Mr. Jervis, Vol. 3 (of 3)Croker, B. M. (Bithia Mary)
History
Mr. Jervis, Vol. 3 (of 3)
Croker, B. M. (Bithia Mary)
British -- India -- Fiction; India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947 -- Fiction; Mate selection -- Fiction
He went into Jervis’s room, the smaller and worst of the bedrooms, and
very plainly furnished. There was a bare camp bed, a rickety chest of
drawers, a washed-out dhurrie on the floor, also a long row of boots;
a couple of saddles on a stand, and a first-rate battery of guns--“a
double-barrel central-fire breach-loader, by Purdy, that will fetch
250 rupees; a 500 express, by Lancaster, 400 rupees; 8-bore rifle, 600
rupees; rook rifle, 100--say, 1300 rupees,” was his mental calculation.
When he had examined these, a parcel on the chest of drawers arrested
his attention; there was also a programme. He took it up and looked it
over; he was extremely inquisitive in such small matters. The card was
full, and opposite three dances were scribbled the initials “H. G.”
“Humph!” he muttered aloud. “So _that_ is going on!” And as his gaze
travelled to a ladylike parcel in silver paper--“What the dickens is
_this_?”
He promptly unrolled it, and beheld a most superior white ostrich
feather-fan, with the monogram H. G. on the handle. Captain Waring
unfurled it, fanned himself slowly, folded it up once more, and said--
“A feather shows how the wind blows, Mark my boy! Well, I’ll go over
to the club and hear what is going on, look up the mail steamers, and
offer your ponies and rifles, my fine fellow. You will have to come
home with me sooner than you think, and I’ll get great kudos from the
uncle for carrying you off from a dangerous entanglement--in other
words, from H. G.”
And Captain Waring sauntered out to the stables in a surprisingly good
humour.
“I’m sorry he has got the grey with him!” he muttered to himself;
“the grey is a long way the best of the three! The grey is worth five
hundred rupees.”
Strange to say, the grey, carrying his owner, arrived home that same
day about four o’clock, much to the bearer’s joy. His master spent the
afternoon packing, making arrangements, giving orders, writing letters.
He announced that he was going away again the next morning, and Jan
Mahomed and his son were to follow with all his baggage. In future he
would live with his father near Ramghur.
Jan Mahomed received this astounding piece of information in the usual
native fashion, merely with a stolid face and a long salaam.
Yes, his choice was made, the die cast, to Major Jervis’s intense
satisfaction, and to Fernandez Cardozo’s intense amazement. The former
had been ill, and had detained his son from an earlier return to Haddon
Hall to wind up his affairs, and open his letters, the latter including
one from his uncle, which had been lying on the writing-table for a
whole week. It said--
“DEAR MARK,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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