Part 23 (1/2)
”I should think not,” the Doctor said; ”the man in notoriously a dangerous fellow; and yet, as he has never actually outstepped what are considered the bounds which const.i.tute an officer and a gentleman, he has retained his commission, but it has been a pretty close shave once or twice. Your uncle must know all about him, everyone does; but I don't suppose the Major will open his mouth to you on the subject--he is one of those chivalrous sort of men who never thinks evil of anyone unless he is absolutely obliged to; but in a case like this I think he is wrong. At any rate, I have done what I consider to be my duty in the matter. Now I leave it in your hands. I am glad to see that you are looking quite yourself again, and have got over your fainting fit of the other night. I quite expected to be sent for professionally the next morning.”
”Oh, yes, I have quite got over it, Doctor; I can't make out how I was so silly as to faint. I never did such a thing before, but it was so strange and mysterious that I felt quite bewildered, and the picture quite frightened me, but I don't know why. This is the first chance I have had since of speaking to you alone. What do you think of it, and why should you be dressed up as a native? and why should?” She stopped with a heightened color on her cheeks.
”You and Bathurst be dressed up, too? So you noticed your own likeness; n.o.body else but Bathurst and myself recognized the two figures that came out of the wood.”
”Oh, you saw it too, Doctor. I thought I might have been mistaken, for, besides being stained, the face was all obscured somehow. Neither uncle, nor Mrs. Hunter, nor the girls, nor anyone else I have spoken to seem to have had an idea it was me, though they all recognized you.. What could it mean?”
”I. have not the slightest idea in the world,” the Doctor said; ”very likely it meant nothing. I certainly should not think any more about it.
These jugglers' tricks are curious and unaccountable; but it is no use our worrying ourselves about them. Maybe we are all going to get up private theatricals some day, and perform an Indian drama. I have never taken any part in tomfooleries of that sort so far, but there is no saying what I may come to.”
”Are you going to dine here, Doctor?”
”No, my dear; the Major asked me to come in, but I declined. I told him frankly that I did not like Forster, and that the less I saw of him the better I should be pleased.”
The other guests turned out to be Captain and Mrs. Doolan and Mr.
Congreave, one of the civilians at the station. The Doolans arrived first.
”You have not seen Captain Forster yet, Isobel,” Mrs. Doolan said, as they sat down for a chat together. ”I met him at Delhi soon after I came out. He is quite my beau ideal of a soldier in appearance, but I don't think he is nice, Isobel. I have heard all sorts of stories about him.”
”Is that meant as a warning for me, Mrs. Doolan?” Isobel asked, smiling.
”Well, yes, I think it is, if you don't mind my giving you one. There are some men one can flirt with as much as one likes, and there are some men one can't; he is one of that sort. Privately, my dear, I don't mind telling you that at one time I did flirt with him--I had been accustomed to flirt in Ireland; we all flirt there, and mean nothing by it; but I had to give it up very suddenly. It wouldn't do, my dear, at all; his ideas of flirtation differed utterly from mine. I found I was playing with fire, and was fortunate in getting off without singeing my wings, which is more than a good many others would have done.”
”He must be a horrid sort of man,” Isobel said indignantly.
Mrs. Doolan laughed. ”I don't think you will find him so; certainly that is not the general opinion of women. However, you will see him for yourself in a very few minutes.”
Isobel looked up with some curiosity when Captain Forster was announced, and at once admitted to herself that the Doctor's report as to his personal appearance was fully justified. He stood over six feet high, with a powerful frame, and an easy careless bearing; his hair was cut rather close, he wore a long tawny mustache, his eyes were dark, his teeth very white and perfect. A momentary look of surprise came across his face as his eyes fell on Isobel.
”I had hardly expected,” he said, as the Major introduced him to her, ”to find no less than three unmarried ladies at Deennugghur. I had the pleasure of being introduced to the Miss Hunters this afternoon. How do you do, Mrs. Doolan? I think it is four years since I had the pleasure of knowing you in Delhi.”
”I believe that is the number, Captain Forster.”
”It seems a very long time to me,” he said.
”I thought you would say that,” she laughed. ”It was quite the proper thing to say, Captain Forster; but I have no doubt it does seem longer to you than it does to me as you have been home since.”
”We are all here,” the Major broke in. ”Captain Forster, will you take my niece in?”
”I suppose you find this very dull after Cawnpore, Miss Hannay?” Captain Forster asked.
”Indeed I do not,” Isobel said. ”I like it better here; everything is sociable and pleasant, while at Cawnpore there was much more formality.
Of course, there were lots of dinner parties, but I don't care for large dinner parties at all; it is so hot, and they last such a time. I think six is quite large enough. Then there is a general talk, and everyone can join in just as much as they like, while at a large dinner you have to rely entirely upon one person, and I think it is very hard work having to talk for an hour and a half to a stranger of whom you know nothing. Don't you agree with me?”
”Entirely, Miss Hannay; I am a pretty good hand at talking, but at times I have found it very hard work, I can a.s.sure you, especially when you take down a stranger to the station, so that you have no mutual acquaintance to pull to pieces.”
The dinner was bright and pleasant, and when the evening was over Isobel said to her uncle, ”I think Captain Forster is very amusing, uncle.”
”Yes,” the Major agreed, ”he is a good talker, a regular society man; he is no great favorite of mine; I think he will be a little too much for us in a small station like this.”