Angel: A sketch in Indian inkCroker, B. M. (Bithia Mary)
History
Angel: A sketch in Indian ink
Croker, B. M. (Bithia Mary)
British -- India -- Fiction; India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947 -- Fiction
"BUT you cannot study the Rajah's pictures any longer," continued
Colonel Gascoigne, in a rough and dominant tone, and as he spoke he
struck a match, and confronted, as he anticipated, Alan Lindsay—Mr.
Lindsay, white as a ghost, and evidently shattered by some great mental
storm.
"Shall we go home?" he suggested politely, as he struck another match,
and lighted the way to the head of the stairs, the two picture-seers
following him down in somewhat awed silence.
At the foot of the steps stood Angel's pony cart, with its lamps
alight, and her husband's horse.
"Well, good-bye, Mr. Lindsay," she said in a cool, clear voice, as she
turned to him in the entrance. "I will write to you sometimes. Philip,
Mr. Lindsay is leaving for England."
"Good-bye, Gascoigne," he said hoarsely, and he held out his hand, but
Colonel Gascoigne affected not to see it.
"Oh, good-bye," he said, shortly. "Angel, get in. I will drive you
home"; to the syce, "bring on my horse." He whipped up the cob, and
they flew down the avenue, leaving Alan Lindsay in the dim, dewy
garden, to find his way back to the cantonment on foot and alone.
Colonel Gascoigne drove very fast, but he never uttered one word, nor
did Angel. She was thinking of the miserable man from whom she had
been so unceremoniously parted, and a little of her husband. He was
extremely angry; never had she known him to be angry, but Angel was
not the least afraid of him. She had done nothing to be ashamed of,
and once or twice she had felt a mad, almost uncontrollable desire to
scream with laughter. Was Philip really jealous—at last? How funny!
Philip's head was seething with new ideas. He saw himself from a novel
point of view, racked by many incongruous feelings—the furiously,
justly incensed husband. Should he speak now? No, he would wait till
after dinner, and then have it out with her.
He dashed up under the porch, alighted, handed out his wife with his
usual courtesy, who walked up the steps without a word, and by the
light of the great verandah lamp he caught a glimpse of her face; it
recalled the Angel of Ramghur, when she was in one of her most defiant
moods. They had a dinner-party that evening, and Mrs. Gascoigne,
dressed with her accustomed taste, was exceptionally animated and gay,
and played hostess to perfection. Certainly Angel, as of old, had a
hard, fierce, untamed spirit; she met his glances without wincing, and
they spoke, when occasion required, with Arctic politeness. Then when
the last carriage had rumbled off, and his wife was trailing away to
her room, Gascoigne came in from the verandah, and said:
"Stop—I wish to speak to you—Angel."
"Yes?" The yes was interrogative—sinking gracefully into an easy-chair.
"I am not a jealous man," he began, abruptly.
"Who said you were?" It was the Angel of Ramghur who retorted.
"I have"—struggling hard for complete self-command—"trusted you
absolutely, as if you were my very right hand, and eyes——"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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