kindness of my co-wife, may the Gods protect my son. — Hindu Proverb.
Tarvin made his way to the banquet with his face aflame and his tongue dry between his teeth. He had seen it. It existed. It was not a myth. And he would have it; he would take it back with him. Mrs. Mutrie should hang it about the sculptured neck that looked so well when she laughed; and the Three C.‘s should come to Topaz. He would be the saviour2 of his town; the boys at home would take the horses out of his carriage and drag him up Pennsylvania Avenue with their own hands; and town lots would sell next year in Topaz by the running inch.
It was worth all the waiting, worth the damming of a hundred rivers, worth a century of pachisi playing, and a thousand miles of bullock-cart. As he drained a glass to the health of the young Maharaj Kunwar at the banquet that evening, he renewed his pledge to himself to fight it out on this line if it took all summer. His pride of success had lain low of late, and taken many hurts; but now that he had seen his prize he esteemed3 it already within his grasp, as he had argued at Topaz that Kate must be his because he loved her.
Next morning he woke with a confused notion that he stood on the threshold of great deeds; and then, in his bath, he wondered whence he had plucked the certainty and exultation4 of the night before. He had, indeed, seen the Naulahka. But the temple doors had closed on the vision. He found himself asking whether either temple or necklace had been real, and in the midst of his wonder and excitement was half way to the city before he knew that he had left the rest-house. When he came to himself, however, he knew well whither he was going and what he was going for. If he had seen the Naulahka, he meant to keep it in sight. It had disappeared into the temple. To the temple, therefore, he would go.
Fragments of burnt-out torches lay on the temple steps among trampled5 flowers and spilt oil, and the marigold garlands hung limp and wilted6 on the fat shoulders of the black stone bulls that guarded the inner court. Tarvin took off his white pith helmet (it was very hot, though it was only two hours after dawn), pushed back the scanty7 hair from his high forehead, and surveyed the remnants of yesterday’s feast. The city was still asleep after its holiday. The doors of the building were wide open, and he ascended8 the steps and walked in, with none to hinder.
The formless, four-faced god Iswara, standing9 in the centre of the temple, was smeared10 and discoloured with stains of melted butter, and the black smoke of exhausted11 incense12. Tarvin looked at the figure curiously13, half expecting to find the Naulahka hung about one of its four necks. Behind him, in the deeper gloom of the temple, stood other divinities, many-handed and many-headed, tossing their arms aloft, protruding14 their tongues, and grinning at one another. The remains15 of many sacrifices lay about them, and in the half light Tarvin could see that the knees of one were dark with dried blood. Overhead the dark roof ran up into a Hindu dome16, and there was a soft rustle17 and scratching of nesting bats.
Tarvin, with his hat on the back of his head and his hands in his pockets, gazed at the image, looking about him and whistling softly. He had been a month in India, but he had not yet penetrated18 to the interior of a temple. Standing there, he recognised with fresh force how entirely19 the life, habits, and traditions of this strange people alienated20 them from all that seemed good and right to him; and he was vaguely21 angered to know that it was the servants of these horrors who possessed22 a necklace which had power to change the destiny of a Christian23 and civilised town like Topaz.
He knew that he would be expelled without ceremony for profanation24, if discovered, and made haste to finish his investigations25, with a half-formed belief that the slovenliness26 of the race might have caused them to leave the Naulahka about somewhere, as a woman might leave her jewels on her dressing-table after a late return from a ball the night before. He peered about and under the gods, one by one, while the bats squeaked27 above him. Then he returned to the central image of Iswara, and in his former attitude regarded the idol28.
It occurred to him that, though he was on level ground, most of his weight was resting on his toes, and he stepped back to recover his balance. The slab29 of sandstone he had just quitted rolled over slowly, as a porpoise30 rolls in the still sea, revealing for an instant a black chasm31 below. Then it shouldered up into its place again without a sound, and Tarvin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. If he had found the Naulahka at that instant he would have smashed it in pure rage. He went out into the sunlight once more, devoting the country where such things were possible to its own gods; he could think of nothing worse.
A priest, sprung from an unguessable retreat, came out of the temple immediately afterward32, and smiled upon him.
Tarvin, willing to renew his hold on the wholesome34 world in which there were homes and women, betook himself to the missionary35’s cottage, where he invited himself to breakfast. Mr. and Mrs. Estes had kept themselves strictly36 aloof37 from the marriage ceremony, but they could enjoy Tarvin’s account of it, delivered from the Topaz point of view. Kate was unfeignedly glad to see him. She was full of the discreditable desertion of Dhunpat Rai and the hospital staff from their posts. They had all gone to watch the wedding festivities, and for three days had not appeared at the hospital. The entire work of the place had devolved on herself and the wild woman of the desert who was watching her husband’s cure. Kate was very tired, and her heart was troubled with misgivings38 for the welfare of the little Prince, which she communicated to Tarvin when he drew her out upon the verandah after breakfast.
‘I’m sure he wants absolute rest now,’ she said, almost tearfully. ‘He came to me at the end of the dinner last night — I was in the women’s wing of the palace — and cried for half an hour. Poor little baby! It’s cruel.’
‘Oh, well, he’ll be resting today. Don’t worry.’
‘No; today they take his bride back to her own people again, and he has to drive out with the procession or something — in this sun, too. It’s very wicked. Doesn’t it ever make your head ache, Nick? I sometimes think of you sitting out on that dam of yours, and wonder how you can bear it.’
‘I can bear a good deal for you, little girl,’ returned Tarvin, looking down into her eyes.
‘Why, how is that for me, Nick?’
‘You’ll see if you live long enough,’ he assured her; but he was not anxious to discuss his dam, and returned to the safer subject of the Maharaj Kunwar.
Next day and the day after he rode aimlessly about in the neighbourhood of the temple, not caring to trust himself within its walls again, but determined39 to keep his eye upon the first and last spot where he had seen the Naulahka. There was no chance at present of getting speech with the only living person, save the King, whom he definitely knew to have touched the treasure. It was maddening to await the reappearance of the Maharaj Kunwar in his barouche, but he summoned what patience he could. He hoped much from him; but meanwhile he often looked in at the hospital to see how Kate fared. The traitor40 Dhunpat Rai and his helpers had returned; but the hospital was crowded with cases from the furthest portions of the State — fractures caused by the King’s reckless barouches, and one or two cases, new in Kate’s experience, of men drugged, under the guise41 of friendship, for the sake of the money they carried with them, and left helpless in the public ways.
Tarvin, as he cast his shrewd eye about the perfectly42 kept men’s ward33, humbly43 owned to himself that, after all, she was doing better work in Rhatore than he. She at least did not run a hospital to cover up deeper and darker designs, and she had the inestimable advantage over him of having her goal in sight. It was not snatched from her after one maddening glimpse; it was not the charge of a mysterious priesthood, or of an impalpable State; it was not hidden in treacherous44 temples, nor hung round the necks of vanishing infants.
One morning, before the hour at which he usually set out for the dam, Kate sent a note over to him at the rest-house asking him to call at the hospital as soon as possible. For one rapturous moment he dreamed of impossible things. But smiling bitterly at his readiness to hope, he lighted a cigar, and obeyed the order.
Kate met him on the steps, and led him into the dispensary.
She laid an eager hand on his arm. ‘Do you know anything about the symptoms of hemp45-poisoning?’ she asked him.
He caught her by both hands quickly, and stared wildly into her face. ‘Why? Why? Has any one been daring ——?’
She laughed nervously46. ‘No, no. It isn’t me. It’s him.’
‘Who?’
The Maharaj — the child. I’m certain of it now.’ She went on to tell him how, that morning, the barouche, the escort, and a pompous47 native had hurried up to the missionary’s door bearing the almost lifeless form of the Maharaj Kunwar; how she had at first attributed the attack, whatever it might be, to exhaustion48 consequent upon the wedding festivities; how the little one had roused from his stupor49, blue-lipped and hollow-eyed, and had fallen from one convulsion into another, until she had begun to despair and how, at the last, he had dropped into a deep sleep of exhaustion, when she had left him in the care of Mrs. Estes. She added that Mrs. Estes had believed that the young prince was suffering from a return of his usual malady50; she had seen him in paroxysms of this kind twice before Kate came.
‘Now look at this,’ said Kate, taking down the chart of her hospital cases, on which were recorded the symptoms and progress of two cases of hemp-poisoning that had come to her within the past week.
‘These men,’ she said, ‘had been given sweetmeats by a gang of travelling gipsies, and all their money was taken from them before they woke up. Read for yourself.’
Tarvin read, biting his lips. At the end he looked up at her sharply.
‘Yes,’ he said, with an emphatic51 nod of his head —’ yes. Sitabhai?’
‘Who else would dare?’ answered Kate passionately52.
‘I know. I know. But how to stop her going on! how to bring it home to her!’
‘Tell the Maharajah,’ responded Kate decidedly.
Tarvin took her hand. ‘Good! I’ll try it. But there’s no shadow of proof, you know.’
‘No matter. Remember the boy. Try. I must go back to him now.’
The two returned to the house of the missionary together, saying very little on the way. Tarvin’s indignation that Kate should be mixed up in this miserable53 business almost turned to anger at Kate herself, as he rode beside her but his wrath54 was extinguished at sight of the Maharaj Kunwar. The child lay on a bed in an inner room at the missionary’s, almost too weak to turn his head. As Kate and Tarvin entered, Mrs. Estes rose from giving him his medicine, said a word to Kate by way of report, and returned to her own work. The child was clothed only in a soft muslin coat; but his sword and jewelled belt lay across his feet.
‘Salaam, Tarvin Sahib,’ he murmured. ‘I am very sorry that I was ill.’
Tarvin bent55 over him tenderly. ‘Don’t try to talk, little one.’
‘Nay56; I am well now,’ was the answer. ‘Soon we will go riding together.’
‘Were you very sick, little man?’
‘I cannot tell. It is all dark to me. I was in the palace laughing with some of the dance-girls. Then I fell. And after that I remember no more till I came here.’
He gulped57 down the cooling draught58 that Kate gave him, and resettled himself on the pillows, while one wax-yellow hand played with the hilt of his sword. Kate was kneeling by his side, one arm under the pillow supporting his head; and it seemed to Tarvin that he had never before done justice to the beauty latent in her good, plain, strong features. The trim little figure took softer outlines, the firm mouth quivered, the eyes were filled with a light that Tarvin had never seen before.
‘Come to the other side — so,’ said the child, beckoning59 Tarvin in the native fashion, by folding all his tiny fingers into his palms rapidly and repeatedly. Tarvin knelt obediently on the other side of the couch. ‘Now I am a king, and this is my court.’
Kate laughed musically in her delight at seeing the boy recovering strength. Tarvin slid his arm under the pillow, found Kate’s hand there, and held it.
The portière at, the door of the room dropped softly. Mrs. Estes had stolen in for a moment, and imagined that she saw enough to cause her to steal out again. She had been thinking a great deal since the days when Tarvin first introduced himself.
The child’s eyes began to grow dull and heavy, and Kate would have withdrawn60 her arm to give him another draught.
‘Nay; stay so,’ he said imperiously; and relapsing into the vernacular61, muttered thickly —‘Those who serve the King shall not lack their reward. They shall have villages free of tax — three, five villages; Sujjain, Amet, and Gungra. Let it be entered as a free gift when they marry. They shall marry, and be about me always — Miss Kate and Tarvin Sahib.’
Tarvin did not understand why Kate’s hand was withdrawn swiftly. He did not know the vernacular as she did.
‘He is getting delirious62 again,’ said Kate, under her breath. ‘Poor, poor little one!’
Tarvin ground his teeth, and cursed Sitabhai between them. Kate was wiping the damp forehead, and trying to still the head as it was thrown restlessly from side to side. Tarvin held the child’s hands, which closed fiercely on his own, as the boy was racked and convulsed by the last effects of the hemp.
For some minutes he fought and writhed63, calling upon the names of many gods, striving to reach his sword, and ordering imaginary regiments64 to hang those white dogs to the beams of the palace gate, and to smoke them to death.
Then the crisis passed, and he began to talk to himself and to call for his mother.
The vision of a little grave dug in the open plain sloping to the river, where they had laid out the Topaz cemetery65, rose before Tarvin’s memory. They were lowering Heckler’s first baby into it, in its pine coffin66; and Kate, standing by the graveside, was writing the child’s name on the finger’s length of smoothed pine which was to be its only headstone.
‘Nay, nay, nay!’ wailed67 the Maharaj Kunwar. ‘I am speaking the truth; and oh, I was so tired at that pagal dance in the temple, and I only crossed the courtyard. . . . It was a new girl from Lucknow; she sang the song of “The Green Pulse of Mundore.” . . . Yes; but only some almond curd68. I was hungry, too. A little white almond curd, mother. Why should I not eat when I feel inclined? Am I a sweeper’s son, or a prince? Pick me up! pick me up! It is very hot inside my head . . . . Louder. I do not understand. Will they take me over to Kate? She will make all well. What was the message?’ The child began to wring69 his hands despairingly. ‘The message! The message! I have forgotten the message. No one in the State speaks English as I speak English. But I have forgotten the message.
‘Tiger, tiger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal70 hand or eye Framed thy fearful symmetry?
Yes, mother; till she cries. I am to say the whole of it till she cries. I will not forget. I did not forget the first message. By the great god Har! I have forgotten this message.’ And he began to cry.
Kate, who had watched so long by bedsides of pain, was calm and strong; she soothed71 the child, speaking to him in a low, quieting voice, administering a sedative72 draught, doing the right thing, as Tarvin saw, surely and steadily73, undisturbed. It was he who was shaken by the agony that he could not alleviate74.
The Maharaj Kunwar drew a long, sobbing75 breath, and contracted his eyebrows76.
‘Mahadeo ki jai!’ he shouted. ‘It has come back. A gipsy has done this. A gipsy has done this. And I was to say it until she cried.’
Kate half rose, with an awful look at Tarvin. He returned it, and, nodding, strode from the room, dashing the tears from his eyes.
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1
wasteful
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| adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的 | |
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saviour
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| n.拯救者，救星 | |
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esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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wilted
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| （使）凋谢，枯萎( wilt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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smeared
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| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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alienated
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| adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等） | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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profanation
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| n.亵渎 | |
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investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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slovenliness
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squeaked
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| v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
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idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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slab
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| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
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porpoise
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| n.鼠海豚 | |
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chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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misgivings
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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hemp
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| n.大麻；纤维 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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pompous
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
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exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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49
stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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51
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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52
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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53
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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54
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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56
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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57
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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58
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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59
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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60
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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61
vernacular
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| adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名 | |
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delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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63
writhed
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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curd
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| n.凝乳；凝乳状物 | |
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wring
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| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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sedative
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| adj.使安静的，使镇静的；n. 镇静剂，能使安静的东西 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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alleviate
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| v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等) | |
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sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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