The Translation of a Savage, Complete — John Shaqi
The Translation of a Savage, CompleteParker, Gilbert
General
The Translation of a Savage, Complete
Parker, Gilbert
England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Indians of North America -- Fiction; Married people -- Fiction
The journey from Liverpool to Greyhope was passed in comparative
silence. The Armours had a compartment to themselves, and they made
the Indian girl as comfortable as possible without self-consciousness,
without any artificial politeness. So far, what they had done was a
matter of duty, not of will; but they had done their duty naturally
all their lives, and it was natural to them now. They had no personal
feelings towards the girl one way or another, as yet. It was trying to
them that people stared into the compartment at different stations. It
presently dawned upon General Armour that it might also be trying
to their charge. Neither he nor his wife had taken into account the
possibility of the girl having feelings to be hurt. But he had noticed
Lali shrink visibly and flush slightly when some one stared harder
than usual, and this troubled him. It opened up a possibility. He began
indefinitely to see that they were not the only factors in the equation.
He was probably a little vexed that he had not seen it before; for
he wished to be a just man. He was wont to quote with more or less
austerity--chiefly the result of his professional life--this:
“For justice, all place a temple, and all season summer.”
And, man of war as he was, he had another saying which was much in his
mouth; and he lived up to it with considerable sincerity:
“Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues.”
He whispered to his wife. It would have been hard to tell from her look
what she thought of the matter, but presently she changed seats with
her husband, that he might, by holding his newspaper at a certain angle,
shield the girl from intrusive gazers.
At every station the same scene was enacted. And inquisitive people must
have been surprised to see how monotonously ordinary was the manner of
the three white people in the compartment. Suddenly, at a station near
London, General Armour gave a start, and used a strong expression under
his breath. Glancing at the “Marriage” column, he saw a notice to the
effect that on a certain day of a certain month, Francis Gilbert, the
son of General Joseph Armour, C.B., of Greyhope, Hertfordshire, and
Cavendish Square, was married to Lali, the daughter of Eye-of-the-Moon,
chief of the Bloods, at her father’s lodge in the Saskatchewan Valley.
This had been inserted by Frank Armour’s solicitor, according to his
instructions, on the day that the Aphrodite was due at Liverpool.
General Armour did not at first intend to show this to his wife, but on
second thought he did, because he knew she would eventually come to
know of it, and also because she saw that something had moved him.
She silently reached out her hand for the paper. He handed it to her,
pointing to the notice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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