Part 15 (1/2)
Naturally he went on to tell her about Carlin; but when at last he spoke her name, the English girl interrupted him:
”Is it possible you are meaning Doctor Carlin Deal?”
”Yes; do you know her?” Skag asked.
”I have met her several times--quite frightened at first, because I had heard about her--you know she is very learned, even for one much older.”
”I know she is a physician.”
”Yes; London Medical. But it's not just her profession; it's herself.
She's really wonderful; her sweetness is so strong and--all her strengths are so lovely.”
”She is wonderful to me,” Skag said.
”I'm congratulating you, you understand?” The present Mrs. Hichens smiled as she added: ”I've heard that she has a fine discernment of men.”
He went before sunset. After he had gone she asked her ayah to find out about who he was and whatever concerning him.
When Police Commissioner Hichens came up that week-end, he was so seriously dissatisfied with the tediousness of her recovery, that she had no inclination to tell him about having gone out from the tent on her own unsteady feet, at all. Certainly it would be calamitous for him to hear of her having been carried in by a perfect stranger. For which reason she called her ayah, while the Sahib was in his bath before dinner and said to her hurriedly:
”Ayah, will you do a thing for my sake?”
”To the shedding of my blood, Thou s.h.i.+ning.”
”Then guard from the master that he shall not learn of my going out, or of the stranger who appeared.”
”He shall never learn. Never while he lives shall he learn, unless from your own lips.”
”Will all the other servants help you, Ayah dear?”
”It is already considered and determined among us. He shall never learn from us.”
”Why are you all good to me?”
”Because by the hand of our master, who is our father and our mother, our bodies live; but by the grace of thy soul our hearts are glad. _It is better to have joy in the heart one day than to endure upon the fatness which grows out of a full stomach for ten years._”
”Oh, Ayah, don't tell me things like that, because they are never to be forgotten.”
”That is a great saying, oh Flower-of-Life. A saying come down from many generations. My people have found in it much food. The most poor among us go empty many days by the strength in it. And it is known that holy men have lived long years of holy life, without any satisfaction to the body at all, dwelling in that courage by which the unutterable of suffering may be endured, entirely by the _memory of one day_.”
The ayah's voice finished in the tones of ceremony; and she moved smoothly from the room, unconscious that she had not been dismissed.
The following evening, after the police commissioner had gone down, the ayah brought report concerning the stranger. His name was Sanford Hantee Sahib. He was an American Sahib. He did not consort with any of his own people, nor with Europeans. Of all human beings he had only one friend and a.s.sociate, Cadman Sahib, who was a great man among men--as was well known by even the ignorant. Cadman Sahib had been heard to call him ”Skag,” but Cadman Sahib would permit no one to call him by that t.i.tle excepting himself; therefore it was a sealed t.i.tle, to p.r.o.nounce which few are worthy. Five days ago Sanford Hantee Sahib had come by train from far in the interior, beyond the Gra.s.s Jungle country, to meet an Indian Sahib of high rank in the railway service, at Poona. It was an appointment personal to himself; no one knew the purpose. Also, why Cadman Sahib had not come together with him was not known, unless--
”Oh, Ayah! I don't care a bit about Cadman Sahib--_will_ you be good enough. What about the man? Now go on.”
”Most ill.u.s.trious lady, the thing is an exaltation. I am poor and ignorant. My head is at your feet. One like I am should not approach power like his save turning fresh from a bath.”
”Ayah dear! I am prepared.”