“Why, it’s no use hiding it now. Rahas brought them, and he said I was to say I had had them before, because it would make you so angry to know he’d been here.”
He had got at the truth at last, he believed, but he was still far from satisfied.
“Don’t you know, Nouna,” he said more gently, putting his arm round her again, “that you must not see people your husband doesn’t wish you to see?”
“But I couldn’t help it,” cried Nouna, evidently surprised at seeing him calm down so rapidly. “Mr. Angelo didn’t come in, he drove off at once, and when I had been waiting here a little while all by myself there was a knock and I ran down stairs, thinking it must be you. I had been eating strawberries, so I hadn’t seen who it was coming. And it was Rahas, and when I saw him, I said, ‘No, I must not speak to you,’ and I wanted to shut the door. But he would not let me; he said he had a message and something for me from mamma, and he showed me a packet with her handwriting on it. So I said ‘Oh, give it me,’ and he said he must come in and speak to me. And I said I would not see him alone, I would wait till my husband came. Yes, I said ‘my husband,’ I did, just like that,” and she drew herself up and spoke with great dignity. “And the landlady came up just then to answer the door, so I ran back and called to her, ‘Mrs. Lauriston is not at home,’ and I went up stairs and looked through the curtains and saw him go away looking all doubled up, as he does when he is very angry. And I felt afraid, and wished you would come, and I wished I had brought my kitten—I felt so lonely. Oh, it seemed such a long, long time; I began to think you were sorry you had married me and thought you would never come back at all, and I should be a widow, and I couldn’t eat any more strawberries when I thought that. And I pulled out the roses I had fastened in my dress and tore them to pieces. Look!” And she pointed to a spot near the piano, strewn with crimson and lemon-coloured petals. “Then at last a cab drove up and I rushed to the window; and it was Rahas again, but with Sundran. And I was so wretched and lonely that if he had been alone I must have seen him then. And I ran down and let them in and brought them up. And Sundran—oh, how she cried, poor thing, and told me such dreadful stories about English husbands; how they say they love you, and then if you displease them ever so little they throw you down on the floor and run away, and you never see them again; and she begged me to go away with her, and said Rahas would take care we should not starve.”
At this, George, without interrupting her, decided that his former suspicion that Sundran had been bought by Rahas was confirmed, and resolved to stop all further intercourse between his wife and the Indian woman without delay.
Nouna continued, with her eyes full of tears at the remembrance: “Then she knelt at my feet and kissed them while Rahas gave me the diamonds and a little note inside them from mamma, saying they were her wedding present, and I should have a better one by and by if I was happy with my husband. And I thought this strange, and said out loud: ‘What does she mean?’ And when I looked up I saw Rahas staring at me with his eyes just like the coals in a fire. And I don’t know why, but I was frightened, and I was glad Sundran was there—perhaps it’s being married that makes me feel different, for I never felt like that before. And I read the note to the end, and did not say any more, and just then another ring came at the bell, and Rahas started up and rushed out. But it was only your telegram, and he came back—for he had gone up the stairs; and when he found you were not coming back at once, he asked if he might stay a little, and I should not feel so lonely. And I didn’t want him to, I didn’t indeed, but he stayed, and he made Sundran go to the window and watch for your coming.”
George could not resist a savage exclamation below his breath.
Nouna went on: “He made me hate him, for he said I should be very unhappy presently, he was afraid; for Englishmen were hard and cruel, and not loving. And he told me not to tell you he had been here, because you knew he would do anything for me, and perhaps you would strike me. But if I wanted him or wanted my mother, he could always let me see her at any time, and be always ready to do what I wished, as he had always been. And he said I was to forget his words now, if I liked, but was to remember them if I ever felt lonely and desolate. And he said I need not trouble about knowing where he was, for by the sympathy and power he had over me he should always be near just when I wanted him. And I said: ‘What if I tell my husband?’ And he said it would not matter; you would not find him. But I had better not tell you, because you would be so angry with me. And while he was talking Sundran called out that she saw a cab coming, and quickly like an arrow he kissed my hand and went out of the room; and I saw him go down a little street in front just as you came up. There, now I have told you all, all. Kiss me, tell me you are satisfied.”
He kissed her, and put her on his knee, and smoothed her soft dark hair; but he gave himself up to no abandonment of love, and when he spoke it was in a subdued and rather doubtful tone.
“I am not at all satisfied, Nouna, because I think it is a very bad beginning when a wife tries to deceive her husband on her wedding-day. If I hadn’t caught sight of Rahas and heard you talking to Sundran I should have believed what you pleased to tell me about the jewels, and never have guessed that either of them had been here.”