"Oh my gracious me, whatt's the matter now, Leila Baltus?" exclaimed her aunt. "You look all the colours of the rainbow! Has this walking business been too much for you? Come, let's turn! My legs has got a straightenin'. But, girl, whatever's ailin' you? Why are you glowerin' after thatt couple as if you could stick them? They ain't no friends of yours, surelee! They're too high up for thatt."
"Friends of mine!" echoed the girl with a harsh laugh. "The devil's my friend if that man is! I'll not hide it from you, Aunt Tilly, now you've spotted him. He's the veree one that jilted me most foully—went off and wed thatt one in England when he should have wedded me. Oh, I hate her! Don't tell me she's a beautee! My feelin's won't bear it"; and the girl threw herself into the bandy, covered her face and sobbed convulsively.
"Well I never! This is a prettee kettle of fish! You in an open carriage sittin' howlin' like a babee. Come now, Leila, be sensible! Put your hat straight, fan your eyes, and tell me all about this jilt of yours. My word, he looks bold enough! He seems to feature someone to my mind. Whatt's his name, Leila?"
"Alfred Rayner," responded the girl, her wild paroxysm being succeeded by a sullen air.
"Alfred Rayner, did you say?" exclaimed Mrs. Rouat in open-mouthed astonishment. "Why, if thatt isn't the veree name I was chasin' after in my head when I sat in that fine libraree of David Morpeth's. Rayner was Flo's name, and Rosina called her boy Alfred, thinkin' it a veree grand name. He's Rosina's boy! He's handsome, but a pert lookin' baggage, the very image of his mother! Well, if this isn't an odd meetin' on the Madras beach!"
"Then Alf Rayner's old Morpeth's son? La, whatt a lark!" said the girl, with an alert expression coming into her eyes. "Do you know, Aunt Tilly, he sets up for hating us Eurasians like poison—and he's as much a half-caste as any of us!"
"Of course he is! Did you ever doubt it, you silly? With my fair complexion—I pass, but Rosina's son—never!"
"Oh my gracious, but this is a joke," laughed Leila harshly. "Why, I've begun to be even with the man already! Didn't he taunt my mother that he never dreamed of marryin' among the like of us? This is a prime secret you've let us into, Aunt Tilly! I'm sure his elegant wife doesn't know he's a half-caste!"
"More than like the lad don't know it himself," returned her aunt, shaking her head. "His Aunt Flo was as big a fibber as was goin', and a boaster into the bargain! She'd never have let him into the truth—not if she could keep it from him!"
"I say, Aunt Tilly," said Leila eagerly. "Wouldn't it be a good joke to look in on them one fine afternoon when you have the bandy again and let out the secret on them? 'Twould be a bombshell to Alf as well as to thatt proud English ladee! She don't look half such a beautee as she did when I first caught sight of her. Well, whatt do you say to my plan?"