His mother's unhappy story, his father's untimely fate, and, for some time past, the absence of all tidings from his sister Sybil, rendered Denzil at times intensely thoughtful, or, as Rose Trecarrel was inclined to deem it, interesting; and thus, in his craving for gentle sympathy from some one, (and from whom could it be more welcome than a bright-eyed young flirt?) made him an easy and a willing victim.
Denzil had a nervous jealousy of all who approached her; and he envied the free and easy—to some it might seem half-impudent—bearing of Waller, Burgoyne, and others, when hovering about the sisters at the band-stand, in the bazaar at Cabul, when riding or driving near the cantonments, and elsewhere. He was not old enough, or experienced enough, to know that there could be no love in the hearts of those heedless fellows, if they were so self possessed and free in the presence of the object of that love; and as little did he know the jealous fear that Rose had cost his sister at home!
CHAPTER VI.
THE APPOINTMENT.
Tiffin over—the General's khansamah had excelled himself, for there were curried hares and quails (the spoil of Waller's rifle), roasted kid, the fat being spread on buttered toast, and well peppered; curried chickens, partridge pie, snipe and ortolans, sweet bread and stilton, champagne, claret, and Bass, with a dessert of Cabul grapes, oranges, and various other fruits à discretion—tiffin over, we say, like other civilized people in the land they had come from, as it had not been dinner, but simply luncheon, all filed back to the drawing-room together; and, in obedience to a glance from Rose, from whom his eyes seldom wandered, Denzil achieved a place by her side on a sofa.
So the day to which he had looked forward so anxiously, was not, perhaps, to pass away so inauspiciously after all, for, to Denzil, time seemed to be divided into two portions—that which was spent in the society of Rose, and that which seemed blankness, spent in absence from her.
Waller was hanging over Mabel, talking in a very confidential tone, so closely that his long fair whiskers brushed at times her rich brown hair. Mabel had that kind of pure profile one sometimes sees cut on a cameo, her head was gracefully set on her shoulders, and there were times when its bearing was queenly. Her complexion was brilliantly fair by day as well as by night, and her dark grey eyes had in them now a smile so winning, that Bob Waller could not help thinking that she was really a fine girl, and looking uncommonly well.
The ladies from the adjacent cantonment were now deep in "baby talk;" the officers were clustered about the two generals, engaged in discussing "shop," and the probability of Sir Robert Sale cutting his way to Jellalabad, even though he were beset by the Ghilzies; for a little space Denzil thought he would have Rose all to himself.
Long ere this he had learned that she and Mabel were somewhat discontented. This kind of station, in a species of enemy's country, and so remote from all the world, where steamers, telegraphs, and railways were all unknown, was not the India to which they had looked forward, and to which they had been previously accustomed. They should have preferred Calcutta, with its streets of snow-white palaces, its stately villas at Gardenreach, the spacious course for driving, riding, promenading, and most decidedly for flirting. At Cabul all was semi-barbarism, as compared with Chowringhee, the Park Lane, the Belgravia of the Indian capital.
Rose knew thoroughly the science of dress. She never, even when in England, chose colours merely for their beauty, but such as she knew by tone and contrast, enhanced the power of her own. She now wore a costume of light blue Cabul silk, trimmed with the most delicate white lace, and she knew that she looked to the utmost advantage. As she lay back on the sofa, playing with a feather-fan, vivacity and langour were alternately the expression of her sunny hazel eyes, for she was pre-eminently a coquette, and had resolved to amuse herself for a time with her new, and as yet, silently professed admirer.