One evening, near the band stand, I saw a number of ayahs, with the children of the Mem Sahibs, and among them a very comely young woman, evidently an Eurasian. My beloved magistrate was talking with the children, but with his eyes on the governess. One, a young officer near me, nudged another, and nodding toward the children, said, “The old fellow is up to his tricks again.” The other smiled. The former asked, “Do you know what he said when he came to dine at our mess on Sunday evening?”
“No, what was it?” “Well, the Barra Sahib had read prayers at church in the morning, so at the mess, just as we sat down to the table, he asked, ‘I say, Langton, by the way, who was that young woman in front at the left this morning?’ ‘O, that was the Shaw’s governess,’ replied Langton. ‘By Jove! she is not a bad looking piece; though rather, don’t you think, as if she had been too much in the sun?’ At which there was a slight buzz among the younger set, and they looked at each other with sly winks and nods, and Jeems, at my left, whispered to me, ‘The old man may have the incapacity of age, but he evidently has not forgotten the desires of youth!’”
I was disgusted—angry. Though I did not care a fig about the church and its worship, yet I have always been a stickler for decency, even in a church, or among my dogs. The thought of such a depraved thing reading prayers—the Scriptures, styled sacred—and in what is called the house of God, and while going through with his farce of worship, looking around over the congregation to find some one on whom to rest his lustful eyes! Evidently his eyes were not made for the good of his soul.
For several weeks I often noticed the Barra Sahib among the children, as they seemed suddenly to have become special favorites of his; but he was always near the governess.
Some months after this we lost our magistrate, for he was promoted to the Commissionership of a distant province. The governess also disappeared.
CHAPTER XIII.
I had frequently in going about the station, seen a European whose name I learned was Jasper. He had a beautiful house and well kept grounds on a retired road. This much I saw as I passed his place, but had never spoken to him. One morning he came, as I was sitting in the veranda, and handing me his card said that his mali had told him that I had some very fine crotons, and with my permission, he would like to see them. We went into the yard, and through the garden, and I found he was greatly interested in botany. This suited me exactly, as I began to have a special delight in adding to my knowledge of that science, as well as increasing my stock of plants. He praised my collection of crotons saying that they could not be excelled in India. After a pleasant round of seeing and chatting, he invited me to call on him, as he had some things to show me and bade me “Good morning.”
Thus commenced one of the most pleasant friendships I could have formed, which continued until his death. He was about middle age, of good parts, well read, and I had not been with him an hour before I knew that he did his own thinking. He always showed great respect for the opinions of others, the same that he claimed they should have for his.
A few mornings after, I returned Mr. Jasper’s call, and was delighted with his rare plants and flowers. We then took our seats on the veranda, and he called for tea. In the course of our conversation, I referred to my releasing the girl from the police. I could not forget that screaming cry for help in the night, and the oftener I thought of it, the more indignant I grew. At once he exclaimed “What an outrage! It seems incredible that such things could be possible. It is not only this one case, but all over India such seizures are taking place. Sometimes when I hear of such things, I wish I was God, or given His power for a short time, I would cause lightning to strike the men who organized such a devilish system, and those who carry it on. I would make such a retribution upon them all that they would feel they were in hell. If a daughter of the Queen, or of the Prime Minister, or of a member of Parliament, of the Viceroy or Commander in Chief, should be seized, to be kept as a prisoner to pass a short life in infamy and die of vice disease, what would happen? Why every paper in the United Kingdom would have gory articles on the subject; the whole nation would be aroused, and there would be a question in Parliament. If done in a foreign country it would be a cause for war. It is the old story of whose ox is gored. Admitting that she is an orphan, without friends, an Eurasian, pardon me Mr. Japhet for this word.”
“Go on,” I quickly replied, “I have been too often under the lash, or rather through the fire on account of that word to take any offence, for I know just what you mean.”