rising; "it's just a question of
+will-power and holding out.  It was good of you to come like this, but
+now I'm afraid I must send you away.  This is the time I always sit
+with my aunt."  As she spoke she approached nearer to the long glass
+door and, coming out of the gloom of the drawing-room, he saw by the
+unsparing light the startling alteration in her appearance; she looked
+so thin and worn, her eyes so large, her face so small--her whole
+appearance wilted!  When he thought of Mrs. Krauss, with her deadly
+secret, her vampire hold on this girl; then of Krauss and his secret,
+he could no longer restrain himself.  All those influences which stir
+the deepest emotions of the heart were silently operating on Shafto's.
+His face assumed a set expression and had grown suddenly pale.
+
+"Sophy!" he exclaimed.
+
+The word sent her heart galloping.
+
+"I am sure you know that I--I adore you, but somehow I've never
+ventured to tell you this till now----"  He paused, as if the words
+stuck in his throat, and meanwhile a huge brown insect of the bee tribe
+entered, booming alarmingly, and knocking itself about the room.  "But
+now I've got to speak out and take risks.  There is a terrible cloud
+over this house--a cloud of shame!  I know I am saying all this most
+awfully badly, but I ask you to let me take you away from
+'Heidelberg.'"  He broke off abruptly and stood looking into her eyes.
+
+Sophy, no longer pale, returned his gaze steadily.  It was not now a
+question of her aunt's secret, but of her own future.  She cared very
+much for her companion--why deceive herself?--and with the instinct
+common to her sex, had been aware of his feelings for a long time.  All
+the same, she could not desert her post.  She put up her thin hand (it
+was trembling, Shafto could see) with the gesture of one who was
+thrusting aside temptation.
+
+"I don't understand about the cloud, but even so, my place is here.
+Surely you will see that--and--I am, all the same, very--grateful.
+I"--her voice shook and sank almost to a whisper---"I am glad that you
+care for me."
+
+At this moment a curtain was hastily swung aside and Lily appeared.
+
+"Missy, the mem-sahib asking for you now; please to come quickly," and
+with a swift glance at her "missy" obeyed; the _purdah_ fell heavily
+behind her slim, white figure and Shafto was alone.  His mission had
+been fruitless, and yet when he rode away from "Heidelberg" in his
+heart he carried the flower of Hope.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+ALL IS OVER
+
+That same evening, as Sophy was sitting alone in the veranda after
+dinner, Lily ayah appeared, her fat arms uplifted in eloquent appeal.
+
+"Oh, missy--you come with me--I think our mem-sahib soon, soon _die_!"
+
+"Die!" exclaimed Sophy, springing to her feet.
+
+"Yes, somehow these drug people are too clever--she has got cocaine.  I
+think that water man bring it; anyhow, mem-sahib has taken one big, big
+dose, and lies as one gone from the world."
+
+"Send at once for Herr Krauss--he is in his office," and Sophy ran
+towards her aunt's room and found, as Lily had described, that her
+relative was passing away; indeed, save for her faint breathing, one
+would have supposed that she had already crossed the border.
+
+Herr Krauss cast one hurried glance, thundered out of the room, and
+rang up the telephone; then he returned and stood gazing at his wife,
+his face working with emotion.
+
+"What has happened?" he asked, turning abruptly to Sophy.  "_Why_ is
+she like this?  What does it mean?"
+
+"I cannot tell."  A reply which could be taken in two ways.
+
+"It must have been some sudden attack--her heart, I suppose.  Marling,
+the nearest doctor, will be here instantly."  And as he spoke a
+square-shouldered, severe-looking man entered.  Without a word, but in
+a most business-like manner, he made an examination of the patient,
+felt her pulse, turned back her eyelids, and then ejaculated an ominous:
+
+"Ha!"
+
+"What is it?" inquired Krauss; "what is the matter with my wife?  Is it
+serious?"
+
+"Don't you know?" demanded the doctor, turning on him sharply, "it is
+cocaine poisoning--the last stage."
+
+"Cocaine!" echoed Krauss, and his large buff-coloured face turned to a
+leaden hue.  "You are mistaken.  That is not _possible_!"
+
+"Well, if you don't believe me, get another opinion," retorted the
+doctor brusquely.  "Judging from the slight examination I have made,
+your wife has been taking the drug for _years_."
+
+"Impossible!" almost shouted Krauss.
+
+"Not at all," rejoined the doctor.  "Cocaine has been poisoning people
+in Rangoon by hundreds.  Mrs. Krauss is not the only victim."
+
+Krauss, great heavy man that he was, was now trembling so violently
+that he was obliged to lean against the wall for support, and, pointing
+to the bed, he said:
+
+"I had not the slightest suspicion--Gott bewahre, I had not.  I thought
+her ailment was neuralgia.  I will pay any money, no matter what fee.
+Surely, you can do something for her?"
+
+"I am afraid not; Mrs. Krauss is beyond help, and can never recover
+consciousness.  She has been taking quantities of the drug for a long
+time.  Look at her arm!"--turning back the sleeve and revealing an
+emaciated tell-tale limb.
+
+"Did _you_ know?" said Krauss, appealing to Sophy, who stood at the
+other side of the bed.  The words came in short savage jerks.
+
+"Yes," she replied, "I only discovered it six weeks ago."
+
+"And never told _me_!" glaring at her with a furious expression.
+
+"No--because Aunt Flora implored me to be silent.  I was doing my best
+to stop it and minimising the doses."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the doctor, "that accounts for this.  She has been
+starved and, with the cunning of these morphia maniacs, found means to
+get a supply, and has absorbed an enormous quantity."
+
+"Ach Gott! it seems incredible," moaned Krauss, now rising and coming
+towards the bed, and lifting his wife's limp hand.  "What could have
+made her take to it?"
+
+"Illness--loneliness--depression; this enervating climate; having
+nothing particular to do; an idle woman of forty has no business in
+Burma."
+
+"But surely you have some remedy?--something that will bring her to?
+Gott in Himmel! you don't tell me that she will _never_ see me, or
+speak to me again!"
+
+"No; cocaine is one of the most powerful drugs--the greatest curse in
+our pharmacopoeia.  It is better that she should go like this.  Even if
+she were to survive for a week, she would be a mere inanimate shadow."
+
+"Oh, my poor Flora, my heart's joy!  You must not go; you shall not
+leave me without one word!"  And Herr Krauss tumbled down upon his
+knees and sobbed stertorously.
+
+The doctor, who was surveying him with frigid amazement, suddenly
+turned and, seizing Sophy by the arm, said:
+
+"You can do no good here now; this is no place for you."
+
+Leading her to the door he closed it inexorably behind her.
+
+Half an hour later she was joined by Lily, her round face wet with
+tears.
+
+"All is over now, Miss Sahib.  My missis always so good to me--my
+missis done die."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+MUNG BAW LIES LOW
+
+In some mysterious manner the cause of Mrs. Krauss's death was hushed
+up; there was no inquest, and the announcement in the Rangoon Gazette
+merely stated: "On the 8th inst., Flora, the beloved wife of Herr Karl
+Krauss, suddenly, of heart failure."
+
+Sophy had been carried off to the "Barn" a few hours after her aunt had
+passed away, and never again entered "Heidelberg."  The funeral was
+large, expensive, and imposing, and included a crowd of rather
+unexpected and decidedly shabby mourners, who brought with them
+offerings of cheap, home-made wreaths and crosses, and wore faces of
+sincere and unaffected grief.  Strange to say, the grave prepared to
+receive Mrs. Krauss was next to that in which lay the remains of
+Richard Roscoe.  The two cocaine victims rested side by side in death,
+drawn together by the long arm of coincidence.
+
+It had been decided that Sophy was to remain at the "Barn" and
+accompany Mrs. Gregory when she went home in August.  She quickly
+recovered her looks and spirits amid bright society and cheerful
+surroundings.  There had been an auction at "Heidelberg," everything
+was disposed of; the accumulation of twelve years was scattered to the
+winds, the servants were disbanded, and the house was closed.
+
+Herr Krauss sent Sophy a quantity of his wife's jewels, with a letter
+thanking her for all her care and attention, but she only retained a
+ring that had been worn daily by her aunt, and returned the remainder,
+which was afterwards disposed of in Balthazar's Sale Rooms and fetched
+a handsome sum.
+
+It was said that Herr Krauss had felt his wife's death acutely; he had
+left Rangoon without the ceremony of farewells, departing no one knew
+whither.
+
+Time slipped by, and so far had brought no trace of the cocaine gang.
+On several occasions Shafto had ridden round by the big Kyoung behind
+the Turtle Tank and met with no success--nothing but a shake of the
+_pongye's_ shaven head.  On his first visit he had dismounted, given
+his horse to its _syce_, and boldly approached the monastery, outside
+of which an imposing group of _pongyes_ was assembled.  The attitude of
+some was lofty and disdainful; others, with a friendly glance,
+acknowledged the stranger's ceremonious greeting.  Towering
+majestically among his fellows stood Mung Baw, who, throwing them a
+hasty explanation, advanced to welcome Shafto with a soldierly tread
+and a jaunty swing of his yellow robe.  Then taking him aside he began
+to talk to him in a cautious undertone:
+
+"I am sorry to tell you I have no _kubber_ yet.  If I had some female
+acquaintance it would so as easy as 'kiss my hand,' but I cannot break
+my vow or spake to a woman."
+
+"So you have no clue?"
+
+"There's dozens of clues, if I could get hold of one; that's what
+aggravates me and has me tormented.  But I'll worry it out yet, and
+that's as sure as me name is Mick Ryan."
+
+"I thought it was Mung Baw."
+
+"So 'tis mostly--and officially, but this business I'm on is a white
+man's job, and if it's to be done, I'll do it."  As he spoke he removed
+his clumsy horn spectacles, and Shafto realised that the eyes gazing
+unflinchingly into his own were those of an enthusiast, and possibly a
+hero.
+
+Seen in tell-tale daylight, and without his disfiguring glasses, the
+_pongye_ looked years younger; hitherto Shafto's impression had been
+that his strange acquaintance was a man of fifty.  Five-and-thirty
+would be nearer the mark.  His eyes were a shade of deep indigo blue,
+with thick black lashes, high cheek bones were possibly a legacy from
+his Cingalese grandmother; a square, well-shaped head, firmly set upon
+a fine pair of shoulders, a square chin and jaw, and a well-cut mouth
+with shining white teeth, were his inheritance from the West.
+Undoubtedly if Mung Baw's religion had not compelled him to sacrifice
+every hair on his body--including his eyebrows--he would have been an
+uncommonly good-looking fellow, but an absolutely bare face and bald
+cranium was a heavy handicap--were he Apollo himself!
+
+At least thrice a week Shafto, in the character of a private inquiry
+officer, rode slowly round by the Kyoung and had a word or two with the
+tall upstanding priest.
+
+One evening the latter beckoned to Shafto to dismount, and, leading him
+apart, assured him that he was creeping on at last.  "As soon as I know
+what I think I know, I'll send you a bit of a _chit_.  It's an awful
+traffic, this infernal trade, now I've seen into it, cheek by jowl;
+these drugs is worse and crueller than wild animals, and we can't kill
+them."
+
+"No, worse luck!" assented Shafto; "they kill us.  I say, Mung Baw,
+don't your friends in the monastery wonder why I so often ride round
+this way and look you up?"
+
+"Oh, yes, some does be as curious as a cat in a strange larder, but I
+have it all explained to their satisfaction."  Then, dropping his
+voice, he added mysteriously: "They think I'm _convarting_ you!"
+
+"What--to Buddhism!"  And Shafto burst out laughing.
+
+"Faix, ye might do worse."
+
+"Possibly; but I am all right as I am."
+
+"That's a good hearing.  Well, I'm not for troubling anyone's mind,
+shure; aren't we all," with a sweep of his powerful hand, "shtriving to
+reach the same place, and if it's what I expect, I'll hope to meet ye?
+There's the gong for prayers, and I must fall in."
+
+Two days later Shafto received a letter written in a neat clerkly hand.
+It said:
+
+
+"If you will be at the Great Goddema in the woods beyond the Turtle
+Tank by five o'clock to-morrow, Tuesday, you may hear news,--M.R."
+
+
+The Great Goddema in the woods is a gigantic image in alabaster,
+encompassed by palm ferns, and half clothed in flowering creepers.  The
+day of this particular shrine has sunk below the horizon; worshippers
+are absent and the flowers laid around and about are entirely the
+contribution of Nature herself.  Some day the shrine will disappear
+altogether, buried, like many others, in appreciative vegetation.
+
+As Shafto approached the rendezvous, he saw the _pongye_ seated on the
+steps, engrossed in a book with a red cover, which he hastily thrust
+into some inner pocket as he rose to his feet.
+
+"Ye might not think it, but I'm a great reader," he explained
+apologetically.  "It passes the time and is no sin; the saints
+themselves were wonderful writers and readers.  A friend here gets me
+books out of the public library, and then I borrow when I can."
+
+"What have you got hold of now?" inquired Shafto.
+
+"'Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World,' and before that, 'Jungle
+Tales.'  I could tell a good few myself; animals and birds does be very
+friendly and confidential with me; but it's not books I brought you
+here to talk about, but cocaine and opium."
+
+"Yes, rather.  Have you any news?"
+
+"I have so.  I've found out what I may call the head lair of the
+divils."
+
+"Good for you--how splendid!  How did you manage it?"
+
+"Bedad, it was a terrible touch-and-go business, as you shall hear.
+You see, I should first explain how I get so much liberty to go
+mouching round the bazaars and wharves.  Being for so long weak in the
+head--and also of another country--allowances are made, and I'm looked
+on as an oddity, and yet well respected, for I'm clever with cures and
+language.  Well, I used to poke about among a lot of scum that has no
+respect for any cloth whatever--no, nor for life itself; and all the
+time I felt in me bones I'd surely find what I wanted among a crew
+that's just the sweepings of creation!
+
+"There was one particular low wharf I used to hang round by way of
+watching fellows netting fish; and one warm afternoon, as I was
+meditating there, the chance looked my way.  Two half-drunken Chinamen
+come along quarrelling and sat down near me, and I 'foxed' I was sound
+asleep.  They argued about shares and money, and jabbered away very
+angry, telling me all I wanted.  By and by, when they cooled down a
+bit, they saw me, an' this was what ye may call a critical moment for
+Mick Ryan."
+
+"No doubt of that.  Go on!"
+
+"At first one of them was undecided as to whether I was asleep--or not.
+The other brute said: 'No chance take, stick knife in throat, and shove
+into the water.'  You know what these thieves are with their long
+blades.  I tell ye, Mr. Shafto, they might have heard me heart
+thumping!  However, my good angel, Saint Michael himself, had his eye
+on me, for it turned out that neither of them had a _dah_ with him.
+Then they come and leant over me, breathing into me face with their
+filthy rank breath, reeking of napie and pickled eggs, and I snored
+back like a good one!  I snored for my very life, and I done it so
+natural, they were well satisfied; and I being such a big man and heavy
+to shift, they give up the notion of slinging me into the Irrawaddy and
+went off still quarrelling.  I stayed on without a move out of me for a
+full hour; then I got up yawning my head off, and walked away with the
+_clue_ in me hand!"
+
+"Is the den in Rangoon?  There's many a queer place here?"
+
+"No, not in Rangoon itself, but some way up the river; about twenty
+miles beyond Prome there is a deserted village that was cleared out by
+cholera twenty years ago.  They say a big cholera _nat_ lives there,
+and no one will go next or nigh it.  There's a pagoda, a Kyoung, and a
+rest house, all smothered in jungle, and a nice little bit of a
+convenient landing, and 'tis there the Cocaine Company does its
+business--I learnt all their tricks.  The Chinamen gave me a lot of
+news; it seems they smuggle opium, too, and distribute the stuff up and
+down the river by boats; on land by pack animals and the railroad.  Oh,
+it's a wonderfully handy situation; they couldn't have picked a better!"
+
+"And what about the people who run it?" asked Shafto.
+
+"Well, the head of them all is gone; he was, as you may have
+suspicioned yourself, that fellow Krauss.  No one knows what's become
+of him.  Some say he's in Calcutta; more think he's dead--died aboard
+ship; but that may not be true.  Them sort of ruffians generally live
+to a great age.  Someone may have put him out, or rather done him in.
+There were two or three chaps what I've heard talkin' terrible bitter
+agin him; and one fine young man, Ar Bo, who is back from the
+Andamans--where he got sent to for three year, on account of this
+cocaine business--told me that he met a lot of clever fellows from all
+parts of the world; up to every dodge they were, and one of them
+instructed him in the way of killing a man stone dead--and not leaving
+a spot on him!  I believe it's some little trick with the head, where
+it joins the spine.  This chap confessed that he had tried it on
+several with success, and it wouldn't surprise _me_ if he had made an
+experiment on Krauss!"
+
+"But what about the cocaine?" said Shafto.  "How, are we to set about
+getting a haul?"
+
+"Ye'll have to go aisy, or rather Mr. FitzGerald and the polls must
+work by stealth; he can take a good few disguised, as it were on a sort
+of pilgrimage, but well armed, and passing through this village as it
+were accidental; and with a couple of boats on the river I think they
+might scare the lot.  I'd like to go with them meself, for a bit of
+sport--only for me yellow robe, it wouldn't look well for me to be seen
+mixed up with cocaine, thaves and the polis."
+
+"No, I suppose not," agreed Shafto.  "You have to think of your cloth.
+Well, if you will write me down a few details on this slip of paper in
+my notebook, I will give it to Mr. FitzGerald at once, and I can't tell
+you how thankful he will be to get hold of it, or how grateful to you
+we are."
+
+"Oh, I don't want no thanks for what has been a real pleasure.  Haven't
+I seen with me own two eyes all the terrible harm this drug-takin'
+leads to?  And if I've been in a small way the means of puttin' a stop
+to some of it, I'll be a proud man."  He paused to clear his throat,
+and continued: "I suppose, you have not seen anything of Ma Chit
+lately?"
+
+"No."
+
+"She keeps you from goin' to the Salters, doesn't she?  She's always
+sittin' about there on the steps, heart-broken, because she can't get a
+word wid ye!  Of course, I'm not surprised she's took a fancy to ye."
+
+"Fancy!  Rot!" burst out Shafto.  "I can't stand these cheeky Burmese
+girls.  I only hope I may never set eyes on Ma Chit again."
+
+"Well, then, as likely as not ye won't," remarked Mung Baw soothingly.
+"She has a rich relation up at Thayetmyo, and she's swithering between
+love and money.  Perhaps, after all, money will carry the day.  Well,
+now, I must be goin' to me duties--and me devotions, and I'll bid ye
+good evening."
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+The conversation at "Heidelberg" interrupted by Lily had been resumed
+on a suitable occasion in the gardens of the "Barn," and Sophy and
+Shafto were now provisionally engaged.
+
+"I'm a wretched match for you, Sophy," he declared; "I don't believe
+your mother will allow it.  I've no prospects."
+
+"Never mind prospects," was her reckless reply.  "We shall have enough
+to live on.  I have a hundred a year of my own, and I'm quite a good
+manager, with a real taste for millinery.  If the worst comes to the
+worst, I shall open a shop in Phayre Street and make our fortune!"
+
+It was mail day and Shafto, who now dined at the "Barn," was unusually
+late in appearing.  He looked rather excited and out of himself as he
+entered with many apologies.  After dinner he and Sophy paced the drive
+in the silver moonlight, and she began:
+
+"I could hardly sit still, or eat a morsel, for anyone could see that
+you were bursting with some great news.  What is it?"
+
+"I have two pieces of news, and I'll give you first of all one that
+concerns ourselves.  I saw in the _Mail_ some weeks ago that my uncle,
+Julian Shafto, was dead.  He had no family and left no will; and I
+found a letter to-day at the office from a lawyer, informing me that I,
+being next of kin, am heir-at-law, and succeed to the property and a
+fairly large income."
+
+"Oh, Douglas, how splendid!  It sounds too good to be true!"
+
+"I never saw my uncle; he and my father had a disagreement before I was
+born, and had no communication with one another.  He did not even send
+us a line when my father died.  I fancy he was a hard-bitten old
+bachelor.  I've not seen the family place, Shafton Court, and don't
+know much about it, except I remember my father saying there were one
+or two fine pictures, a fair library, and, what did not interest him,
+first-rate partridge shooting."
+
+"Oh, what a piece of good fortune!  Do let us go in at once and tell
+Polly."
+
+"But would you not like to hear my other piece of news, which is even
+better?"
+
+"It could not be better; but do tell me quickly."
+
+"FitzGerald has brought off a splendid _coup_ up the river--run in the
+cocaine gang and collared no end of drugs.  He is to receive the thanks
+of the L.G. and the Government reward."
+
+"How did he discover it?"
+
+"A man I know really put him on the track.  The cocaine lair was in a
+village, so deserted and tumble-down and haunted, that no one suspected
+it, or went near it.  A _pongye_ Kyoung, said to be infested by
+malignant _nats_ and hundreds of snakes, was the head office.  Rather a
+clever dodge."
+
+"Do you think this will put an end to the traffic?"
+
+"No; but it will give it a tremendous set-back; where there is a
+demand, there will always be a supply, but for a considerable time--at
+least a year or two--cocaine will be scarce.  They caught a good many
+of the small fry, but as usual the big fish escaped--all but one
+wealthy Mahommedan, but he is bound to wriggle out somehow.  Another
+point in favour of the short supply of cocaine is the disappearance of
+Krauss."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Sophy.  "Oh, Douglas, surely you don't mean that _he_
+was in it?"
+
+"In it--I should think so.  Up to his neck!"
+
+"Oh, but are you certain?"
+
+"Quite certain!  This will explain his many mysterious journeys, the
+gangs of natives who were always hanging round his office, and his
+suspicious opulence.  You may have noticed that he had no friends among
+the better class of Rangooner; whether British or German; they all
+suspected him of dirty hands.  He had no conscience and was absolutely
+unscrupulous.  It was a strange Nemesis that his wife--to whom you say
+he was devoted--should kill herself with the very drug he was
+smuggling."
+
+"Yes, poor Aunt Flora," murmured Sophy; "that is a dreadful tale, which
+I shall always keep from mother.  I think if she were to know it, it
+would nearly break her heart."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+THE BOMBSHELL
+
+In spite of the claims of his own affairs, Shafto did not immediately
+resign his post at Gregory's, for it happened to be an unusually busy
+season; there was a heavy paddy crop and, owing to fever, the staff
+were short-handed; therefore, for the present he decided to stick to
+the ship, especially as Sophy was, so to speak, on board.
+
+Mrs. Gregory and Sophy were returning to England at the end of August;
+naturally he booked his passage for the same date, and it was a happy
+coincidence that he and his fiancee were once more to be shipmates on
+the _Blankshire_.  Meanwhile they were enjoying the time of their
+lives; the rides or strolls in the grounds or in Dalhousie Park, and
+dances at the Club, were delightful, and their world was sympathetic
+and smiled upon the engagement.
+
+Mrs. Gregory loved a wedding.  Her rooms, appointments and well-drilled
+staff readily lent themselves to such festivals, and why, she asked,
+should Sophy not be married from the "Barn," take a trip up the river
+for her honeymoon, in order to see something of the real country, and
+buy her trousseau after her arrival in London?
+
+Fired with this project, both she and Shafto dispatched long and
+plausible letters to Mrs. Leigh; but Mrs. Leigh declined to entertain
+the idea and, in equally long and eloquent effusions, set forth the
+fact that she had seen nothing of her youngest daughter for nearly two
+years and claimed a share of her company ere she was carried away to
+another home.  She had, however, given a cordial assent to Sophy's
+engagement, and declared that she would gladly accept Douglas Shafto as
+a son, but Sophy must be married from home and in the old church at
+Chelsea.
+
+As Mrs. Gregory returned this letter, she said:
+
+"Well, Sophy, you must only take a sort of pre-honeymoon tour; we will
+go up to Mandalay, and maybe explore a bit of the Shan hills; I shall
+coax George to come--he has not had a holiday for ages.  Douglas must
+get a fortnight off duty, and Martin Kerr, our donnish old cousin, who
+is arriving from Calcutta in a day or two, may accompany us; he is a
+bachelor, very well off, and has lived all his life like a hermit crab
+in his college in Oxford.  Lately he had a bad breakdown, and was
+ordered an immense rest and change; so now he has ventured out to blink
+at the universe beyond Carfax and the High, I expect he will find us
+shamelessly trivial and ignorant.  How his eyes will open when they
+look upon this glaring world and behold some glaring facts!  I shall
+invite Miss Maitland to join our party; she is of a nice suitable age,
+and I shall pair her off with Martin; we will take George's _durwan_,
+as courier, for he has Upper Burma at his finger-ends, and will see
+that we are comfortable."
+
+The projected tour proved entirely successful; Mandalay was reached in
+thirty hours.  From Mandalay, after a few days' halt, the explorers
+fared to farther and less trodden fields, visited the ruby mines, and
+the wonderful remains of Pagan; occasionally they found the
+accommodation at _zayats_, or rest houses, a little rough, but this was
+handsomely discounted by novel sights and experiences, a full view of
+the Burman at home, and the easy joys of village life.  First of all,
+there was the morning procession of the stately _pongyes_, carrying
+their empty begging-bowls, and looking neither to the right nor left;
+there were delicious hours in the forests; boating and fishing
+expeditions on the rivers, or rides to the ruins of ancient cities,
+half buried in jungle.
+
+Shafto and Sophy saw so many novelties that they were almost
+bewildered, but not nearly so much bewildered or impressed as was the
+Professor, when first introduced to the library of an ancient
+monastery, in comparison with whose age his beloved Bodleian was a mere
+infant.  Here the volumes were written on palm leaves, then rubbed over
+with oil to toughen and preserve them; the edges were richly gilt and
+fastened together by drilling a hole at one end, through which a cord
+was passed, then they were placed in elaborate lacquer boxes.  There
+were countless numbers of such books, devout and mystic, all inscribed
+in Pali; they included the "Three Baskets of the Law," also the Laws of
+Manu, which dated from the fifth century before Christ.  Professional
+scribes were kept constantly employed in re-copying and restoring these
+precious tomes, as the palm leaves only last about a hundred years,
+after which they become brittle and difficult to decipher, and the
+copyists have an endless task.
+
+The Professor, attended by an interpreter, haunted the library, made
+eloquent signs to the _pongyes_ in charge, and was permitted to examine
+and make notes of the rarest of their frail treasures, for which favour
+he duly made a generous acknowledgment.
+
+Thanks to Mr. Gregory's courier, the travellers found comfortable
+quarters in his own ancestral village, and here they were able to watch
+the inhabitants both at work and play.  They saw the oxen treading out
+grain, men working an oil mill, or caging fish; women weaving gay
+material, and children plaiting straw mats; so much for day-time
+occupations!  At nights there were songs, dancings, gamblings, and
+games; these included chess, played somewhat differently from what it
+is in Europe, but still the same chess as when it crossed the frontiers
+from China.  There was a king, but instead of a queen a general,
+instead of bishops, elephants; and some of the moves were unusual.
+
+Mr. Gregory, who rather fancied himself as a chess-player, boldly
+challenged one of the elders and, with the entire village as solemn
+spectators, suffered, alas! a humiliating defeat.  Then Shafto took a
+hand at dominoes, at which, thanks to May Lee, he was an expert;
+fortunately he came off conqueror, and thus restored to some extent the
+credit of the party.  These games were played by torchlight, the local
+band--harp, dulcimer, two drums and clappers--discoursed at intervals;
+here the inhabitants, unlike those of Rangoon, were early birds.  By
+ten o'clock lights were extinguished, the crowd had dispersed, and a
+serene silence fell on the soft, purple night.
+
+The College Don had thoroughly enjoyed this excursion into primitive
+life in Upper Burma; he also enjoyed the stimulating company of Miss
+Maitland; and in this delightful, highly coloured atmosphere,
+surrounded by agreeable companions, he fished, joked, flirted, and
+appeared to have shed his formal Oxford manner, along with his Oxford
+trencher and gown.  He remembered Shafto's father and, on the strength
+of this memory, the two became excellent friends, and Shafto gave him
+assistance in the way of adjusting his puttees, helping him over
+awkward places, advising him what food to avoid and what insects to
+destroy.
+
+The trip lasted for three weeks and the party returned to Rangoon
+delighted with their tour, and bringing with them quantities of
+snapshots, not a few small trophies and mementoes--which included the
+great Shan hat, purchased by the Professor--and amusing anecdotes of
+their varied adventures.
+
+"I feel as if I'd had a bird's-eye view of the real country," said
+Sophy to her friend.  "Those great calm seas of green rice, bounded by
+dark woods, with a white pagoda peeping through here and there; the
+fierce strong rivers flowing through overhanging forests, and the deep
+red sunsets, turning old ruins into flames, and then the golden days
+and silver nights, and all the nice friendly simple people.  Douglas
+and I feel quite sad at the idea of saying good-bye to Burma."
+
+"Well, my dear, the matter lies in your own hands," said Mrs. Gregory
+briskly, "and after you are married, you can return to Rangoon; there
+is a fine big empty house in Halpin Road; we might go over and inspect
+it some morning."
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+The assassination of the heir to the Crown of Austria and his Duchess
+had caused a profound sensation in Europe; ripples of this far-reaching
+tragedy had spread to the East; the Rangoon bazaar, like every other
+bazaar, was full of thrilling whispers, and various prudent traders
+were figuratively drawing in their horns and preparing for big trouble
+across the "Kala Pani."
+
+It was the first week in August and on Wednesday; there had been a
+break-neck and exciting paper-chase, with the finish at Government
+House.  Here a profusion of refreshments was displayed and all the
+world, more or less, was present; the men drinking pegs, the ladies
+iced coffee, gossiping, discussing the recent performance and various
+local matters.  All at once a Government _peon_ ran quickly through the
+crowd, a telegraph _peon_, then a motor arrived with two men
+(officials) who had not taken part in the paper-chase.  Sir Horace
+Winter, the Lieutenant-Governor, and his military secretary disappeared
+abruptly indoors, and there was a sudden pause in the continuous
+chatter.
+
+More than one of the guests experienced a curious thrill, as if there
+was something electric in the air; then from nowhere in particular the
+word "War" was whispered.  "Great Britain has declared war on Germany."
+This seemed incredible; people stared at one another aghast, and boldly
+declared that "it was just a bazaar shave and a mistake," for out in
+the Far, Far East there had been no preliminary muttering of the storm
+which was about to burst and drown half the world in tears.
+
+Nevertheless, the news was horribly true.  "War" had come; war, after
+so many years of European peace and prosperity; and newly aroused,
+startled countries found themselves face to face with the malignity of
+the unknown.
+
+Presently the Lieutenant-Governor reappeared and verified the whisper.
+Wires were already active; the 29th Punjaub Infantry had been ordered
+from Mandalay; guests pressed round, eagerly snatching at scraps of
+information; Germans and British glanced curiously at one another, and
+presently the gathering dissolved--to talk, to write, and to cable.
+
+For several days nothing remarkable occurred, save that the outgoing
+mail carried a number of British who had booked their passages at the
+last moment.  Officers on leave were recalled, a few big business
+houses were closed and, in the District, many German mills and a large
+influx of stalwart young employes, who had been working in them and
+could not speak a word of English, suddenly flocked in, prepared to
+embark for Europe, to fight for the Fatherland.
+
+Every berth in the _Blankshire_ had been secured, and the night before
+she sailed the well-known German Club gave its parting dinner; a wild
+affair, with unlimited quantities of champagne, loud patriotic
+speeches, songs and shouts of "Deutschland ueber Alles," and finally a
+smashing of glass, a breaking of furniture, and the customary wrecking
+of the premises.
+
+In her frequent journeys from Rangoon, the popular _Blankshire_ had
+never been so crowded as on the present occasion; every berth was
+taken, chiefly by German passengers, who had also bespoken the chief
+seats at table and the best positions for their deck chairs; such was
+the crush that there would be no room whatever for casual travellers
+from Colombo or Port Said.  The British, who were in a comparatively
+small minority, realised what a very bad time lay before them, when
+they and their country's enemies must pass weeks and weeks in close
+proximity.  Many had caught the previous steamer, but the remnant
+included Mrs. Gregory, Sophy, Shafto and MacNab--who was actually
+paying the passage out of his hoarded funds, and sternly resolved to
+join the Cameronians.  The party were figuratively swamped by the
+multitude of Teutons, who had swarmed on board, already looking
+truculent, arrogant and victorious--drinking and toasting one another
+noisily in vast libations at the bar.  On the wharf an immense
+gathering of natives assembled to speed numbers of kind and generous
+patrons, who (with an eye to the future) had distributed a considerable
+amount of largesse and flattery, as well as silk and satin finery.
+What with the Germans and their native friends, egress from and ingress
+to the steamer were almost impossible; the gangway was choked, and the
+shouting and hurrahing actually drowned the noise of the donkey-engine.
+
+Many friends had come to see the last of Mrs. Gregory and her party;
+the military and official element were bound to remain in Rangoon.
+Sophy was talking to Miss Maitland and Ella Pomeroy, when a fresh
+influx of joyous and exultant Germans came pouring down the gangway
+with the force and violence of a human cataract.  Sophy and her friends
+were thrust rudely apart and, from where she had been pushed against
+the bulwarks, she saw Frau Wurm pass by, also Frau Muller, who threw
+her a glance that seemed to distil hatred.  She was immediately
+followed by Bernhard, looking extraordinarily elated and deeply
+flushed.  Catching sight of Sophy he halted, clicked his heels
+together, and said, with a sort of savage courtesy:
+
+"Ach, so here we are again, you and I, Miss Leigh, on the old ship that
+brought us out!  I am delighted to have your company."
+
+Sophy looked round for some means of escape, but she was helpless,
+being tightly wedged in between two bulwarks--the bulwark of the
+_Blankshire_ and Bernhard's solid form--and separated from Mrs. Gregory
+by a seething crowd of jubilant Teutons.
+
+"So 'Der Tag' has come at last!" he continued, staring into her face
+with arrogant blue eyes; "and we are on the eve of great events.  I am
+about to join my Brandenburger regiment--every German is a soldier--we
+have several hundred reservists on board."
+
+Sophy at last found her voice and murmured: "No doubt!"
+
+"I caught sight of Shafto just now.  Why is _he_ going home?"
+
+"To serve his country."
+
+"Ah, bah!  Better stick to his pen; it takes two years to make a
+soldier; in ten days we shall be in Paris, in a month in London.  And
+why not?  You have no army; we are a nation of fighting men, and you
+are a nation of shopkeepers!"
+
+"Of course we are not prepared; we would not listen to Lord Roberts;
+and, on the other hand, you have been arming and drilling and
+shipbuilding for the last forty years!"
+
+"Ah, well, meine liebe fraeulein, we must spread our borders!  Who could
+expect the greatest nation in the world to remain cooped up in the
+North Sea?  We demand and we will have space, power, and the sun.  We
+understand patriotism and the love of country."
+
+"The love of other people's countries," interposed Sophy sharply.  "You
+Germans are everywhere--like the sparrows."
+
+"To other nations we bring valuable lessons in industry and Kulture,
+prudence, thrift, and energy; other countries are only too fortunate to
+receive us.  We have brains, bold hearts, and discipline--and know how
+to use them.  Old Bluecher, who won Waterloo, may yet find his
+aspirations fulfilled."
+
+"Ah, you mean the sack and plunder of London?"
+
+He nodded an impressive assent, and then said:
+
+"When I am there I shall call on you, and show you my loot!"  As he
+spoke he lent towards her, his eyes exultant, his breath heavy with
+champagne.  Sophy instinctively recoiled and said:
+
+"Pray do not trouble."
+
+Bernhard gave a loud, boisterous laugh.
+
+"It will be 'Missy can't see.'  By the way, talking of loot, do you
+know that Herr Krauss is dead?"
+
+"Dead!" she repeated.  "No; I heard he had gone to Java."
+
+"He has gone to his grave.  Last night I was told that his body was
+found floating near the landing-stage at Moulmein; there were no marks
+on it, no signs of a violent end; and yet he was the last man in the
+world to commit suicide."
+
+"Yes," assented Sophy; "he had so many plans and schemes for the
+future."
+
+"They say a little bunch of coarse black hair was found in his clutch;
+however, at the inquest they brought in a verdict of 'Found Drowned.'
+It saved trouble.  I wonder who will get his money.  He was enormously
+rich."
+
+"With ill-gotten gains."
+
+"Well, he must have some German kin to claim his fortune, and I'll make
+it my business to find out all I can when I return here."
+
+"So you are coming back?"
+
+"Why, of course--possibly in six months.  I leave my house and
+belongings all standing.  Business is but temporarily closed.  Burma,
+as old Krauss used to say, is 'the land of opportunity.'  When next I
+see the Golden Pagoda, the whole of this rich and fertile country will
+belong to _us_."
+
+"You are sanguine!"
+
+"Sanguine!  I am certain; and why not?  Look at our wonderful trade!
+And the Burmese themselves like us a million times better than you
+English."
+
+"Simply because you bribe them with money and presents."
+
+"But look at the crowds," waving his hand towards the masses, "who have
+come to say '_Auf Wiedersehen_'; thousands and thousands."  Then he
+turned his bold arrogant eyes on Sophy and said: "Your country has no
+chance against us, Miss Leigh; we shall crush you like pulp--your
+money, treasures and trade will all be ours.  Hullo!" he exclaimed,
+"what are these police doing?  Mounted police, too!  Any escaped
+convicts on board?"
+
+As he stood and watched, the swaying masses were parted with authority
+and a large force ranged up on the quay.  Officers and officials came
+on board, armed with an order from the Lieutenant-Governor.  Among the
+first strode FitzGerald in full uniform, not the everyday genial
+Patrick, but a smart stern guardian of the law.  Approaching the
+bragging Bernhard, he said, with frigid severity: "Be good enough to go
+ashore, Herr Bernhard."
+
+"What!" stammered his prisoner, who had become livid.  "What the devil
+are you talking about!  How dare you interfere with me?  Or give me an
+order?"
+
+"Official order," rejoined FitzGerald, entirely unmoved.  "All men of
+German nationality to disembark immediately and be interned."
+
+Sophy now made a forcible and frantic effort to effect her escape from
+this hateful situation, and struggling through the crowd eventually
+managed to join her own friends.
+
+Disembark--to be interned!  What a thunderbolt!  All at once Bernhard's
+flushed countenance became livid, his eyes glared savagely, and there
+suddenly spread a choking, suffocating expression on his large handsome
+face.  The noise and clamour of hoarse angry voices became almost
+stupefying, but in the end the Teutons were compelled to accept the
+inevitable, and gradually streamed ashore, carrying their hand baggage,
+parcels of delicatessen, and other comforts intended for the voyage.
+The heavy baggage was hastily landed, for the _Blankshire_ had steam up
+and was bound to catch the tide.
+
+A more than half-empty ship, she now slipped from her berth and turned
+her bows towards home.  As she glided slowly by the wharf, Shafto and
+Sophy waved vigorous farewells to their numerous friends, Burmese and
+European.  There was Roscoe, there were the Salters and Rosetta.  Apart
+from all, a solitary little figure stood prominent on a heap of rice
+bags.  It was Ma Chit, waving a pink silk handkerchief.  For once she
+was not smiling, her piquant face was grave, and the eyes fixed upon
+Shafto conveyed an eloquent and heartbroken farewell; presently she
+cowered down and hid her face.
+
+"That was a wonderfully smart _coup_!" said a ship's officer to Mrs.
+Gregory and Sophy.  "Those German fellows that were trampling all over
+the ship as if she was their own property were neatly caught.  They
+will be shipped off to India out of harm's way, and within a week or
+two, I fancy, will find themselves at Ahmednuggur."
+
+The interned passengers had left ample space and a grateful sense of
+relief and freedom.  As the _Blankshire_ throbbed down past "the
+Hastings" Shafto and Sophy stood side by side, taking their last look
+at the Great Pagoda, which gave an impression of being swathed in a
+mantle of dazzling gold, and dominated all its surroundings.
+
+"It seems only the other day we were coming up the river in this very
+old boat," he said; "a year and ten months ago, and how much has
+happened in that time! Well, we have had strange experiences, seen many
+places, and made many friends.  Here is one of them now," indicating
+Mrs. Gregory; "I expect she feels a bit down, after parting with old
+George, although he does follow in three months; so do you try to cheer
+her, while I go below and hurry up the tea."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+THE TUG OF WAR
+
+One evening, after they had been several days at sea, as Sophy and
+Shafto were gazing down at the steerage passengers, she said:
+
+"I have noticed such an odd person watching you--he looks as if he knew
+you!"
+
+"Knew me!" repeated Shafto.  "What is he like?"
+
+"A tall, broad-shouldered, lanky man--there he is, leaning over the
+side, wearing a blue serge suit and a soft felt hat."
+
+Shafto stared for a moment, then he said:
+
+"By George!  I _do_ know him--though I can hardly believe my eyes.
+I'll go and speak to him and find out what this means," and he hurried
+away below.
+
+"Hullo, Mung Baw!" he exclaimed.  "Say, this is something like a
+surprise!  What are you doing here?"
+
+"Much the same as yourself, sir.  The Tug of War is drawing us all
+home.  I have left Mung Baw and the yellow robe behind me, and I'm now
+Corporal Michael Ryan.  I'm going into the Army again.  Why, I'm only
+thirty-four when all's said and done.  Of course, the shaven head ages
+a fellow, but I'll grow me hair on me passage home and, maybe, a
+moustache as well; someone told me that kerosene oil is a grand thing.
+And you are going to join up too, sir?"
+
+"I hope so; I put in two terms at Sandhurst, so I shall have a try.  I
+should like to get into the Flying Corps."
+
+"And what will herself say," with a glance towards Sophy on the main
+deck, "to all this fighting and flying?"
+
+"Oh, Miss Leigh won't stand in my way--she intends to look for a job,
+too.  Tell me, Michael, do you really believe they will take you back
+into the Service after your adventure in Upper Burma--and seven years'
+absence without leave?"
+
+"Well, since ye ask me, sir, in my opinion they might do worse;
+annyhow, I'll have a good try.  I might get a sort of doctor's
+certificate--_mental_ you know.  I'm a first-class shot, though
+naturally a bit out of practice; and very hefty with the bayonet.  I'd
+like well to stir them Germans up, ever since one great ugly brute went
+out of his way to give me a kick.  I was black and blue for weeks.  Did
+you hear them the day before they were took off--just screeching mad,
+shoutin' and drinkin', as if the world was their own.  Well, annyhow, I
+can enlist as full private; I'm sound in wind and limb and, I tell ye,
+we want all the men we can get, for I heard them Germans talkin' very
+big in Rangoon, saying they'd eat us all up within the next three
+months--body, sleeves and trimmings!"
+
+"Easier said than done," rejoined Shafto; "although they have a
+splendid army--and thousands of big guns."
+
+"I'd like well to have a hand in real fighting--none of your autumn
+manoeuvres, but the proper thing; and after I put the war over, I'll go
+and see Ireland.  It's strange, although I'm Irish, I've never put a
+toe in the country, and never been nearer it than a black native.  My
+father's people were reared in the Galtees; it's my Irish blood that's
+uppermost now and driving me home.  I've often heard the boys talkin'
+of the grand purple mountains, the wonderful greenery everywhere, and
+the lovely soft, moist air."
+
+"Well, Michael, I hope you may see it all some day.  What put it into
+your head to throw off the yellow robe and take this sudden start?"
+
+"It was the barrack talk, sir; I heard them chaps cursin' and groanin'
+that they were stuck fast in Rangoon and had no chance of gettin' a
+look in, and says I to myself, what's to hinder _you_ from goin'?"
+
+"But how about the passage money?" inquired Shafto.  "I thought you
+were vowed to poverty and had nothing in your wooden bowl?"
+
+"I had the ruby that you gave back to me.  I believe it was a rare fine
+stone.  I had it in me mind to offer it to the Pagoda; it was well I
+waited, as things turned out; a friend sold it for me in the bazaar--he
+got four hundred pounds of English money.  He says it was worth some
+thousands; it was bought for a Pagoda, annyhow, and I have a nice big
+sum lodged in a London bank, and when the war is over, please God, it
+will help to settle me in a small place in Ireland.  I took me passage
+and bought some kit, and I have a few pounds in hand--so that I won't
+be stranded.  At first I felt the clothes terrible awkward, especially
+the trousers, after living in a petticoat so long; and I did not know
+what to be doin' with a knife and fork--and leadin' such a quiet,
+cramped sort of life I lost the use of meself; but I tramped up and
+down the decks for a couple of hours of a morning, and a nice young
+fellow in the pantry has lent me a pair of dumb-bells.  By the time I
+get to England I'll be well set up with a black moustache--and mabbe,
+ye'll hardly know me!"
+
+"How did you get rid of the yellow robe?"
+
+"Oh, easy enough, and without any ceremony of disgrace whatever.
+Shure, half the Burmans you meet have worn it for, p'r'aps, a year or
+two--but it's not everyone who has the vocation."
+
+"I can't understand your ever taking to it."
+
+"Can ye not, sir?" rejoined the _ex-pongye_, laying a muscular hand on
+the bulwark and fixing a far away, abstracted gaze upon the lazy green
+sea.  "I may as well tell ye that the first story I made out to ye was
+not altogether the truth.  I had in me mind a mental reservation.  I
+just slipped out of Army life and hid meself in the forests--all along
+of a little girlie."  His lower lip trembled as he added: "She died,
+sir--and I was just broke over it."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Shafto.  "Well, such things have happened before."
+
+"It was like this, sir," now turning and fixing a pair of tragic dark
+eyes on his companion, "I was engaged to be married--same as yourself.
+She was the daughter of a sergeant in the arsenal in Madras; her father
+and mine were old friends, and when mine was killed in Afghanistan, me
+mother just dwindled away and broke her heart.  Sergeant Fairon and his
+wife was real good to me and took me home; she mothered me and he
+'belted' me, and they helped to start me for the Lawrence Asylum
+Orphanage.  I was about eight years of age then, and this little girl
+was two.  After a good spell I come back to St. George's Fort, a
+grown-up man and a corporal.  Polly, she was grown up, too--and the
+prettiest girl you could see in a thousand miles; we fell in love with
+one another, and Sergeant Fairon had a sort of wish for me, being, they
+said, the very spit of me own father, and though I knew in me heart
+Polly was a million times too good for me and I was not fit to wipe her
+shoes, still, I made bold to ask him for her and he said 'Yes.'  I knew
+I'd get permission to marry, for my name was never in the defaulters'
+book, and Polly was fair as a lily--not one of your yellow 'Cranies'
+the Colonel was so dead set agin.  Well, I was just too happy to be
+lucky, saving up me pay and Mrs. Fairon buying a few bits of house
+linen for us, and Polly making her trousseau, when the regiment was
+shifted all of a sudden from Madras to Mandalay and our plans were
+knocked on the head."
+
+"Yes, that was bad luck," said Shafto sympathetically.
+
+"Still and all, I was full of hope, expecting my stripes and hearing
+every mail from Polly, when one day the letter corporal handed me an
+envelope with a deep black edge; it was from Sergeant Fairon telling me
+Polly was dead; taken off in three hours with cholera.  He enclosed
+half a letter she was writing to me when she was called.  Well, sir, I
+would not believe it!  No; I held out agin it for days; but of course I
+had to give in.  At first the grief was just a little scratch; but
+every day the pain went deeper and deeper, as if some one was turning a
+knife in my heart.  To think I'd never look upon her again or hear her
+voice, and her gay laugh, it seemed impossible--but, in the end, I
+_believed_, and I felt as if I was groping about in black darkness!
+What had I to live for?  What was the good of going on?
+
+"At times I thought of my rifle, but I put that idea aside because of
+the regiment and the scandal in the newspapers--still, I was always
+meditating some way _out_.  I think now, if I'd opened my mind to one
+of my pals, it would have been easier, and I'd not have felt it so
+cruel hard; but somehow I'd never breathed the name of Polly to one of
+them--I held her like a holy thing apart.  I could not stand the talk
+and the coarse chaff of the barrack-room, so I kept my trouble sealed
+up, till at last it grew too big for me, and I made up my mind to do
+away with myself, where no one would be a penny the wiser.  I got a
+couple of days' leave--by way of seeing a pal at Tonghoo--and I went up
+the river and away into the Jungles, and wandered about looking for
+some venomous reptile to put an end to me in a natural way!  But, if
+you'll believe me, sir, divil a bite could I get--not after searching
+for half a day; and, av coorse, had I been looking without intention,
+I'd have found dozens.
+
+"What with walking miles in the blazing sun and nothing to eat, I
+believe I fell down with a stroke, and some wood-cutters found me and
+carried me into their village--a big place with a great thorn hedge and
+gates to keep off the Dacoits.  The head man they call a Thugyi took me
+over, and his women nursed me; he was a rich fellow with four yoke of
+oxen, and so no expense was spared; and there I lived for many a long
+day, very strange and out of myself.  I could not remember who I was,
+nor where I came from; all the clothes I had to me name was a shirt and
+a pair of drawers.  By degrees, thanks to great charity and kindness, I
+come round, I remembered everything only too well, and then I buried
+Mick Ryan in the jungle and became a _pongye_.  The peace and quiet ate
+into me very bones, and I took on the yellow robe.  The rest and the
+holy life tamed me and did my soul good; and many an evening when I'd be
+roaming in the forests, among the splendid tall trees and beautiful
+flowers, with the birds and animals around me so tame and at their
+ease, I'd have a feelin' that Polly was walkin' alongside of me, the
+face on her shining with the light of heaven!  But," drawing himself
+erect, "excuse me, sir, for bothering you with all this foolish, crazy
+sort of talk."
+
+"Not at all," said Shafto.  "Thank you so much for telling me your
+story.  I am truly sorry for you, Ryan; it was hard lines losing your
+Polly.  Do you mind telling me some more?  After you had recovered your
+memory and become a _pongye_, what happened next?"
+
+"Well, after a while, I chanced to see English papers and hear outside
+news, an' I got a cast in a cargo boat down the river.  I had a sort o'
+longin' to see the soldiers, the love of the Service is in me blood, so
+now and then I was drawn to Rangoon to get a sight of the khaki and to
+hear the barrack yarns.  Ye see, one quarter of me is Cingalese--I
+suppose me grandfather on one side was a Buddhist, and that is how
+_pongye_ life came so pleasant and aisy to me.  The three quarters of
+me is an Irish soldier, an' every day the soldier within me grows an'
+the _pongye_ dies away."
+
+"And you will never return to Burma?"
+
+"Never, no.  I have laid out to go to Ireland and spend the rest of my
+time there when the war is over."
+
+"Ah--I wonder when the war will be over?" said Shafto.
+
+"God alone knows!" exclaimed the _pongye_.  "They were talking in the
+bazaar of the end coming about Christmas.  I think meself it will be a
+long business and an awkward business, too."
+
+"So do I," agreed Shafto, recalling the sage remarks of George Gregory.
+
+"Yes, it's like a light stuck in an old thatch!  We'll have half the
+world in it before long, an' the greatest blaze as ever was known."
+
+"I see that Australia and Canada and South Africa are all coming to
+lend a hand."
+
+"Well, we want every hand we can get--and every foot, too!  I've heard
+plenty of big talk in the bazaar, where the Germans have laid out a
+mint of money.  By all accounts they are going to take Persia, India,
+Burma, the whole of our trade, money and fleet.  Well, if that comes
+off, it'll be a cold world!  By the way, sir," he continued in another
+tone, "did ye see Ma Chit the day we were leavin' Rangoon, signin' and
+wavin' to ye as we cast off?"
+
+Shafto nodded curtly.
+
+"An' ye never tuk no notice!  Ye might have given her just a small sign
+to ease her heart--but I'm thinkin' ye have a hard drop in ye."
+
+"I dare say I have," assented Shafto, "and I'm glad of it, for now and
+then it has prevented me from making an awful fool of myself."
+
+"Ah, well, sometimes the fools have the best of it; not that I'm sayin'
+a word in favour of Ma Chit--only that if ye'd waved yer hand she'd a
+gone away with a small bit of consolation and comfort."
+
+"By the way, Ryan, what did you mean by saying you were a magician?"
+
+"Oh, that was only a bit of a boast, sir.  I know a few tricks I learnt
+in the regiment; one of the privates was a professional conjurer and
+mighty clever when sober.  When I showed off one or two little tricks
+with stones, or buttons, or bits of string, the Burmans were sure I was
+a real wizard, and looked up to me, so they did, and then the birds and
+animals being so friendly--I was always so much at my ease with them,
+and the childher--they said I cast _spells_!"
+
+The steerage passengers were not a little surprised to note the
+forgathering of a first-class passenger with this odd reserved person
+(whose shaven head was associated in their opinion with the interior of
+Rangoon jail).  Nor was this all; now and then a remarkably pretty
+young lady accompanied the said first-class passenger and brought
+fruit, and books, and cakes, and the three appeared to be on the best
+of terms.  The _pongye_ and Shafto had many long talks together; they
+discussed life among the Burmese, the prospects of war, the changes
+that might awake and shake the world, and, appropriate supplement to
+the topic of war, more than once they spoke of death.
+
+"I've been so long with the Buddhists that the fear of the grave is
+wore out of me," said Ryan; "I'd a'most as soon be dead as not--it's
+only another new life--ye just step in, an' meet yer old friends.  I
+suppose, sir, you do not go along with me there."
+
+"No," replied Shafto, who had all an Englishman's shrinking reluctance
+to discuss his belief, or his inner life; "yours is a nice easy
+path--too good to be true, I'm afraid.  My creed is, to do our best, to
+help other people, and to take what comes."
+
+"Goodness knows you have helped me, Mr. Shafto"--and the _pongye_ drew
+back a step and looked at him queerly--"what with saving me life and
+then makin' sort o' friends with me--as man to man--your kindness will
+stand in me memory till the clay is over me!"
+
+Shafto and the _pongye_ separated at Marseilles; the latter went round
+by the Bay, whilst Mrs. Gregory and her party travelled overland, and
+they did not meet again for nearly two years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+SERGEANT-MAJOR RYAN
+
+Many months later, on a clear February night, Shafto and Tremenheere
+stood together outside Headquarters, "somewhere in France," anxiously
+observing the signs in the sky.  Shafto, a machine-gun officer attached
+to the Blanks, had been granted twenty-four hours' leave, and made a
+muddy and dangerous journey of fifteen miles to visit his old
+schoolfellow, now on the staff of a General commanding a division.  He
+was challenged and so was his companion; their faces expressed the long
+strain of a terrible war; both looked years older than their actual
+age, for, like the sons and daughters of the worshippers of Moloch,
+"they had passed through the fire."
+
+Shafto was fine-drawn to leanness, heavy lines were scored on his
+forehead, he had twice been wounded, had taken part in desperate
+fighting, witnessed many harrowing sights, and lost many friends.
+
+The chill air was full of sounds; a continuous rolling of wheels,
+rumbling of guns, and the distant scream of a shell.
+
+"There goes a signal to lengthen the German range," remarked Shafto.
+
+"That's right, for they often show up lights that mean nothing."
+
+"Look at that aeroplane of ours dropping red stars over the Boches'
+first line of trenches.  I suppose the lines are fairly close?"
+
+"By Jove, you may say so!  The men can shout across at one another, but
+the trenches are a good four miles from where we stand."
+
+As he concluded, a star shell broke and lit up a vast expanse of
+gleaming mud.
+
+To the rolling and rumbling was now added a far-away sound of tramping
+feet and song.
+
+"Here they come!" exclaimed Tremenheere; "back to billets; they changed
+at six o'clock, but it's heavy going--mostly wading in slosh."
+
+The marching came nearer and nearer, also the sound of singing and
+mouth-organs.
+
+"'Michigan,'" said Shafto, "is a favourite; poor old 'Tipperary' is
+down and out."
+
+Presently the force which had been relieved, muddy to the waist, but
+splendidly cheerful, splashed into the great courtyard.
+
+"Irish," explained Tremenheere; "magnificent fellows, born fighters."
+
+They watched the men as they fell out and scattered to their quarters
+in outhouses, barns and offices; and then Shafto and his friends made
+their way into the battered old chateau, and temporary Orderly
+room--once a lady's boudoir.  It still exhibited strips of artistic
+wall-paper, a cracked mirror, a beautiful Louis XIV. cabinet stacked
+with papers, a few rude chairs, a couple of wooden tables.
+
+Presently a sergeant-major came in to report, a fine stalwart fellow
+with a heavy black moustache and, in spite of his muddy waders, an air
+of complete self-possession.  Having saluted and handed over his
+papers, his quick blue eyes rested on Shafto.  He started, saluted, and
+said:
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr. Shafto, sir, but I see you don't know me."
+
+"Well, no, I can't say that I  do," replied Shafto, casting his mind
+over the last eighteen months.
+
+"Well, of course, sir, I'm entirely different to what ye may remember
+in Rangoon."
+
+"What?--you don't mean to say----"
+
+The late _pongye_ nodded with emphasis..
+
+"I'm now Sergeant-Major Ryan, in the second battalion of the old
+regiment."
+
+Then suddenly stepping back and lowering his voice, he added, "They
+think I'm me brother.  Shure, I never had one.  And how is yourself,
+sir?"
+
+"All right; I'm a machine-gun officer attached to the Blanks."
+
+"And the young lady?"
+
+"She's a Red Cross nurse at Rouen--I saw her three months ago."
+
+"When next you meet will you give her my humble respects and tell her
+I've not forgotten her invitation, an' I'm coming to the wedding?"
+
+"And no one will be more welcome; you have our address.  I'm told
+you've been in some heavy fighting?"
+
+"Well, yes, sir, at Ypres we lost eighteen of our officers; oh, it was
+a cruel bad mix-up.  Still and all, the Boches were given their tea in
+a mug!  After our last charge ye'd see thim going every way--like crows
+in a storm!  Our guns are grand; as for them aeroplanes they do all but
+speak; and the Tanks are wonders, God bless them!"
+
+"You have been wounded?"
+
+"Only just a cat's scratch--the German wire is mighty stiff; and
+there's six-inch spikes.  Well, since we were last together, sir, you
+and I have been through a strange time and seen sights as we can't talk
+about.  One thing is sure, we'll worry through all right."
+
+"Oh, yes, we shall, and give the Boches something to think about."
+
+The sudden opening of a distant door released a roar of voices singing,
+"Take me back to Blighty!" a rousing demand which instantly recalled
+the sergeant-major to his duty.
+
+"Well, sir," he said, "I must be moving; so I'll wish you good-bye, and
+the best of luck."
+
+"The same to you, Ryan.  You'll let us have a line to say how you get
+on, won't you?"
+
+Shafto held out his hand; Ryan gave it a hard, convulsive squeeze, and
+in another moment the stalwart Irishman had saluted and tramped forth.
+
+"An old friend, I see," remarked Tremenheere.
+
+"Yes, I knew him in Burma."
+
+"He is a tip-top non-com., and has the D.C.M. and the French Cross; he
+worked miracles when his officers were killed at Ypres.  They offered
+him a commission, but he wouldn't take it.  The men love him; though he
+has some funny fads, never touches meat, and sings queer outlandish
+chants; but he's the splendid sort of fellow who was _born_ for this
+war; full of heroic qualities and as hard as a bag of nails.  I suppose
+his regiment was in Rangoon."
+
+"Not in my time," replied Shafto.  He hesitated for a moment, and then
+added, "If I were to tell you how I came across that Irish
+sergeant-major you'd say I was pulling your leg."
+
+"Oh, go on, then--pull away."
+
+"When I first met him he was a Burmese priest, with a shorn head,
+yellow robe, and begging-bowl."
+
+"Come, I say, Douglas, this is a bit too much!"
+
+"But it's a fact.  He had been a soldier for six or seven years, got a
+bad stroke in the jungle, was taken in by Burmans, and was for seven
+years a _pongye_.  When the war broke out he flung off his yellow robe,
+paid his passage to England, and is here, as you see, in his element."
+
+"It's amazing--incredible--but incredible things come off nowadays."
+
+Shafto nodded.
+
+"If he gets through this, do you suppose he will return to his
+monastry?"
+
+"Never!  It is his fixed intention to go to Ireland; he has some money,
+and hopes to settle down on his own little farm."
+
+"I'm afraid he's some way off that yet; in the meanwhile, he is seeing
+a good bit of life."
+
+"And death," mentally added Shafto.
+
+"I say," exclaimed Tremenheere, glancing at his wrist-watch, "it's time
+for our dinner--come on!"
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+In the autumn of the same year, Shafto, who had again been severely
+wounded, was granted a month's leave, and he and Sophy were married.
+It was the usual war wedding, no bridesmaids and no reception.  Among
+the friends, "welcome at the church," were the Gregorys, Tebbs,
+Larchers, MacNabs, Mrs. Malone, Mr. Hutton, and the Tremenheeres.
+Captain Tremenheere supported his friend as best man.
+
+One specially bidden guest was absent from the gathering.  He lay
+beneath a black wooden cross, near by to Guinchy, where gallant Irish
+regiments had immortalised their colours.  Alas!  Sergeant-Major
+Michael Ryan was among the missing.  To the unspeakable grief of his
+comrades, he had gone West--but not to Ireland.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROAD TO MANDALAY***
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