Here the tour of the Palace ended; and it must be remembered that the
Englishman had not gone the depth of three rooms into one flank. Acres
of building lay to the right of him, and above the lines of the terraces
he could see the tops of green trees. “Who knew how many gardens, such
as the Rang Bilas, were to be found in the Palace?” No one answered
directly, but all said that there were many. The warden gathered up his
keys, and locking each door behind him as he passed, led the way down to
earth. But before he had crossed the garden, the Englishman heard, deep
down in the bowels of the Palace, a woman’s voice singing, and the voice
rang as do voices in caves. All Palaces in India excepting dead ones,
such as that of Amber, are full of eyes. In some, as has been said, the
idea of being watched is stronger than in others. In Boondi Palace it
was overpowering--being far worse than in the green shuttered corridors
of Jodhpur. There were trap-doors on the tops of terraces, and windows
veiled in foliage, and bull’s eyes set low in unexpected walls, and many
other peep-holes and places of vantage. In the end, the Englishman
looked devoutly at the floor, but when the voice of the woman came up
from under his feet, he felt that there was nothing left for him but to
go. Yet, excepting only this voice, there was deep silence everywhere,
and nothing could be seen.
The warden returned to the Chutter Mahal to pick up a lost key. The
brass table of the planets was sighing softly to itself as it swung to
and fro in the wind. That was the last view of the interior of the
Palace, the empty court, and the swinging sighing _jantar_.
About two hours afterwards, when he had reached the other side of the
valley and seen the full extent of the buildings, the Englishman began
to realise first that he had not been taken through one-tenth of the
Palace; and secondly, that he would do well to measure its extent by
acres, in preference to meaner measures. But what made him blush hotly,
all alone among the tombs on the hill side, was the idea that he with
his ridiculous demands for eggs, firewood, and sweet drinking water,
should have clattered and chattered through any part of it at all.
He began to understand why Boondi does not encourage Englishmen.
XVIII.
_Of the Uncivilised Night and the Departure to Things Civilised.
Showing how a Friend may keep an Appointment too well._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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