Divan

“ When he awoke, he looked at his body and found it clean as virgin silver, having no trace left of the leprosy: whereat he rejoiced exceedingly and his breast expanded with gladness. Next morning, he repaired to the Divan and sat down on his chair of estate, and the chamberlains and grandees attended on him. Presently, the physician Douban presented himself and kissed the earth before the king and repeated the following verses:
The virtues all exalted are, when thou art styled their sire:
None else the title dares accept, of all that men admire. ”

“ I'm lodging with Krishna Lal. And—look here, don't mention me to your friend the philosopher! I know more about him than you might suppose. If you still care a damn for me—and the others, do what I ask—and keep your mouth shut——"
Dyán's frown was hostile; but his voice was low and troubled. "For God's sake leave me alone, Roy. Of course—I care. But that kind of caring is carnal weakness. We, who are dedicated, must rise above such weakness, above pity and slave-morality, giving all to the Mother——"
"Dyán—have you forgotten—my mother?" Roy pressed his advantage in the same low tone. ”

“ True talk, indeed! There stood the boy who had whimpered under Scab Major's bullying, in the dark coat and turban of the educated Indian; his back half turned, in confidential talk with a friend, who had set a carafe and tumbler ready to hand. The light of a wall lamp shone full on his friend's face—clean-cut, handsome, unmistakable....
Dyán! Dyán—and Chandranath! It was the conjunction that confounded Roy and tinged elation with dismay. He could hardly contain himself till Dyán joined the audience; standing a little apart; not taking a seat. ”

“ No matter what line you take, it's safe to be the wrong one."
"Hark at the Cynic!" jeered young Cuthbert. "Were you forty on the 9th, or was it forty-five?"
Roy grinned. "Good old Cuthers! Don't exhaust yourself trying to be funny! Fish out the drinks. We've earned them, haven't we—High Tower Princess?" The last, confidentially, for Tara's ear alone.
And Dyán, seeing the smile in her eyes, felt jealousy pierce him like a red-hot wire.
The supper, provided by Roy and Dyán, was no scratch wayside meal, but an ambrosial affair:—salmon mayonnaise, ready mixed; glazed joints of chicken ”

“ An even greater good fortune—in their eyes—was her instinctive response to the seasons. She shared to the full their clear conviction that schoolroom lessons and a radiant day of summer were a glaring misfit; and she trimmed her sails, or rather her time-table, accordingly.
"Sentimental folly and thoroughly demoralising," was the verdict of Aunt Jane, overheard by Roy, who was not supposed to understand. "They will grow up without an inch of moral backbone. And you can't say I didn't warn you. Lady Despard's a crank, of course; but Nevil is a fool to allow it. ”

“ Just to have him about the place again—his music, his big laugh, his radiant certainty that, in any and every circumstance, it was a splendid thing to be alive—would banish worries and lift her spirits sky-high. After the still, deep waters of her beloved Vinx—whose strain of remoteness had not been quite dispelled by marriage—and the starlit mysteries of Arúna and the intriguing complexities of Roy, a breath of Lance would be tonic as a breeze from the Hills. ”

“ She glanced at her husband and saw that his lips were set grimly.
“But, Philomene, we must not trouble these two young people with our private sorrows!” exclaimed Monsieur Didon. “Yes, they were fine boys, but think! they might have had grandchildren of their own now! Some day you two will know perhaps the joy of having such children as that! Then you will not be traveling over the world any more, for you would be ennuyé to leave them. It is terrible how they cling to one's heart-strings!”
Gibson and his wife studied the pattern on the table-cloth and did not reply. ”

“ I shall need it." Her fingers closed convulsively on his—"England will seem sort of empty—without Roy. Is he dead keen on going this autumn?"
"Yes—I am afraid. A little because of young impatience. A little because he is troubled over Dyán; and he has much influence. There are so many now in India dragged two ways."
Nevil sighed again. "Bless the boy! It's an undeniable risk. And what the family will say to our Midsummer madness, God knows! Jane can be trusted to make the deuce of a row. ”

“ But the world had been turned upside down for Wyndham since he left the familiar room half an hour ago. A spark that came very near to anger burned in his heart.
Desmond turned in his chair. Two hours of undiluted Evelyn had left him craving for mental companionship.
"Paul, old man," he said on a questioning note, "can't you speak to a fellow? Jove! what wouldn't I give for a good square look at you! It's poor work consorting with folk who only exist from the waist downward. You've not got to be running off anywhere else, have you?" ”

“ As the man's patent sincerity had warmed the hearts of his hearers, so the pointed truth of that last pricked them sharply and probed deep. For they knew themselves powerless; mere atoms of the whirling dust-cloud, raised, in passing, by the chariot-wheels of Progress—or perdition?
The younger men rose briskly, as if to shake off some physical discomfort. Dyán—very much aware of Arúna and the subaltern—approached them with a friendly remark. Roy and Lance said, "Play up, Thea! ”

“ We were the guests of the Bishop of Jilu, Mar Sergius, in his very primitive palace; and as we had arrived at noon, spent a good deal of the afternoon “holding Diwan” in his reception room—sitting that is in the seat of honour on a low diwan, while all the village came to us, and talked of anything and everything that occurred to them. Many of course desired medicine, for any Englishman is a doctor by hereditary right; and always carries with him good “English salt,” which is quinine, as well as other drugs. ”

“ Dido. The man that I doe eye where ere I am, Whose amorous face like Pean sparkles fire, When as he buts his beames on Floras bed, Prometheus hath put on Cupids shape, And I must perish in his burning armes: Æneas, O Æneas, quench these flames.
Æn. What ailes my Queene, is she falne sicke of late?
Dido. Not sicke my loue, but sicke, I must conceale The torment, that it bootes me not reueale; And yet Ile speake, and yet Ile hold my peace, Doe shame her worst, I will disclose my griefe: Æneas, thou art he, what did I say? ”

“ Next morning she sat among her cushions in the studio, ostensibly reading a long letter from her father. Actually, her mind was intent on Nevil, who stood at his easel absorbed in fragmentary studies for a new picture—flying draperies; a man's face cleverly fore-shortened. ”

“ No irksome caste rules on this side of the water; no hint of condescension in the friendly attitude of young Oxford. Nothing to jar the over-sensibility of young India—prone to suspect slight where no thought of it exists; too often, also, treated to exhibitions of ill-bred arrogance that undo in an hour the harmonising work of years.
Dyán sat by Tara, anticipating her lightest need; courage rising by leaps and bounds. Arúna, from her nest of cushions, exchanged lively sallies with Roy. ”

“ Running away from oneself was plainly a futile experiment. To have so failed with her, disheartened him badly and dwarfed his proud achievement to an insignificant thing.
To the rest, unaware, his triumph seemed complete, his risky adventure justified beyond cavil. They all admitted as much;—even Vincent, who abjured superlatives and had privately taken failure for granted. Roy, in a fit of modesty, ascribed it all to 'luck.' By the merest chance he had caught Dyán, on his own confession, just as the first flickers of doubt were invading his hypnotised soul ”

“ His eloquence somehow failed to carry conviction. To her, the soul of new India seemed like a book, full of contradictions, written in many strange languages, hard to read. But behind that tangle of words beat the heart of Dyán—the brother who was her all.
Still no address was given. But Roy had declared the Delhi postmark sufficient clue. Directly Dewáli was over, he would go. And, by every right impulse, she ought to be more glad than sad. But the heart, like the tongue, can no man tame. And sometimes his eagerness to go hurt her a little. Was he thinking of Delhi down there—or of her——? ”

“ Yet I'm dead keen for India to have the best, all round, that she's capable of digesting—yet. So's Grandfather. You can't deny it."
Dyán frowned irritably. "Grandfather's prejudiced and old-fashioned."
"He's longer-sighted than most of your voluble friends. He doesn't rhapsodise. He knows.—But I'm not old-fashioned. Nor is Arúna."
"No, poor child; only England-infatuated. She is unwise not taking this chance of an educated husband——"
"And such a husband!" Roy struck in so sharply that Dyán stared open-mouthed. ”

“ She reckoned, however, without the daughter of Sir Theo Desmond, who, at this point, took action—sudden and disconcerting.
"You see the child came regularly to my purdah parties," she explained to Roy, who was impatient no longer, only absorbed. "Sometimes I had her alone for reading and music; and it was heart-breaking to see her wilting away before my eyes. So, at last, in desperation, I broke loose—as Vinx politely puts it—and asked searching questions, regardless of etiquette. After all, the poor lamb has no mother. And I never disobey an impulse of the heart. ”

“ Dido. I'll have it so; Æneas, be content. Asca. Madame, you shall be my mother. Dido. And so I will, sweet child: be merry, man; Here's to thy better fortune and good stars. Æn. In all humility, I thank your grace. Dido. Remember who thou art; speak like thy self, Humility belongs to common groome. Æn. And who so miserable as Æneas is? Dido. Lies it in Dido's hands to make thee blest; Then be assured, thou art not miserable. Æn. O Priamus, O Troy, oh Hecuba! Dido. ”

“ He then kindled the gods and burnt them before the crowd, who, when all was over, dispersed, but with black looks and ominously quiet.
For many months Dr. Dwan labored among his neighbors and through the whole region trying to win men to his new faith, but public opinion was too strongly against him. It was universally believed,—by his family as well as outsiders—that the foreigners had bewitched him and that the gods would certainly wreak their vengeance upon him. ”

“ By the hidden forces that mould men's lives, he had been drawn to the land of heart's desire; and at home, neither his family nor his country seemed to have any particular need of him. Whether or no India had need of him, he assuredly had need of her. And it was the very strength of that feeling which had given him pause.
But now, at last, he knew beyond cavil that, for all his mind—or was it his conscience?—might haver and split straws, he had been drawn to Rajputana, as irresistibly as if that vast desert region were the moon and he a wavelet on the tidal shore. ”

“ Next instant, from the alcove, a shot rang out: and it was Dyán who cursed; for the bullet had grazed his arm.
They both ran now; and made no bones about it. Roy's sensations reminded him vividly of the night he and Lance fled from the Turks.
"We seem to have butted in and spoilt somebody's little game!" he remarked, as they turned into a wider street and slackened speed. "How's your arm?"
"Nothing. A mere scratch." Dyán's tone was graver. "But that's most unusual. I can't make it out——"
"You're well quit of it all, anyhow," said Roy, and slipped a hand through his arm. ”

“ The action invariably surprised Monsieur de Villenave in the middle of classifying a new acquisition or dreaming a day dream or taking a nap.
"Eh! what is it, Françoise?" (We will assume her name was Françoise.) "Good God! can't I be left a minute in peace?"
"La, Sir!" Françoise would answer, "I'm bound to come . . ."
"Well, well; quick, say what you want. I wonder why this always happens just when I am particularly busy? . . . Well?"—and Monsieur de Villenave would raise his great eyes to heaven with an expression of despair, folding his hands and uttering a sigh of resignation. ”

“ Her name is fragrant in the North, sir, save where ostlers gather at the tavern and pass gossip on for gaping yokels."
"Countered, you dandy!" laughed Digby's neighbour. "Grooms in Oxford and grooms in the North—hey, where's the difference?"
"We shall prove it, sir, at dawn to-morrow," said Digby, his hand slipping to his sword-hilt.
"Oh, content. I always liked to slit a lie in two, and see the two halves writhe and quiver."
The Squire of Nappa, looking at these two, guessed where the danger of the King's cause lay. Men see clearly when heart and soul and purpose are as one. ”

“ Sir Nevil said rather huskily. "You ought to sleep sound in there. Don't dream."
"But I love to dream," said Roy; and his father laughed.
"You're not so staggeringly changed inside! As sure as a gun, you'll be late for breakfast!"
And he did dream. The moment his lids fell—she was there with him, under the beeches, their sanctuary—she who all day had hovered on the confines of his spirit, like a light, felt not seen. There were no words between them, nor any need of words; only the ineffable peace of understanding, of reunion.... ”

“ Her young ones, including Captain Martin, would ride; but, because of Arúna, she and Vincent must submit to the barouche. So transparent was the girl's pleasure at being included, that Thea's heart failed her—knowing what she knew.
Roy and Lance had ridden on ahead; out through the fortified gates into the open desert, strewn with tumbled fragments of the glory that was Rajasthán. There, where courtiers had intrigued and flattered, crows held conference. On the crumbling arch of a doorway, that opened into emptiness, a vulture brooded, heavy with feeding on those who had died for lack of food. ”