One more incident of a crowded yesterday gave Woodhouse a crust for
rumination--the unmasking Jaimihr Khan, the Indian, had elected for
himself at that critical minute when it lay in his power to betray the
stranger in the garrison. The captain reviewed the incident with great
satisfaction--how of a sudden the wily Indian had changed from an enemy
holding a man's life in his hand to that "friend in Government House,"
of whose existence the cautious Almer had hinted but whose identity he
had kept concealed. Almer had said that this "friend" could lay his
hand on the combination to Room D in the signal tower when the proper
moment arrived. Now that he knew Jaimihr Khan in his true stripe,
Woodhouse made no doubt of his ability to fulfill Almer's prophecy.
And the proper moment would be this night! To-night, on the eve of the
great fleet's sailing, what Woodhouse had come to Gibraltar to do must
be accomplished or not at all.
The man's nerves were taut, and he rose to step to the bayward window,
there to look down on the embattled splendor of England's defense.
Steel forts ranged all in rows, awaiting but the opportunity to loose
their lightnings of obliteration against the ships of an enemy.
Cardboard ships! Shadows of dreams! In Room D, just below his feet, a
hand on the switches--a downward push, and then----
Lady Crandall's dinner in Government House was in full tide of
hilarity. Under the heavy groined ceiling the spread table with its
napery and silver was the one spot of light in the long shadowed
dining-room. Round it sat the refugees--folk who had eaten black bread
and sausage and called that a meal; who had dodged and twisted under
the careless scourge of a war beyond their understanding and
sympathies, ridden in springless carts, been bullied and hectored by
military martinets and beggared by panicky banks. Now, with the first
glimpse of freedom already in sight and under the warming influence of
an American hostess' real American meal, they were swept off their feet
by high spirits almost childlike. Henry J. Sherman, Kewanee's vagrant
son returning from painful pilgrimage, sat at the right of Lady
Crandall; his pink face was glowing with humor. To Consul Reynolds,
who swore he would have to pay for thus neglecting his consulate for so
much as two hours, had fallen the honor of escorting Mrs. Sherman to
table. Willy Kimball, polished as to shirt bosom and sleek hair, had
eyes and ears for none but the blithe Kitty. Next to General Crandall
sat Jane Gerson, radiant in a dinner gown of tricky gauze overlaid on
silk. At her right was Captain Woodhouse, in proper uniform dinner
coat faced with red and gold. Of the whole company, Woodhouse alone
appeared constrained. The girl by his side had been cool in her
greeting that evening; to his conversational sallies she had answered
with indifference, and now at table she divided her favors between
General Crandall and the perky little consul across the table. It
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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