Part 11 (1/2)
”I have no doubt you ladies did plenty of that, my dear.”
”Indeed, we didn't, uncle; you see they had had a very long drive, and Mrs. Hunter insisted on the girls going to bed directly you all went out, and as I could not sit up by myself, I had to go too.”
”We were in at half past twelve,” the Major said. ”I can stand a good deal of smoke, but the club atmosphere was too thick for me.”
”Everything went off very well yesterday, didn't it?” she asked.
”Very well, I thought, my dear, thanks to you and the Doctor and Rumzan.”
”I had very little to do with it,” she laughed.
”Well, I don't think you had much to do with the absolute arrangements, Isobel, but I thought you did very well as hostess; it seemed to me that there was a good deal of laughing and fun at your end of the table.”
”Yes; you see we had the two Miss Hunters and the Doctor there, and Mr.
Gregson, who took me in, turned out a very merry old gentleman.”
”He would not be pleased if he heard you call him old, Isobel.”
”Well, of course he is not absolutely old, but being a commissioner, and all that sort of thing, gives one the idea of being old; but there are the others.”
And they went into the breakfast room.
The first race was set for two o'clock, and at half past one Mrs.
Hunter's carriage, with the four ladies, arrived at the inclosure. The horses were taken out, and the carriage wheeled into its place, and then Isobel and the two Miss Hunters prepared to enjoy the scene.
It was a very gay one. The course was at present covered with a throng of natives in their bright colored garments, and mixed with them were the scarlet uniforms of the Sepoys of the 103d and other regiments.
On the opposite side were a number of native vehicles of various descriptions, and some elephants with painted faces and gorgeous trappings, and with howdahs shaded by pavilions glittering with gilt and silver.
On either side of their vehicle a long line of carriages was soon formed up, and among these were several occupied by gayly dressed natives, whose rank gave them an entrance to the privileged inclosure. The carriages were placed three or four yards back from the rail, and the intervening s.p.a.ce was filled with civilian and military officers, in white or light attire, and with pith helmet or puggaree; many others were on horseback behind the carriages.
”It is a bright scene, Miss Hannay,” the Doctor said, coming up to the carriage.
”Wonderfully pretty, Doctor!”
”An English race course doesn't do after this, I can tell you. I went down to the Derby when I was at home, and such an a.s.sembly of riff raff I never saw before and never wish to see again.”
”These people are more picturesque, Dr. Wade,” Mrs. Hunter said, ”but that is merely a question of garment; these people perhaps are no more trustworthy than those you met on the racecourse at home.”
”I was speaking of them purely as a spectacle; individually I have no doubt one would be safer among the English roughs and betting men than among these placid looking natives. The one would pick your pockets of every penny you have got if they had the chance, the other would cut your throat with just as little compunction.”
”You don't really mean that, Dr. Wade?” Isobel said.
”I do indeed, Miss Hannay; the Oude men are notorious brawlers and fighters, and I should say that the roughs of Cawnpore and Lucknow could give long odds to those of any European city, and three out of four of those men you see walking about there would not only cut the throat of a European to obtain what money he had about him, but would do so without that incentive, upon the simple ground that he hated us.”
”But why should he hate us, Doctor? he is none the worse off now than he was before we annexed the country.”
”Well, yes, that cla.s.s of man is worse off. In the old days every n.o.ble and Zemindar kept up a little army for the purpose of fighting his neighbors, just as our Barons used to do in the happy olden times people talk of. We have put down private fighting, and the consequence is these men's occupations are gone, and they flock to great towns and there live as best they can, ready to commit any crime whatever for the sum of a few rupees.
”There is Nana Sahib.”