A Bottle in the Smoke Part 15

"By Jove, what a grand bed, I've a mind to repose on it," exclaimed Rayner, with well-simulated admiration.

"And would your Honour realee do your humble slave the joy of taking repose on thatt bed this veree night? If so, all can be arranged and quicklee too," cried Zynool with enthusiasm.

Mr. Rayner was considerably taken aback by the proposal to sleep in a native house. He had intended to travel a station or two down the line when he had finished his business with the Mussulman, and put up at the bungalow of a bachelor friend. But this eager offer of hospitality was not to be lightly refused, following as it did Zynool's irate mood, and he decided that prudence demanded a gracious compliance with the request.

Zynool, obviously delighted with the success of his suggestion, hurried off, all importance, to make arrangements for the entertainment of the English guest. The news instantly circulated from bas.e.m.e.nt to house-top that the English sahib was to honour the house of his client, though half-an-hour previously his arrival had seemed to incense its master, and make confusion throughout the household.

Mr. Rayner's relations with the Mussulman had been of more than two years' standing. In fact Zynool Sahib had been one of the young barrister's earliest clients, and owing to Rayner's astuteness and daring he had been piloted round at least one ugly corner. If the truth must be told, since then the lawyer had more than once thrust his client into hot water. The pair had taken shares together in various doubtful ventures, at Rayner's instigation, encouraged by high interest, and had been markedly unsuccessful, so that when Zynool informed him that a really good investment was going a-begging in the shape of a piece of land in Puranapore, Rayner lent a ready ear. The land being the property of a Hindu, Zynool explained that he must keep entirely in the background, but was eager, for reasons of his own, to aid the purchase by underhand methods. The result was that the land in question became the property of Alfred Rayner, to pa.s.s shortly after into the hands of the Moslem community for double the price which the lawyer gave for it.

Thus the mosque which was now such a bone of contention came into being, growing with the rapidity of Jack's beanstalk. Before the Hindus began to realise what a perpetual source of annoyance it was likely to prove, the Mahomedans were shouting their morning and evening prayer-calls from its jerry-built minaret. Zynool rubbed his fat hands with joy at the success of his plot to snub the Hindus, while Rayner's bag of rupees for the price of the site was a G.o.dsend to him, and had tided him through many months. But these ill-gotten gains had all melted away during the past season's extravagances. More serious still, the shares, which had seemed so promising, were threatening to pay no further dividends, and calls were looming in the distance. It was this black outlook which had brought the young lawyer to the house of the Mahomedan this afternoon, not indeed to announce to his client the threatened failure of their joint investments--that, he decided, must be kept in the dark--but to see whether he could negotiate a much needed loan on easier terms than those of the Madras _soukars_. He considered it therefore worth the odiousness of being condemned to spend an evening in the crimson plush drawing-room and the discomfort of a night in the shining bra.s.s bedstead, if he could work his host up to that pitch of smiling compliance which would make his request an easier task than it seemed likely to be during the first few minutes of his call.

It was, however, with the cheque for five thousand rupees in his pocket-book, albeit with even a greater loss of self-respect than his dealings with the wily Mussulman had hitherto engendered, that Alfred Rayner stepped out at the low doorway in the weather-stained wall next morning. His host had ordered his gaudy little chariot to be in readiness to drive him to the railway station. It waited now as Zynool stood salaaming on the narrow pavement.

As Mr. Rayner was stepping into the carriage he caught sight of two Englishmen pa.s.sing along the head of the street. They walked slowly. One was a short, broad-shouldered man, who was endeavouring to hold a white-covered umbrella over the head of his younger and taller companion as they laughed and chatted together.

"There goes Dr. Campbell, mine enemee," said Zynool, with a fierce scowl, "and the osser is that haughtee young man. What a pity he did not see your Honour at the house of your humble slave here," he added, with an air of disappointment.

Rayner had retreated into the depths of the bandy before he ventured to make any reply.

"So that's Dr. Campbell, is it? Not a very formidable looking person! I should say, Zynool, that you're a match for that little man with the hollow chest," he said, with a careless laugh as he settled himself among the cushions, while Zynool's dark face filled the window.

Rayner was longing to ask him the question which he was anxiously asking himself. "Had Mark caught sight of him at the Mussulman's door?"

He fervently hoped not, and made an absent, formal salaam as he took leave of his host.

He congratulated himself that the two gentlemen, being on foot, were probably going to the dispensary while their carriage waited near, and that there would be no risk of his meeting them. He was therefore not a little chagrined when the first person he saw standing on the platform was the a.s.sistant-Collector.

Perceiving that an encounter was inevitable, Rayner went forward with a gracious smile.

"Who would have thought of seeing you here, Cheveril!"

"Why, I should rather say, who would have thought of seeing you at our little Puranapore," responded Mark, with that direct look in his eye which had already annoyed Rayner more than once.

"To a dead certainty he saw me at Zynool's door," thought Rayner, who replied lightly, "Business, sir, business! Trying to get that fellow Zynool to pay up what he owes me. He happened to be one of my Puranapore clients before my last furlough. We barristers don't always get paid in advance, I a.s.sure you!"

Mark recalled with discomfort Mr. Worsley's remark as to Zynool having been helped by a "shady pleader," but he was glad to dismiss the topic for the present by polite enquiries after Mrs. Rayner.

"Oh, Hester is as fit as a fiddle! Going in for no end of dissipation, and still keeps her English roses," her husband replied briskly. "Come and see for yourself, Cheveril! My wife was a bit disappointed that you declined all our invitations."

"Please tell Mrs. Rayner that I have not been a day absent since I joined, or I should have taken a run to Madras to see my friends there."

"Yes, I believe the Collector is rather of the slave-driving order.

Between touring and office work he grinds his subs. pretty hard--so Printer used to tell me."

"That's not a fair representation by any means," said Mark quickly.

"Touring and office work are both in the day's routine, and I like both."

"Lucky man," said the lawyer, with more honest conviction than his words generally implied as he glanced half enviously, half admiringly, at the strong, reliant face of the young civilian which told of faithful days and peaceful nights.

"Oh, by the way, Rayner, let me introduce you to our doctor! He is taking a run to Madras to see a case he has in the hospital there.

You'll enjoy Campbell's talk. He's an awfully bright fellow," Mark added, thinking that such an acquaintance might be salutary for this shifty looking man. He was glancing round in search of the doctor whom he saw talking to a Hindu official.

"Oh, thanks, no," replied Rayner, with a shrug of his shoulders. "I've got a brief to study in the train. I must deny myself the pleasure of Dr. Campbell's acquaintance."

He was about to hurry off to take his seat when he remembered that he had made no definite arrangement concerning the suggested visit to Clive's Road. "You'll come and put up with us for Christmas, of course, Cheveril? It will be Hester's first Christmas here as well as yours--jolly to spend it together! Shall I tell her of the pleasure in store?"

"I'm certainly counting on seeing Mrs. Rayner then. Do please say so with all kind words from me. But I shall be putting up at the Club. Mr.

Worsley has asked me to be his guest there, and to help him to entertain a friend he expects to arrive then."

"Ah, well, one must keep on the right side of one's chief, of course.

You're a shrewd man, Cheveril! I'll be able to a.s.sure your friend Hester that you're shaping-in beautifully. At all events you'll give us one evening at Clive's Road?"

Mark cordially a.s.sented and turned away to make a parting salute to the doctor as the train was moving off.

CHAPTER XVII.

Hester awaited her husband's return home with some uneasiness. She wondered how he would receive the disclosure that the day at Ennore was an accomplished fact. Being neither secretive nor wanting in courage, she would have much preferred to have explained previous to the expedition that she had felt obliged to negotiate about the carriages, and had already paid for their hire. She was therefore pleasantly taken by surprise on the morning after Mr. Rayner's return, when they sat together at early tea under the shade of the banyan tree, when he suddenly turned to her with a penitent air, saying:

"Look here, Hester, I behaved abominably about the hire of those bandies for your _protegees_. Forgive my hasty temper, sweet wife, and as a proof of your full forgiveness accept this." He stooped down to kiss her and laid a crisp note in her hand.

"A hundred rupees! Oh, Alfred, but that's a fortune--much more than the cost of the carriages! You remember the hire was only to be seventy-five rupees--and they're paid. Even the bill has been filed. The first on the little file mother slipped into the netting of my portmanteau! 'The only way to keep accounts straight is to use these,' she said. And it does give one a sense of satisfaction when one slips the bill into the file 'Paid!'"

"Oh, well, as to that, there's no sense in wishing to pay one's bills before they're a day old--that doesn't pay, in fact! Tradesmen reckon on their bills clinging to the file 'unpaid' for some time, and charge accordingly. But as far as the present trifle is concerned it doesn't matter. As to the surplus--the extra twenty-five rupees--keep them for chiffons, my dear!"

"I know well what I want to do with every anna of my treasure trove! You haven't asked how I came to have money to pay for the carriages, Alfred!

It was really the remains of a little store of sovereigns in my dressing-case; I've been h.o.a.rding it for Christmas presents to send home, and now, like the story of the widow's cruise of oil, it has multiplied. I shall be able to send for those alluring hawkers. I've always tried to turn away my eyes from beholding their wares when they spread them out on the verandah, conscious that I wasn't an intending customer."

"Oh, but you needn't be so sensitive! They don't in the least mind as long as they are allowed to spread them on the verandah. But if you really want the hawkers you'd better give orders to Veeraswamy to summon the crew and have a bargaining. Mind, about half they ask is the real value of the article. I expect you'll get dreadfully imposed on."

"I hope not, for I'm anxious to get the worth of every rupee. There are so many to send to. I must find something for father, though that won't be so easy. About mother, I'll have no difficulty. But, Alfred, is there n.o.body you want to send a Christmas-box to in the homeland?" asked Hester, with kind eyes resting on her husband.

"Oh, no doubt there are sundry who would accept one with pleasure. But you know, I'm a relationless being, Hester. Now that Aunt Flo is gone, there isn't a soul belonging to me. It's better than having undesirable relatives, isn't it? What a horror that would be, to be sure! But I'm glad you've thought of the Rectory people. I owe them heaps, Hester, for having allowed me to carry off the only daughter of the house--and such a daughter! And you're having a good time, are you not, dearest? Young Stapleton was just remarking the other day at the Club that you were the prettiest and most popular bride of the season. I'm so glad you're such a glorious success," he added, taking her hand caressingly, and raising it to his lips. "I'm going to write to your mother one day soon, and tell her how well her transplanted English rose is doing here!"

"Don't boast about me in that strain, Alfred! It would not be convincing to mother, though I know she'd love to have a letter from you. But that nonsense of young Stapleton's, for instance, she would positively dislike," returned Hester with decision, for she was eager to prevent this husband of hers, whom her father half in fun maintained to be still "an unknown quant.i.ty," from betraying any trace of the curious little selfish vanity concerning his own possessions, simply because they were his, which he was apt to show at times. Loving him as she did in spite of his faults, she desired like a true wife to screen them from all eyes, especially from the sensitive, high-souled, innermost circle of her home.

"All right, Hester, I'll submit the letter for your approval. You can expunge all that you think would not go down in that quarter," said her husband lightly.

Hester, in the fullness of her heart, thought now to enliven their talk by giving her husband some pa.s.sages from the happy hours spent at Ennore, and began to expatiate on the delight of the girls on its varied attractions, and how all the arrangements were carried out without a single hitch, Waller having sent roomy carriages and good horses, and as he promised, "done the Misses proud!"

"But, by the way, there did threaten to be a little fiasco," she said, recalling an incident she had half forgotten. "I really must tell you about that, Alfred. It was at the afternoon meeting the day before. I was telling the girls the secret of the treat which I thought had been well kept by those two I met on the road. It must have leaked out somewhere, for just as I was unfolding it, the door was pushed open and a striking-looking girl stepped in and sat down. Some rather sulky glances were directed towards her, I noticed, and seemed to me to ask, 'Is this new-comer to share the privilege of the faithful attenders of the cla.s.s?' I thought I must at once clear the atmosphere and begin to explain that Mrs. Fellowes' invitation was limited to a number, and so exclude any hope the interloper might have had of being included. I made some remark, intended really to soften the possible disappointment, but the girl answered very haughtily and rudely, and after some words which I couldn't catch, she flounced out of the room, banging the door after her. But we must get hold of her again! I must set Mrs. Fellowes on her track, she has a magical influence over these girls. I don't think the girl liked the look of me--she a.s.sumed such a black and scowling air.

Perhaps I put it rather awkwardly when I explained that she couldn't share in the treat. Yes, poor thing, I must see what can be done! Leila Baltus, that was her name! Rather pretty name, isn't it?"

Mr. Rayner had been listening somewhat absently to Hester's narration as he scanned the last evening's paper. At the mention of the familiar name he started so that Hester exclaimed:

"Are the mosquitoes attacking you, Alfred? I thought you boasted that they neglected you, bestowing all their attention on poor me!"