.ove. A Romance of the Defence of lucknow Qiarl.es E.Pearce LOVE BESIEGED "Don't leave the Prince. He'll think it so rude," she whispered sharply. [Page 20] LOVE BESIEGED A ROMANCE OF THE DEFENSE OF LUCKNOW BY CHARLES E. PEARCE AUTHOR OF 'THE BUNGALOW UNDER THE LAKK," AND "THE AMAZING DUCHESS" ILLUSTRATED BY H. S. DaLAY CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1911 Printed in Grtat Britain PREFACE MORE than half-a-century has passed since the Mutiny of 1857 shook the structure of our supremacy in India to its very foundations. The causes of the disaffection, the identity of the actual leaders, the methods of organisation, are as mysterious now as they were then. Time has done little to add to our knowledge of the native of India. He moves slowly and silently, he goes about his avocation apparently contented, he pays his taxes, and probably grumbles less than the average Englishman. So long as all is quiet, his rulers do not trouble; they are satisfied everything is well if nothing is seen. But the Eastern nature never changes. It is as it has ever been, subtle, secret, patient. No one at the time of the Mutiny was able to penetrate below the surface. The episode of the greased cartridges was but the spark which ignited the fuse. The fuse itself was invisible, the hands that laid it unknown. " Unrest in India " the words might almost be stereo- typed. From time to time a mist of doubt has arisen, has floated across the horizon, has melted away. Until two years ago, no serious importance was attached to simmer- 5 6 PREFACE ings of discontent. The events of the past two years, how- ever, show that this "unrest" has entered upon a new phase. Western education and training, grafted upon Eastern traditions, custom, character, religion, have intro- duced fresh dangers, the result of which no man can foresee. We in England must never forget the fixed, immutable characteristics of the Indian race. It is well, therefore, that the memory of the past should not be allowed to die out. This end I have had in view in selecting the Siege of Lucknow as the background of a story in which an attempt has been made to picture the circumstances and conditions of the time, the character and methods of the mutineers, the influence of caste, the treachery of which the native is capable and the loyalty which upon occasion he can show, and the heroism, the fortitude, the unflinching devotion of the defenders. For colour I have gone to the pages of Mr Commissioner Gubbins, Major Wilson, Colonel Inglis, whose graphic accounts glow with actuality. Colonel S. P. Malleson has, in his "History of the Indian Mutiny," brought together most of the salient facts in connection with the siege, and Mr Archibald Forbes' account of the entry of the relief force under Havelock can scarcely be bettered. To the authors of " Defence of Lucknow, by a Staff Officer," and "A Lady's Diary of the Siege " I am also under an obligation. A few words need to be said of Azimoolah Khan, the mysterious figure of whom I have ventured to give an im- PREFACE 7 perfect outline. The only historian of the Indian Mutiny who, so far as I know, has dealt with Azimoolah Khan is Lieutenant Mowbray Thomson, one of the survivors of the Cawnpore Massacre. Lieutenant Thomson writes, " Subtle, intriguing, politic, unscrupulous and bloodthirsty, the man betrayed no animosity to us until the outburst of the Mutiny, and then he became the presiding genius in the assault of Cawnpore." Lieutenant Thomson attributes to Azimoolah Khan the instigation of the rebellion. Nana Sahib, he asserts, was but a puppet in the crafty villain's hands, " for this Azimoolah was the actual murderer of our sisters and their babes." Lieutenant Thomson adds that when Havelock's men entered the Nana's palace at Bithoor they found piles of letters from leading society ladies in London unmistakable proofs of Azimoolah's fascination, and of his amazing duplicity. The words I have placed in the mouth of the club gossip's description of Azimoolah' his origin, and the object of his mission to England, are based on Lieutenant Thomson's statement. The end ot Azimoolah Khan, like that of his infamous confederate Nana Sahib, is buried in darkness. Taking advantage of the licence of romance, I have endeavoured to supply a solution of the mystery. CONTENTS PACK I. AZIMOOLAH KHAN . . . .11 II. SIGNS OF THE COMING STORM THE MYS- TERIOUS CHUPATTIES . . .27 III. THE STORM BURSTS . . . 45 IV. AT GUN FIRE . . . . 59 V. A LULL IN THE STORM . . . 80 VI. NURSE AND PATIENT . . . .90 VII. THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER . . . IOI VIII. IN THE RESIDENCY GARDEN . . .121 IX. THE FATAL DAY OF CHINHUT . .136 X. THE FIRST DAY OF THE SIEGE . .150 XI. AFTER LIFE'S FITFUL FEVER . . . 1 68 XII. HAWKE TRIES HIS LUCK . . . l8o XIII. THE FIRST SORTIE " BOB THE NAILER " . 195 XIV. A HOT ATTACK THE CRISIS OF THE SIEGE . 207 XV. THE ROYAL TALISMAN OF OUDH . . tl6 9 io CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE xvi. JEAN ATHERTON'S DARING . , .230 XVII. THE CRAFT OF MRS ROSS . , .239 xvin. HAWKE'S SECRET MISSION . , . 249 xix. KISMET! ..... 263 XX. IN THE SECRET PASSAGE . .278 XXI. CAPTAIN FULTON, THE REAL DEFENDER OF LUCKNOW ..... 293 XXII. AT LAST . , . . . 309 XXIII. RETRIBUTION . . . . .321 ILLUSTRATIONS "Don't leave the Prince. He'll think it so rude," she whispered sharply . . . Frontispiece "I thought Mrs. Ross would contrive to pay the poor water-carrier a visit," said the man, with a covert sneer . . . . 116 "Close shave !" said Hawke grimly . . 186 " Bravo, Fulton ! Glad to find you busy " . 288 LOVE BESIEGED CHAPTER I AZIMOOLAH KHAN ONE fine morning in the early spring of 1857, an open carriage, drawn by a couple of superb horses, was proceeding at a slow pace along the Mall, towards St James's Palace. In it were seated two ladies and a man, unmistakably an Oriental, even had he not been wearing the characteristic Hindoo headdress. The man's dark velvety eyes were fixed admiringly en the fresh fair face of the younger of the two ladies a graceful girl with large tender eyes, and masses of dark brown hair. The mouth was mobile and sensitive, the chin small and firmly rounded, the forehead broad, and the brows strongly marked. The lady at her side, who was twice her age, was of a totally different type. Handsome, certainly, but weak and vain, possibly frivolous. "And so you are about to visit my country, Miss Atherton," said the Oriental, addressing the younger lady, with a bow. " Yes," she answered. " I'm going to live with my father. He will meet me at Calcutta, and we shall continue the journey together up the Ganges to Ghazeepore. It will be so strange so wonderful to me. Of course it's familiar enough to you, Prince Azimoolah." ii 12 LOVE BESIEGED " Oh yes. Ah, you will like Ghazeepore the centre of the rose garden of India. Your roses in England are nothing like those of Ghazeepore, though you, Miss Atherton, can compare with any rose that India can boast." The compliment so direct would have sounded vulgar and commonplace but for the smooth, liquid voice in which it was expressed a voice which, for all its softness, sometimes uttered a jarring guttural note which suggested that Azimoolah Khan could on occasion speak in very different tones. " How nice of you, Prince, to say that ! " exclaimed the elder lady laughingly. " Don't you feel flattered, Jean?" Jean Atherton's brown eyes had lowered beneath the ardent gaze of the Oriental. She did not receive the flattery in very good part. "I'd rather not be flattered, Lady Constance," said she. " Flattery is not always sincere." " I agree with you," said the man, bending slightly forward, his eyes fixed on the girl's face. "What I said was not intended to be flattery. I hope, Miss Atherton, it is not a crime to express admiration of \vhat is beautiful. The women of my race " Prince Azimoolah suddenly stopped. The blare of trumpets had cut his honeyed speech in two. Then followed the shrill note of the fife, the peremptory rattle of the side drum. The startled horses reared, but were soon soothed by the coachman, who drew the carriage on one side of the road. A company of footguards was ap- proaching from St James's Palace. It was coming from the ceremony of the trooping of the colours. The soldiers, many of them Crimean warriors, swept AZIMOOLAH KHAN 13 by, their bayonets gleaming in the sunshine, their coats and bearskins suggesting a moving solid structure of red surmounted by a parapet of black. " How grandly they march ! " cried Jean, forgetting in her enthusiasm her momentary irritation. " And do they fight as grandly as they walk ? ** inquired the Prince. Azimoolah may not have intended the sneer in his voice, but intentionally or not it was there. "Your countrymen ought to be able to answer that question," was the quick answer. Prince Azimoolah laughed softly, but there was no mirth in the eyes. Their velvety aspect was gone, and a fierce glitter occupied its place. The drums and fifes ceased for a minute or so, and nothing was heard but the tramp of feet, as even and as regular as the sound of a great machine. Then the band burst into a joyous triumphant strain. The tone of the brass was pleasant enough, but not so weird, not so barbaric as that of the shrill fife, and the musketlike rattle of the side drums. The carriage proceeded towards St James's Palace. Azimoolah Khan ceased to pay compliments ceased his flow of small-talk. His eyes were fixed on the patch of red and black, gradually becoming less and less in the distance. Jean Atherton felt constrained to follow his gaze. She too watched the departing soldiers. Their regular tread could no longer be heard, though the band had stopped. A brief silence followed. Why should that silence suggest to Jean's imagination something vaguely sinister? Her heart seemed to beat more slowly, but only for a few seconds. The next minute the ear-piercing fife penetrated the air 14 LOVE BESIEGED again, shrill, insistent, not wailing. It was like a woman's call to arms, to be answered by the drums. The sounds died away. The carriage passed out of the park into Pall Mall. The windows of some of the clubhouses were open. At one was a group of retired Anglo-Indian officers, pensioned East India Company's officials, and others, tempted from the study of the newspapers to enjoy the fresh spring air and bright sunlight. " What's this trouble about the greased cartridges in India?" said an old gentleman, a county magnate up in town with his wife and daughter, for the pre- sentation of the latter at Court. " You've got Indian matters at your fingers' ends, General Patterson, I'd like to be posted up in the subject. Is the thing likely to become serious, as some of the newspapers seem to fear ? " "English newspapers know nothing about India. At the same time, the business must be handled carefully. I'll give you the story in a nutshell. You've heard about the new Enfield rifle of course. The top of the cartridge for this rifle has to be bitten off before insertion into the barrel. Now it's got about that bullocks' fat is used in the preparation of these cartridges, and as it's a grevious sin for the Hindoo to touch bullocks' fat, you can imagine the hubbub among the sepoys." " Very absurd all these religious prejudices," said the county magnate pompously. " I thought our missionaries were knocking that nonsense out of the natives." " My dear Hubbard, when you knock a Hindoo's religion out of him, you knock out his life as well. His religion is part of his life. You in England who AZIMOOLAH KHAN 15 save your religion up for Sundays don't understand that." "That's true," said a yellow-faced, shrivelled-up old gentleman, a director of the Honourable East India Company. " Now that we're on the subject, I'd like to read you an extract from a letter as to how the greased-cartridge trouble began. A soldier walking to his cooking place to prepare his food was met by a low caste man. The sepoy had with him his lopah, or brass pot, full of water and the low caste fellow asked for a drink. The soldier was a Brahmin. Said he : 'I have scoured my lopah. You will defile it by your touch.' The refusal annoyed the other, and he replied jeeringly : ' You think much of your caste, but wait a little. The sahib-log [the masterman] will make you bite cartridges soaked in fat, and then where will your caste be?' That's how the story goes, Mr Hubbard. Of course I don't know if it's true, but my corre- spondent says everybody in Calcutta is talking about it." " And is fat really used in making these cart- ridges ? " asked the county magnate. "I don't think that matters a rap," cut in the General impatiently. "If the fellows once get the idea into their heads, it'll be deuced hard to drive it out. I'm afraid there's something afoot deeper than greased cartridges. If my suspicions are correct, anything will do for an excuse to bring the discon- tent to a head." " Surely, General, you don't dread a revolt ! " ex- claimed the startled magnate. " A British soldier dreads nothing, sir," returned the General, a little nettled. " At the same time, he 1 6 LOVE BESIEGED ought to look matters fairly in the face. I'm not in the Company's service now, but I thought it my duty to lay my views before the directors the other day, and you know how I was received, Sir Oliver." " My dear General," rejoined the yellow-faced gentleman, " you were quite right to give us the benefit of your advice, but you're an alarmist, you know. A revolt amongst the native troops is un- thinkable. We've read 'em too many lessons in the past for that." " The past isn't the present," retorted the General. "The forward policy of Lord Dalhousie, with which of course I agree, though I don't like the way it was carried out, has placed a tremendous responsi- bility on the small British army which the East India Company has hitherto found sufficient. The addition of the kingdom of Oudh has made an enormous difference. There's a good deal of sullen dissatisfaction. It's known to exist in Lucknow. The failure of the King of Oudh to get any redress when he visited England last year hasn't done us any good with the natives but there, I won't be a prophet of evil. We shall pull through all right no doubt." " I should think so, indeed," said a retired Com- missioner. "This cartridge business will soon die out. We shall hear no more of it in a month or two's time. In any case, we haven't anything to be afraid of in the sepoys. What do you think, General ? " "Left to themselves, sir, they're not much. Officered by our fellows, they make splendid soldiers. I'm not afraid of the sepoys. I believe the majority are absolutely faithful. But behind them the subtle AZIMOOLAH KHAN 17 intriguers the silent plotters the Well by Jove ! " Everyone stared at the white-haired General. The transition in tone, in manner, was so sudden What had happened? He was staring into the street at the occupants of an open carriage. The carriage containing Prince Azimoolah, Lady Con- stance Harwood, and Jean Atherton had stopped opposite the clubhouse. Lady Constance had re- cognised a friend, a young man on the pavement, and he was standing at the side of the carriage talking to her. Azimoolah had his eyes turned towards the club- house. The rage of the old soldier seemed to amuse him mightily. He stared insolently into the open window. " Gad d'you see that black rascal ? " stormed the General. " I've a mind to drag him out of the carriage and give him a thrashing. Surely those women can't know who he is." " Eh what ? " exclaimed the magnate. " Surely you don't mean Prince Azimoolah. Why " "Prince? He's no more a prince than you are, sir," burst out the irate warrior. "Well, but he was introduced to me as Prince Azimoolah and by the very lady who's sitting in that carriage Lady Constance Harwood." "Then if Lady Constance doesn't know better, someone ought to tell her. Look here, the last time I saw that fellow he was a khitmutgar. If you don't know what a khitmutgar is, Mr Hubbard, I'll tell you. A khitmutgar's a waiter at table, a fellow you'd kick if he didn't attend to you properly. He's a devilish clever rascal, mind you knows 1 8 LOVE BESIEGED English and French thoroughly, and somehow became a teacher in the Cawnpore Government schools. I'd heard a Prince Azimoolah was in London two years ago, on behalf of that Seereck Dhoondoo Punth who now dubs himself Nana Sahib but I hadn't the least idea this so-called prince was Azimoolah Khan. Were you aware of it, Sir Oliver ? " "Not I," rejoined the director. "All I know is that when Nana Sahib aired his grievance against the Company, he sent yonder man to lay his case before the directors, and very well the fellow did it. Whether he's a prince or a khitmutgar, it can't affect the merits of the question." " Perhaps not," retorted the General, " but he's an impostor, and it's time he was exposed. I've heard of him buzzing about in the best society with the women actually running after him. By George, it's too bad. Look at Lady Constance. If the rascal were the Emperor of the French, she couldn't be more languishing. The girl sitting opposite the fellow doesn't seem so impressed thank goodness ! " The carriage by this time had moved, Azimoolah never shifting his insolent glance so long as he could look without trouble to himself. The talk about Nana Sahib of Cawnpore continued. Sir Oliver Markham, as a director of the East India Company, of course was well up in the history of the man whose name was afterwards to become a synonym for all that is ferocious and bloodthirsty. Nana Sahib, he explained, was the son of a corn- dealer of Poona. Bajee Rao, the last of the Mahratta kings, who was childless, adopted him as his heir. The British Government dethroned Bajee Rao and liberally pensioned him. When Bajee Rao AZIMOOLAH KHAN 19 died, Nana Sahib expected the pension would be continued. According to the Hindoo law, he was entitled to claim this, notwithstanding that he was not the son of the late King. The East India Company ignored the Hindoo law, and cut off the pension ; hence the object of Azimoolah Khan's visit to London. " And you say he argued the case well ? " asked the General. "Very well indeed. We all thought he was exceedingly plausible. Certainly his manners were charming. His first visit to England was soon after the death of Lord Raglan in the Crimea. I should like to know what's brought Azimoolah here again. We've seen nothing of him in Leadenhall Street. But of course he knows it's of no use coming. We refused to grant Nana Sahib his pension two years ago, and we certainly sha'n't reopen the question." The curiosity of Sir Oliver Markham as to the object of Azimoolah Khan's second visit to London was natural. Azimoolah Khan pretended it was the attractions of England, especially the attractions of the English ladies, which had brought him to London a second time. This was a falsehood. The failure of his negotiations with the East India Company had embittered him against England, and he returned to India breathing vengeance. He journeyed back to India via Constantinople, arriving there just when the prospects of the Crimean War were gloomy, and when the opinion was gaining ground in the East that the struggle with Russia had crippled the resources of England. On his arrival, he comforted the Nana for his disappointment by telling him the English were 20 LOVE BESIEGED ruined, and that one decisive blow would destroy their rule in the East. And then he set to work to foment rebellion. Meanwhile Lady Constance Harwood's carriage stopped in front of a house in Lowndes Square, and Azimoolah Khan assisted the ladies to alight. " You'll stay to lunch, Prince ? " said Lady Constance. A glancefullof meaning shot from her pale blue eyes. Azimoolah bowed assent. " How nice it is you're not a Hindoo," went on the lady. " I shouldn't know in the least what to give you to eat. And if I did, I suppose you'd lunch and dine by yourself?" Azimoolah's white teeth gleamed for an instant. He laughed grimly. He was a Mohammedan. It was clear Azimoolah received the invitation with intense pleasure. At lunch he was most agreeable, even fascinating. Jean Atherton was compelled to own this. But his charm of manner did not overcome her innate dislike of the man, and when Lady Constance rose she rose also. A frown went over her ladyship's insipid face. " Don't leave the Prince. He'll think it so rude," she whispered sharply. " But he's your friend, not mine," returned Jean. " I've no end of letters to write this afternoon, and I want to catch to-night's mail." " Oh, very well as you like." The acidity in the lady's voice crept in very easily. She was subject to what she called " nerves." She was readily irritated, and could not help showing her irritation. AZIMOOLAH KHAN 21 Jean's excuse was no fictitious one. She had been at boarding school until she was eighteen, and had hosts of friends among her schoolfellows. "Finishing" schools were an institution of the fifties. The very superior ladies who presided over these establishments had very superior ideas. As a rule they bowed down to rank and only tolerated wealth when it had not been acquired by shopkeeping. Mr Atherton, a widower, had to trust his daughter to the care of the Misses Dunkerley of Clapham and without a doubt these amiable if somewhat narrow- minded ladies fulfilled the trust faithfully, according to their lights. After Jean's stay at the " finishing " school, it was necessary to find someone to chaperon her. The period was that of the " young person." The " young person" has ceased to exist, and to-day Jean would have gone to a boarding house without any fuss or bother. Not so in the fifties. Girls of nineteen were supposed to be unable to look after themselves, so, in accordance with Mr Atherton's instructions, the Misses Dunkerley sought for some lady who for an " honorarium " would consent to take charge of Jean until the time of her departure arrived. The simple-minded ladies, firmly believing that anyone belonging to the aristocracy must necessarily possess all the virtues, thought themselves highly fortunate in securing the services of Lady Constance Harwood. No one could deny that she was the daughter of the Earl of Rockingham. If the Earl ran through his fortune and ended by breaking his neck in the hunting field, leaving little more than his entailed estates to represent his worldly possessions 22 LOVE BESIEGED that was not the fault of Lady Constance Harwood. But it was the reason why she condescended to take care of Jean Atherton. The lady might have had the bluest of blood, but she also had the slenderest of purses. Of course dear good Misses Dunkerley had not the slightest idea that Lady Constance Harwood was an inveterate gambler. Love of play ran in the blood of the Harwoods, and her ladyship, when luck went against her, had to live on her wits. Jean was not long in making this discovery, and it was always a puzzle to her how her ladyship con- trived to secure the best of everything, even when there was not the least prospect of paying for it. Whatever the solution of the problem might be, Lady Constance kept it to herself. Perhaps Azimoolah Khan could have thrown a little light on the mystery, in so far as the last six months were concerned. It was Lady Constance who introduced him into society. He was the lion she was only too glad to exhibit. She procured him invitations to balls, con certs, fetes, and the assemblies which served as " At Homes " half-a-century ago. Azimoolah Khan found Lady Constance very useful. The Nana had supplied him with unlimited funds, and Lady Constance for once in her life had the pleasurable experience of handling money, and of knowing that she could get more by asking for it. Her ladyship was always wanting more, so much so that Azimoolah Khan was beginning to show signs of reluctance. Lady Constance, anxious to keep the Indian in good humour, tried all she could to make use of Jean to this end. So shrewd a woman was not likely to be blind to the evident admiration AZIMOOLAH KHAN 23 Azimoolah had for the fresh young English girl. To-day her manoeuvres to leave Jean alone to entertain the Prince had failed. When after her defeat she returned to Azimoolah, her lips were white with rage. " You're disturbed, Lady Constance," said Azi- moolah smoothly. " Yes. You saw what happened. Why didn't you come to my assistance? I'm doing my best for you with her, but of course I dare not let her suspect anything. I thought you men of the East were rapid in your conquests." " Yes," returned Azimoolah, a hard glitter in his eyes, " when the time comes for conquest. We lay our plans beforehand, and we wait oh, for a long while, till we are quite ready." " And while you're waiting, someone intervenes. In six weeks' time Jean will start for India." "And I also." " You ? " cried Lady Constance angrily. " But you told me the other day you intended to stay in England for quite three months more." " So I thought. But my plans are altered. I shall travel in the same steamer as Miss Atherton. Do you understand ? " He smiled. Lady Constance bit her lips. Her sources of income were coming to an end sooner than she expected. " I suppose," she went on, a little ironically, " you would rather that Jean didn't know of your inten- tion. It would come better as a surprise, would it not?" "Yes as a pleasant surprise." " Then I musn't tell her " 24 LOVE BESIEGED The Indian fixed his eyes upon the lady. His penetrating gaze confused her. It was as much as to say, " How much do you want for holding your tongue?" " No, you musn't tell her," said he presently. " I fear you've been put to a great deal of trouble and expense in my interest lately. May I venture to acknowledge your services in some way?" " Really, Prince, already you've been most gener- ous," said the lady deprecatingly. Azimoolah shrugged his shoulders. He took from his pocket-book a bundle of banknotes and passed them to her across the table. It would have been bad taste to unfold them. Lady Constance contented herself with thanking Azimoolah, and left the notes on the table where he had placed them. The Indian rose to go. " It is understood silence ? " " Why, of course." The next Indian mail brought a letter from Mr Atherton to his daughter in which he said : " I shall be in Calcutta earlier than I expected, and you must come by the first steamer after you receive this letter." The letter arrived within a week after Lady Constance Harwood's compact with Azimoolah Khan. Lady Constance at once called at Azimoo- lah's hotel, to find that he had gone a journey. The hotel people believed he was at Brighton, but were not sure. At any rate he left no address and they did not know when he would return. Lady Constance waited three days, and during that time did all in her power to delay Jean. AZIMOOLAH KHAN 25 But the girl was determined. She was only too glad to get away from her ladyship and from Azimoolah Khan. The next P. & O. steamer left Southampton the following week, and she deter- mined to go by it. Nothing could turn her from her purpose. Lady Constance was almost angry at her obstinacy, but for the lady's anger Jean cared but little. She put it down to the fact that Lady Constance would lose her income by her departure. Her ladyship accompanied the girl to Waterloo Station, and parted from her there with an effusive- ness more fashionable than sincere. The following day Azimoolah Khan returned to the hotel. He found awaiting him a letter from Lady Constance Harwood, scolding him for leaving London at the very time when his presence was most needed. " I believe Jean Atherton is really inclined favourably towards you," wrote the lady. "You don't understand English girls. They are brought up to say no when they mean yes. You've lost your chance of becoming her compagnon de voyage. I helped you all I could, but I can't do impossi- bilities. You must follow up your conquest in India." At the end of the letter was a postscript : " I open this to tell you I have just heard that the steamer with Jean on board was delayed at Fal- mouth for a couple of days. Something wrong with the engines. By travelling via Marseilles, I'm told, you may join her at Cairo. But you must start at once." 26 LOVE BESIEGED He did not need her ladyship's hint. There were other motives besides the pursuit of Jean Atherton which hastened Azimoolah Khan's de- parture from England. The time was fast approach- ing when the long meditated blow which was to shake the English rule in India to its very founda- tions was to be struck. He hurried away ; to reach Cairo the day after Jean had departed. CHAPTER II SIGNS OF THE COMING STORM THE MYSTERIOUS CHUPATTIES THE scene was the deck of a Ganges steamer, pro- tected from the scorching rays of the sun by a substantial roof of wood. The picture beneath that roof was a pretty one, both in form and colour. A slim, graceful English girl, dressed in white, her little slippered feet resting on an Eastern rug of gorgeous tints and grotesque design, was resting in a deck-chair, an open book upon her lap. The man sitting at her side one could see at a glance was her father. He had the same refined features, the same deep-set, shining eyes, the same pitch of the voice. " Shall we reach Ghazeepore in good time do you think, papa?" " Yes ; we ought to unless we get stuck on a sand- bank a not at all unlikely thing. It's a pity we have to travel at this season of the year, or we might have gone straight up the Hooghly into the Ganges. As it is, we must go through the channels of the Sunderbunds and that will make a difference of nearly a thousand miles. But it doesn't much matter, everything moves slowly here." The Sunderbunds comprise the vast labyrinth of small islands, intersected by lagoons, that form the delta of the Ganges. 27 28 LOVE BESIEGED For six days the cumbrous steamer, dragging behind it a flat loaded with cargo, had been thread- ing tortuous streams steaming from one lagoon into another, until the eye became tired of the monotony of the perpetual verdure to be seen on either side. On the seventh day the vessel entered the Ganges. Hills were just visible in the distance, but the river itself glided through a dead level of country so level, indeed, that it was almost difficult to tell which way the current flowed. The cool breezes which swept over the vessel when it left Calcutta had long since died away. Now and again came the breath of the " hot wind," an omin- ous precursor of what was to follow later on. This "hot wind" was a new experience to Jean. It seemed to scorch everything it touched, and was loaded with a fine dust, filling eyes, ears, nostrils, and even pockets. The verdure of the delta gave place to long, wide stretches of white sand, looking in the glaring sunshine almost like snow. The river journey had, indeed, become terribly try- ing. What with the stifling heat and the attentions of the mosquitoes, it was almost impossible to sleep. From Patna to Ghazeepore, the journey was extremely tedious. It occupied nearly a week, the steamer grounding several times, and each time lying obstinately on its sandbank for hours. At Ghazeepore, where they landed, came a welcome change of scene from the eternal river and the narrow confines of the steamer. They were now in the dis- trict famed for its rose-water. Hundreds of acres of rose bushes were just bursting into flower, the air was pure and sweet, and there were not quite so many mosquitoes and flies. SIGNS OF THE COMING STORM 29 Jean Atherton was in good spirits, and quite ready for her new experience travelling by dak to Lucknow. At Ghazeepore they stayed at the house of Mr Gibson, a representative of the East India Company, and an old colleague of Mr Atherton, and it did not need much shrewdness on the part of Jean to note the sense of anxiety which seemed to pervade the household. Her father's manner was no longer that of the placid, well-to-do official, secure in the receipt of a large salary, and assured of a comfortable pen- sion for his declining days. He held long conversa- tions in an undertone with his host ; but of the nature of the talk Jean knew or understood nothing. Mr Atherton had had six months' leave of absence from Lucknow, and much had taken place in the interim. On the day following their arrival at Ghazeepore a curious circumstance transpired. Jean was out walking with her father and Mr Gibson in the early morning, when she saw a native accost another and place something formally in his hand. At the same moment Mr Gibson suddenly stopped speaking, in the middle of a sentence, and, stepping quickly across the road, passed close to the two natives. The natives immediately separated, and in a minute or two Mr Gibson rejoined Jean and her father. "Atherton," said Gibson abruptly, "did you see that?" " I did," returned Mr Atherton, in a low voice. " Was it the passing of the chupatties ? " "Yes. That fellow who handed the chupatty does not belong to Ghazeepore. He is a chowkedar [village policeman] of Buxar. I heard him say to 30 LOVE BESIEGED one man : ' Make ten more, and give two each to the nearest chowkedars, with the same orders.' " " I don't like that," said Mr Atherton uneasily. " Like it ? " exclaimed Gibson emphatically. "It's dam I beg your pardon, Miss Atherton deuced bad. I hope it doesn't mean mischief." Jean looked from one to the other. She saw alarm written in the faces of the two men. " Has anything happened, papa ? " she asked anxi- ously. " Oh no ; and nothing may happen. Those things which you saw the one man hand to the other were little unleavened cakes, called chupatties. They are eaten by every native from one end of India to the other. When there is something unusual imminent and the people have to be warned to be in readiness, these cakes are passed from hand to hand as you ob- served just now. These chupatties are only used by the civilians. In the case of soldiers, a lotus leaf is employed." " But I don't understand," said Jean. " You say the people are warned to be in readiness. In readi- ness for what ? " " Ah," returned her father, drawing a long breath, " if we only knew ! Gibson," said he, turning to his friend, " we must lose no time in getting to Lucknow. Sir Henry Lawrence ought to be told of this." " You're quite right, old friend. The dak shall be in readiness to-morrow morning." Mr Gibson was as good as his word, and the next day Jean found herself jolting towards Lucknow in a kind of palanquin running on four high wheels, and drawn by a single horse. Mr Atherton judged it prudent to disguise the SIGNS OF THE COMING STORM 31 truth no longer from his daughter, and for the first time Jean learned that all the Europeans in the stations and cities of the North- West Provinces were becoming conscious that grave trouble was impending, though from what quarter it would first proceed it was impossible to foresee. Jean and her father reached Lucknow in little more than a week. The journey should not have taken them so long, but the roads were bad, and the horses in ill condition. In spite of the benedictions maledictions, persuasions, and commands of the drivers, supplemented with a liberal application of whip-cord, not more than five and twenty miles could be covered in a dayf and Jean was heartily sick of travelling by dak by the time the towers of the palaces and the minarets of the mosques of Lucknow came in view. It was a gorgeous afternoon in the early part of May when they arrived in the capital, and at that season of the year the climate is very trying to Europeans. All the day the scorching rays of the sun had been terribly oppressive, and the wind seemed as though it had passed through a furnace. They approached the city from the south-east, skirting the beautiful park which surrounds Dilkoosha, the magnificent hunting-box, or country seat, built by Saadat AH Khan, King of Oudh. The sun had already begun to decline, and the white stone of the distant palaces, so dazzling in midday, was bathed in a crimson glow. The towers and pinnacles cast long, frowning shadows upon the ground. " In half-an-hour we shall be at home," said Mr Atherton. The heat of the day was over, and he was walking by the side of Jean's carriage. 32 LOVE BESIEGED The girl started. It seemed so strange that hence- forth her home should be in this glowing Oriental city, where the life of to-day was so strangely tinged by the poetry, the romance, the tradition, and the mysticism of the past. " Do you see that building on the right, with the tall column in front ? That is called ' La Martiniere, after the name of its founder, General Claude Martin, who eighty years ago was in the service of the King of Oudh," said Mr Atherton. The dak was stopped for a few moments, that Jean might view the building the better. Superb and impressive it certainly was, for the distance concealed the details of its fantastic and grotesque architecture. In front of the building, rising from the placid waters of the lake, was a lofty column, quite plain in its ornamentation in comparison with the barbaric luxuriance of the structure behind. The setting sun dyed the waters of a blood-red, the column threw a rigid shadow, black as ink, across the crimson. There was something sinister in the startling contrast of colour. Jean was strangely impressed. A feeling of uneasiness, almost of fore- boding, crept over her. Presently they crossed the Dilkoosha bridge, span- ning the canal. This canal, she noticed, had no water in it. It was simply a gigantic ditch with a sandy bed. " Ah," said her father, " that canal is a type of a good many things in India. It was commenced in the reign of one of the old kings of Oudh, and was intended to run from the Ganges for the purpose of irrigating the country between Lucknow and Cawn- pore. Only a few miles had been excavated when SIGNS OF THE COMING STORM 33 funds failed. The fact was, the contractors simply took all the money they could lay their hands upon and decamped. Honest, wasn't it? And so you see the reason of that dry ditch, which, so far as I know, is good for nothing." They were now in the city of Lucknow. The streets, long and narrow, were teeming with life. The picturesque costumes gave a wonderful anima- tion and picturesqueness to the scene. Unlike the Bengalese, the men of Oudh are often tall and stal- wart, and the women graceful and of noble carriage. There were many of these, and mingling with them were beggars of the vile and squalid aspect peculiar to the East. No city is more remarkable for the variety of its inhabitants and the mixed character of its architec- ture than Lucknow, and at every turn were scenes glowing with real Oriental vividness of colouring. Mr Atherton's house was not far from the Resi- dency, the headquarters of the Chief Commissioner, Sir Henry Lawrence. It was a bungalow of con- siderable size. When the carriage drew up in front of the verandah a host of servants, squatting in the shade, came forward with low salaams, and with noise and gesticulation began to unpack the luggage. "There's the household or at least a part of it," said Mr Atherton laughingly. " You must do your best to govern them, Jean. Hitherto I fancy they've governed me. You'll find they like their own way better than anything else in the world." Jean looked with dismay at the row of dusky faces, some grave, some smiling, and wondered how she should get on. Though she could speak a little c 34 LOVE BESIEGED Hindustani, she could scarcely say she was at home in the language. When at eight o'clock she went down to dinner the moon was shining with that clear, pale, silvery light seen only in the East. The lamps had not been lighted, for fear of attracting the mosquitoes and other pests of Indian life. Jean went into the verandah where her father was slowly pacing to and fro, his hands clasped behind him, his head bent in thought. She touched his arm. He started. " I haven't frightened you, have I, papa ? " "Frightened me? Of course not, my dear," he replied a little hesitatingly. " Come," said he, sud- denly changing his tone, "let us go into dinner. Our first meal in our own house must be a happy one." Atherton drew his daughter's hand within his arm, and led her into the room. It was flooded with moonlight and everything was almost as distinct as in the daytime. Whether from the strangeness of the scene, or the vague feeling of unrest which seemed to permeate the very atmosphere, or from her own sense of inexperience and insufficiency for the duties that awaited her, the fair girl sighed deeply as she seated herself for the repast, and her father, who read his own meaning into the wordless expression, looked down lovingly upon her, and seeing her mother in her face, stooped and kissed it with feelings which hovered betwixt hope and fear. A dinner by moonlight is an unnatural sort of thing. On Atherton clapping his hands, half-a- dozen servants, all barefooted, came in. While one SIGNS OF THE COMING STORM 35 man lit the lamps, others pulled down the blinds and drew the gauze curtains across the windows. Mr Atherton was full of talk during the dinner, but it seemed to the keen perception of his daughter that his gaiety was forced. Whenever there was a pause in the conversation, his eyes became uneasy and were fixed upon her with a look in them she had never seen before. She knew her father had been in the Residency since their arrival, and she wondered if he had heard any disquieting news. She hardly dared to ask him. "We ought to take stock of our domestics, and see how many we have really got," said he. "Just before I left for Calcutta I tried to reckon up. I found I had a head-bearer, a mate-bearer, six under- bearers, a cook, a gardener, a khansaman, or butler, three khitmutgars, a water-carrier, a washerman, a tailor, a coachman, two grooms, two grass-cutters, and two messengers. I fancy others have been added since. I must leave you to appoint your own women staff." "The ayah I brought from Calcutta ought to be enough for me, papa. I hate being fussed over by a host of servants," said Jean. Her father laughed. " My dear, you'll have to get used to that. The Hindoo believes firmly in a division of labour. The bearer the man, you know, who pulls the punkah * won't take a plate off the table for love or money ; and no power on earth will induce the khitmutgar, or waiter, to pull the punkah. So what are you to do?" Just then the sound of wheels and the tramp of a 36 LOVE BESIEGED horse was heard outside. A khitmutgar brought in a card. "Dr Lennard," exclaimed Mr Atherton. "Yes, show the doctor in." A young man, with a refined and intellectual rather than a handsome face, entered hastily. He paused a moment when he saw Jean, and bowed low. " My daughter Jean Dr Lennard," said Mr Atherton. " Why didn't you come earlier, Lennard, and dine with us?" he continued, when the introduction was complete. " I'd no intention of calling ; but, visiting a patient near here, he told me you had just arrived, so I thought I'd look you up." " That's right ; you'll be able to tell us the latest news. Jean must be posted up in Lucknow fashion- able gossip. She knows nobody yet. You're the first resident to whom she's been introduced." " I esteem it an honour," said the young man, with his grave eyes fixed earnestly on Jean's hand- some face. " I could have wished that Miss Atherton had arrived at any time but the present though, of course, the loss would have been ours." " It's very nice of you to say that, Dr Lennard," said Jean smilingly ; " but may I ask what is the matter with the present time? Papa's convinced that all fear of a disturbance is at an end, aren't you ? " She turned suddenly upon her father, and once more saw the uneasy expression which she had noticed before in his eyes. " All fear ? Yes, I think so I hope so," replied SIGNS OF THE COMING STORM 37 her father slowly. Then, with an abruptness which seemed to indicate that something was brooding in his mind, he said : " Lennard, what's this story about Dr Wells? I was at the Residency just now, and heard one or two men speaking of it, but couldn't get at the facts." " It's rather a serious business more serious than some seem to think. Dr Wells, as I daresay you know, is the surgeon of the 48th Native Infantry, and unintentionally he did what was rather an unfortunate thing. Having occasion to visit the medicine store of the hospital, and feeling at the time indisposed, he incautiously applied to his mouth a bottle containing a carminative. This bottle was taken from the hospital medicines and the regimental apothecary saw the act." " Put it to his mouth ? " cried Mr Atherton. " How confoundedly thoughtless ! " "You see, Miss Atherton," continued Lennard, turning to the girl, " this act was a defiance of the rules of Hindoo caste. No high-caste Hindoo could afterwards have partaken of the medicine contained in the polluted bottle. Under ordinary circumstances the incident might have been passed over as acci- dental, but just now everything is twisted to support the unlucky belief which has got abroad that we want to upset the Hindoo religion. It so happened, too, that the native apothecary who attended Dr Wells was unfortunately on bad terms with him, and immediately went and blurted out the thing among the sepoys in the hospital. Well, of course, there was a terrible bother." " And what was done?" said Mr Atherton, rising from his chair and pacing up and down the room. 38 LOVE BESIEGED " First of all there was an outcry, and not a patient would touch any medicine. Upon that Colonel Palmer assembled the native officers, and in their presence destroyed the bottle which Dr Wells had put to his lips, besides giving him a severe rebuke." " Colonel Palmer could hardly do more." " True : but the offence had been committed. The men took their physic ; but what happened ? Dr Wells' bungalow a few nights after was burnt down, and everything inside destroyed. Wells himself narrowly escaped with his life." " How wicked and revengeful ! " exclaimed Jean indignantly. " Were not the men who set fire to the house punished ? " " Their guilt could never be brought home to them. It was well known the incendiaries belonged to the 48th Regiment ; but as no proofs could be obtained, no punishment could be inflicted. They know in India how to keep secrets," said the young doctor, with, a grim smile. " It's terrible ! Why, no one's life is safe if so small a thing as this can lead to such frightful conse- quences," said the girl, fixing her large, liquid eyes on Lennard's face. " I shall have to be very careful I don't offend any of the servants ; they might burn this house down." " Oh, it's not quite so bad as that. You mustn't alarm yourself unnecessarily. Perhaps I ought not to have mentioned this matter before you." " Why not ? " cried Jean impulsively. " There can be no good in keeping me in the dark. I know it's the fashion for men to believe that women cannot bear misfortune, and that directly bad news comes we go into hysterics. They're wrong." SIGNS OF THE COMING STORM 39 " I am sure they are in your case ! " rejoined Len- nard, with emphasis. Jean coloured slightly at the glance of admiration which the doctor had directed towards her. The conversation had taken an unexpectedly personal turn. " You don't think, then, Dr Lennard, that women are cowards ? " " My experience has taught me just the reverse. In the majority of cases they bear pain better than men, and I believe in times of real danger they display a courage and heroism quite equal ; when peril assails anyone they love, women will sometimes dare more than men." " Is that really your opinion ? " cried Jean, her eyes glistening. " Yes. I only hope events won't put my opinion to the proof." The young doctor's manner, always earnest, took a solemnity of tone which was strangely impressive. It seemed to bring to Jean's mind all the forebodings and disquieting presentiments which at times weighed so heavily on her spirits. Lennard noticed her pensive expression. " I've made you sad, Miss Atherton. I didn't intend to play the part of the raven." " Lennard," said Mr Atherton, suddenly breaking into the conversation, " come to my room. I want to talk things over with you. You can amuse your- self while we are away, can't you, Jean ? There's the piano I had sent from Calcutta on purpose for you. See whether it's in decent tune." "Mr Atherton," said Lennard, in a low voice, " is it a private matter you wish to speak to me about ? " 40 LOVE BESIEGED " In a way, yes ; but not precisely so. I want to get from you some idea of the exact position of affairs here. You move about a good deal, you go among the natives, and you probably know more than the military authorities. I heard some very ugly rumours at the Residency this evening." " Very likely. I'll give you my candid opinion. Can't we talk here ? " " You forget Jean is fresh from England, and I don't want to frighten her." " You won't do that. I think Miss Atherton ought not to be left in the dark." " Eh ? Well, perhaps you're right," said Mr Atherton, after a pause. He was looking at Jean as he spoke, and noted her bright, eager, expressive, intelligent face. Before her arrival at Calcutta he had not seen his daughter for five years, when he spent his last leave of absence in England. In the interval she had, from a slim slip of a girl, blossomed into all the glory and grace of womanhood. Possibly when he suggested a private conversation with Dr Lennard, he had Jean in his mind as she had been. He was not yet accustomed to the Jean that was. " Jean dear," said he quietly, " Dr Lennard's about to tell us what has happened in Lucknow during the last few weeks." " I'm sorry that what I have to say isn't more pleasant," began Lennard, his eyes fixed upon Jean's eager face. " I'll put the story as briefly as I can. First came the episode of the medicine bottle. After this Sir Henry Lawrence began to take precautions, and these he now continues. The arrangements for the English troops were horribly inconvenient and unsafe. Sir Henry has altered all that, and, besides SIGNS OF THE COMING STORM 41 concentrating his forces, he is making the Residency defensible in the event of the worst. You noticed, Mr Atherton, I daresay, how all the huts and outbuildings close to the house have been cleared away." " Oh yes. I wondered what it meant." " That's to give sharpshooters no chance of cover. The astute old chap has been slaving from morning till night. He has laid in stores and ammunition, arranged for a constant water supply and had the treasure from the city and outlying stations moved to the Residency, and outworks are gradually being thrown up all round. Of course everything has to be done cautiously. The sepoys are terribly suspicious. In spite of the care taken, things came to a head on the 3rd of May, when the 7th Regiment of Oudh Irregular Infantry broke out. They first refused to bite the new cartridges. Then, after brooding over their grievances for a couple of days, they arrived at the amiable conclusion that they must kill their European officers. By Jove 1 Nothing but the coolness of Adjutant Mecham averted a horrible catastrophe." " Good heavens ! " cried Atherton. " It was this way. The men were all on the parade ground, and the officers were arguing with them, when Mecham was taken unawares by the mutineers, and told to prepare to die. ' Very well,' said he pluckily, ' you may kill me ; but what good will my death do to you ? Another adjutant will take my place, and you will be subjected to the same treatment you receive from me.' They seemed to be struck with the force of the reasoning, didn't injure him, and returned to their lines, but refused 42 LOVE BESIEGED to lay down their arms. Of course this insubordina- tion couldn't be tolerated. So that very night the 7th were ordered up by Sir Henry, and told to give up their weapons. They were surrounded by the 32nd Foot and a European battery, and they saw the wisdom of obeying. The next day the ring- leaders were arrested. Now to-morrow Sir Henry holds a durbar, when rewards will be given to those native officers who have given him information as to what is going on. That's all I can tell you." At that moment the voices of the servants sud- denly broke into the conversation, and a khitmutgar ran in, his arms upraised, and crying : " Sahib ! Sahib ! Bad news ! " " What do you mean ? What has happened ? " " Dhoonah Rah has just come from the bazaar. He's been told the soldiers at Meerut have risen and murdered their officers. The mem-sahibs, the children have been killed." " The women and the children. Impossible ! Dhoonah Rah is either telling you lies, or has himself been deceived ! " cried Atherton. The khitmutgar salaamed in a deprecatory manner. He was too polite to contradict his master, but it was evident he believed the story. " It can't be true ! It's too horrible ! Lennard, what do you think?" Lennard glanced at Jean, whose face had suddenly grown white. " No," said he stoutly ; " I don't believe the soldiers would be guilty of such atrocities. Besides, Meerut is two hundred miles away ; the news could scarcely reach us in so short a time." "I don't know that," said Atherton, a little SIGNS OF THE COMING STORM 43 agitatedly. " The native runners are fleet of foot. Intelligence is conveyed from village to village with incredible swiftness. There's but one thing to be done. You and I must go to the Residency and see Sir Henry. You don't mind being left alone for half-an-hour, Jean?" " No, papa," said the girl courageously. " You've said there's nothing to fear." Mr Atherton kissed his daughter, and hurried away with Dr Lennard. What a lifetime to Jean that short half-hour seemed ! She could settle down to nothing. She tried the piano. The sounds jarred upon her nerves. She took up a book. The letters danced before her eyes. Then she went into the verandah. Lucknow, stretching six miles along the banks of the Ganges, lay before her. The city seemed an endless vista of towers, pinnacles, cupolas, turrets, roofs of every size and shape sharply cutting the pale blue sky. The white stone, wherever the moonbeams fell upon it, looked like snow, the shadows were black as ebony. But save the whir of insects all was still. There was nothing to cause her the least fear. Yet she dared not leave the verandah. Somehow it seemed safer there than inside the house. She could see across the compound. If anyone approached, it could not be without her knowledge. And so the minutes passed till she saw, to her relief, the tall, spare form of her father, side by side with Lennard's more robust figure. She could not restrain her impatience. She ran to meet them. 44 LOVE BESIEGED " Is the news true ? " she cried anxiously. " Ah, I can see by your faces it is ! " Mr Atherton paused before he answered. Then drawing a deep breath, he said : " Too true unhappily, too true. It's time we in Lucknow looked to ourselves. To-morrow, by Sir Henry Lawrence's orders, all the European women and children are to take up their quarters in the Residency. We must make our preparations for moving to-night. But don't frighten yourself, my dear," he added hastily. " It doesn't follow from this order that we have anything to fear. Sir Henry is cautious, and likes to be prepared for emergencies. Take all the rest you can. We needn't start before daybreak, and that'll be in four hours' time." " And what will you do, papa ? " said she, placing her hand in his. " I shall sit here. I feel too restless to sleep." "Shall I stay, Atherton ? " asked Lennard. " I'd better see you to the Residency. I don't apprehend any danger, but I might be of service in case any- thing should happen," " Thanks, Lennard, you're a good fellow," rejoined Atherton heartily. The doctor's face brightened, not so much at the words of Mr Atherton as at the grateful look of thanks in the eloquent eyes of his daughter. CHAPTER III THE STORM BURSTS JEAN retired to her room, but she found it impos- sible to sleep. Tara, her ayah, was full of the news. She had been out into the bazaar, where the intelligence had spread like wildfire, exagger- ated, doubtless, by the fervid imagination of the natives. The girl gathered that the news had come to Lucknow from Agra, as all communication with Meerut was cut off. A private telegraphic message, sent by the sister of the Meerut postmaster to her aunt at Agra, postponing a visit as disturbances had broken out and officers had been killed, was the first intimation given that matters had taken a serious turn. The outbreak occurred about five o'clock on Sunday ; the message arrived at Agra at nine. From that hour all was blank. Towards morning after a fitful slumber Jean awoke with a start and a half-suppressed scream. Tara was moving about the room, making prepara- tions for their departure, and the pale grey light of dawn was stealing through the blinds. She rose, and dressed hastily, and joined her father and Lennard, when she found a pony carriage was in readiness at the door. " We can't take much luggage," said Mr Atherton. "Just a change or two of clothing. I don't suppose 45 46 LOVE BESIEGED we shall remain at the Residency more than a week," he added. So he thought, and so thought scores of others who at that moment were on the same errand as himself. Had they been told they were destined to be cooped up in the Residency walls for six months they would have laughed the idea to scorn. Lucknow seemed more picturesque than ever in the golden light of morning. The narrow streets were already beginning to be thronged, but no one took much notice of the pony carriage. They met other vehicles containing Europeans proceeding towards the Residency, and Atherton and Lennard exchanged greetings with their many friends, but nothing more. It was not safe to discuss their fears in the streets. The worst thing to do was to show any sign of timidity before the natives. At last they arrived at the outer wall enclosing a number of official buildings in the centre of which was the imposing and elegant structure which gave the name " The Residency " to the entire locality. The Residency itself contained a vast number of lofty and magnificently decorated rooms. Extensive verandahs and noble porticoes were among its ex- terior embellishments. Besides the accommodation afforded by a ground floor and two upper storeys, it possessed a tyekhana, or excavated suite of hand- some apartments, running under the whole super- structure, and designed to shelter the inmates from the intense heat of the -day. These apartments were well lighted and ventilated by shafts and basement windows. The extent of the ground occupied by the Residency may be imagined from the fact that from eight hundred to a thousand persons could THE STORM BURSTS 47 find accommodation within the building at one time. The Residency was situated on the highest point of an elevated and irregular plateau, sloping down sharply towards the river. At one of the angles of the structure was an octagonal dome-crowned tower. In the interior of this tower a spiral staircase of fine proportions led to the terraced roof, from which an extensive view of the whole city could be obtained. This tower was of the utmost use during the soul- stirring events which followed thick and fast after the month of May. Within the Residency all was confusion. Ladies and children were arriving every five minutes, and doing their best to locate themselves in various parts of the building. The accommodation, ample as it was, proved none too large, especially as one spacious room had to be converted into a sort of hospital ward for the sick men of the 32nd Regiment, who were being rapidly brought up in dhoolies. Every day showed Sir Henry Lawrence untiring in his exertions. He mixed personally among the native troops, and tried to find out their real feelings. He could discover nothing to cause alarm. Yet there might be disaffected men, and these he deter- mined to conciliate by holding a durbar, at which rewards and presents should be distributed. Not the least precaution did Sir Henry neglect. At once he began to concentrate the little European force at his command, and reduce the number of stations, so that in the event of an outbreak the Europeans might not be cut off in detail. "We had eight posts," he wrote on the 2Oth of May, to Sir Hugh Wheeler, who at Cavvnpore was 48 LOVE BESIEGED preparing for the worst. "As Sir C. Napier would say, we are like chips in porridge. We have given up four posts, and greatly strengthened three." The chief of these three posts was the Mutchee- bhawun. This fort, which derives its name of Mutchee (fish) from the device over the gateway, and Bhawun (Sanscrit for house), occupied a commanding position to the west of the city which it overlooked. Cannon was at once planted on its walls, and where that could not be done, the deficiency was supplied with "jingals," or immense blunderbusses moving on pivots. There is an old tradition that he who holds the Mutcheebhawun might in time of trouble safely reckon upon an army as numerous as the fish in the Gumti to rally round his standard. This tradition did not influence Sir Henry Lawrence. He was more inclined to believe in the assertion of the natives that, if the fire of our own guns did not bring down the place about our ears, the fire of an enemy would soon convert it into a ruin. It was very ancient and difficult to make secure. It was determined to convert this capacious edifice into a great storehouse and arsenal. Provisions of all kinds were brought and carefully stored in it. All the available ordnance and ammunition were collected and secured. The buildings surrounding the Residency, dangerous for the shelter they might afford an assailant, were demolished. Nothing but a regard for the religion of the natives induced Sir Henry to allow the mosques, from which a fire might be directed upon the Residency with terrible effect, to remain. He had before long occasion to bitterly repent his forbearance. THE STORM BURSTS 49 Within a week all the ladies and children were lodged in the Residency, and by degrees something like order was secured. The gardens in which the buildings were situated were spacious, and there was no need to go outside the walls for exercise. Despite the confirmation of the alarming news from Meerut, Sir Henry Lawrence resolved not to depart from his conciliatory policy, and the durbar was held as he had arranged, in front of the Resi- dency bungalow, in the cantonments about three miles from the city proper. The time chosen was sunset, and Sir Henry Lawrence, attended by all his military and civil officers, met the officers of the native army. Address- ing them in Hindustani, he appealed to their best feelings as soldiers and as comrades. It was an imposing scene. The lawn was carpeted ; the seats ranged for the visitors formed three sides of a square. Behind them stood groups of sepoys, eagerly watching the proceedings, and listening to the words which fell from the venerable chief. And visible to all were the dresses of honour and the trays of presents that were to be given to the faithful soldiers who had earned these rewards by their loyalty and devotion. The proceedings passed off quietly. The native officers were loud in their professions of devotion to the British Government, and it was hoped that all danger was at an end. The result was anxiously awaited by those in the Residency. Mr Atherton was jubilant. He had been present at the durbar, and was convinced that the troops as well as the officers had been completely won over. 50 LOVE BESIEGED He found his daughter and most of the other ladies in the tyekhana, the underground apartment already described, whither they had gone owing to the intense heat. " We shall be back in our own house in a day or two," he exclaimed. " Mr Martin Gubbins doesn't think so," said a tall, dark, handsome woman. Mr Martin Gubbins was the commissioner for Oudh. " Gubbins is an alarmist, Mrs Ross," returned Mr Atherton. " Why, he commenced fortifying his house long before Sir Henry thought it necessary to send you all into the Residency ; and wasn't he laughed at for doing it ? " " That may be," replied the lady, with a languorous air, " but Mr Gubbins is in a position to know best. He wouldn't have taken his precautions without good cause. I'm afraid the trouble isn't at an end. I suppose I may be allowed to know something about the Hindoo nature. When the storm breaks there'll be no warning, take my word for it ! " " My dear Mrs Ross, you'll alarm my daughter if you hold such gloomy views. You forget she's just come from England, and hasn't yet overcome the notion, which most new-comers have, that every native carries a knife concealed somewhere about him for the express purpose of murdering someone, preferably a European." " I never had such a foolish idea as that, papa," protested Jean. " Your father's only jesting," said Mrs Ross quietly. Mrs Ross had risen while speaking, and was now gazing out of the window into the Residency gardens. THE STORM BURSTS 51 " Here's Dr Lennard," said she suddenly, " I don't know what we should do without him. He has never omitted calling upon us twice a day to tell us the latest news. Somebody is with him, I " She stopped abruptly. Her lips went very white. She turned hastily from the window. Mr Atherton was standing where he could not see Mrs Ross. He did not hear what she said. In fact, he did not know she was near. " Who's the man walking with Lennard ? It looks uncommonly like Jack Hawke! But surely Captain Hawke wouldn't show his face in Lucknow ! " The man next Atherton nudged his arm. " Mrs Ross is close by," he whispered. Mr Atherton shrugged his shoulders and said nothing. He remembered the scandal associated with Captain Hawke and how nearly it touched Mrs Ross, to whose sister, Agnes, Hawke had been engaged. Mrs Ross walked away with a gesture of anger it was impossible to mistake. Jean heard her words. Mrs Ross interested her immensely. The tall hand- some woman handsome in spite of her somewhat sallow complexion suggested romance. The two men were now about thirty yards from the Residency, and Jean looked with curiosity at Lennard's companion. He was a handsome fellow whose sunburnt face was burnt to almost the same colour as his tawny hair and moustache. His figure was erect and firmly set, despite the fact that he walked with a slight limp. His uniform was torn and dusty, his boots cracked, and altogether he looked worn and travel-stained. Whatever was his character, outwardly he was picturesque. 52 LOVE BESIEGED Shortly after he came in with the surgeon. His reception was peculiar. He bowed to the ladies, but they acknowledged his salutation so frigidly it could scarcely be said to be an acknowledgment at all. One or two men pointedly turned their backs, and others pretended not to recognise him. "What did I tell you, Lennard?" he growled savagely. " Why did you persuade me to come here ? I was a fool ! I ought to have stayed in the cantonments. All my chums there haven't given me the cold shoulder. Isn't it deuced droll to find that the men gladdest to see me should be the black- skinned chaps the fellows of my old regiment?" " Not at all, Jack. They know the best side of you." "And my own countrymen its worst. Let's get out of this." But the doctor was loth to go. He had seen Jean, and the sight of her was to him like a spring of sparkling water to a thirsty traveller. All the pulses within him an impassive, unemotional man as he was were stirred by this girl as they had never been stirred before. " Wait a moment, Jack," Lennard whispered, " don't be in such a confounded hurry ! " Jack Hawke scarcely heard him. His face was as hard as flint, and his eyes, with a spark of sullen fierceness in them, were fixed upon Mrs Ross, who, after meeting his gaze for a couple of seconds, turned away abruptly, and soon after left the tyekhana. "Curse her!" Lennard heard him mutter. "But for that woman I might be holding up my head with the best." The young doctor pressed his arm sympathisingly. THE STORM BURSTS 53 "And so you can now," said Lennard. " I've but to tell the story of your doings for the past fortnight, and there's not a man who won't be proud to shake you by the hand, nor a woman who would refuse to kiss you." " Bah ! Don't talk of women. Mind, Ernest, not a word of the horrible business at Delhi." " If you wish it, I'll hold my tongue ; but it can't be kept a secret long, and then you'll be a hero. Atherton, you remember Captain Hawke ? " Lennard had by this time led him to where Jean was. " Yes, certainly," said Atherton frankly, extending his hand, and grasping Hawke's heartily. " Thank you, Mr Atherton, I've not forgotten that you stuck up for me at a time when it was with Jack Hawke a case of give a dog a bad name." " I know I know. The past is all buried. This isn't a time for certificates of good character. We want men who can fight. No one can fight harder than you, Captain Hawke." "By heaven, Atherton, you're right," cried Lennard, emphatically. Then Lennard turned to Jean with a somewhat embarrassed air. He shook hands with her, but said not a word concerning his companion, although it was obvious from Jean's expression she expected he would do so. Lennard looked very embarrassed, and cast a glance towards Mr Atherton, as if asking him to come to his rescue, but the magistrate remained quiescent. Meanwhile Hawke stood cap in hand, and, now that he was bare-headed, handsomer than ever, despite the cloud on his brow, and his tightly com- 54 LOVE BESIEGED pressed lips. He gave Jean one swift glance and then abruptly turned away, as if to relieve Lennard of all embarrassment. "I was an ass to come here I'm going back to the cantonments," he said in a low voice to the surgeon, "but you stay. I won't take you from your friends." " Wait one moment in the gardens," said Lennard hurriedly " Atherton and I will join you there. Will you excuse us, Miss Atherton? " " How troubled he looks," thought Jean, with a little bow of acquiescence. "Can anything have happened ? " She watched her father and the doctor walk away arm in arm. Jack Hawke had preceded them. " Miss Atherton," said a voice behind her. She turned and saw Mrs Ross. A singular change had come over the woman. Her countenance seemed convulsed with passion. " I hope Dr Lennard hasn't been so indiscreet as to introduce that man to you ? " she cried. "You mean Captain Hawke? No. But why not ? What is there against him ? " " Everything. He's a man no decent woman ought to know. Some day But I won't trouble you with an old scandal. I'm surprised Lennard should have brought him here. Thank heaven no harm's been done. His reception must have con- vinced him his conduct's neither forgotten nor for- given. I congratulate you, my dear, on your having escaped making the acquaintance of Captain Hawke.'' Before Jean could ask for an explanation Mrs Ross was gone, leaving the girl both pained and puzzled. THE STORM BURSTS 55 " I dared not introduce Jack Havvke to Miss Atherton," said Lennard to the magistrate as they walked across the tyekhana. " Had I acted accord- ing to my own opinion and judgment I should have had no hesitation in so doing ; but I left it for you to do so if you thought fit." "You were right," said the magistrate after a pause. " I really believe Hawke is innocent, but when a man acts as if he were guilty it wants some courage to go in the face of public opinion. At all events, at present I don't feel justified in recognising him to the extent of making him a friend of Jean's.'' " It doesn't very much matter," returned Lennard a little coldly. " Before long we shall need all the friends we can muster. We won't discuss Hawke now, but rather the frightful tidings he has brought. Atherton, it's horrible ! Delhi's in the hands of the rebels and they've been murdering right and left ! " " Great God ! It can't be true the miscreants ! " exclaimed Atherton. " It is true. Hawke escaped by a miracle, and reached here he scarcely knows how. For two days he carried a wounded comrade on his back. The man is now in the cantonment barracks, and will tell you much more of Hawke's pluck and endurance than you'll get out of Hawke himself." Jack Hawke was walking, or rather limping, slowly in front, and the magistrate, greatly moved, ran to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Hawke," he exclaimed, "tell me about about this horrible catastrophe. Is it so bad?" " It's as bad as it can be," answered Hawke, tugging savagely at his moustache. "Todd, of the Telegraph - office, Fraser, the Commissioner, Mr 56 LOVE BESIEGED Jennings and his daughter and Miss Clifford, Colonel Ripley, Captain Burrowes My God ! I can't go on with the list ; it's too awful ! " " My dear fellow, what do you mean ? " cried Mr Atherton. " What do I mean, man ? I mean that they're all dead murdered, butchered and scores more ! I shall never forget the sight never! Imagine seeing your comrades, men whom you had laughed and joked with in the morning, lying in the afternoon dead, side by side, some almost unrecognisable. What the man in command at Meerut can be about I can't conceive. Meerut's only a thirty-six miles' ride from Delhi, yet no one seems to have thought of sending on the news of the bad business there- The arrival of the mutinous sepoys, fresh from the murder of Colonel Finnis and the massacre of others men and women was the first intimation we had at Delhi that anything was wrong. Even then the devils might have been pursued. There were plenty of troops at Meerut to do it, but no one to give them orders." " But General Hewitt " "General Hewitt simply sat still. Don't talk of it. It's cruel cruel. The most ghastly thing in English history, and to think that it might have been prevented my God ! " " Still there were European troops in Delhi." " Oh yes, there were troops a mere handful ; but what could we do with a city seven miles in cir- cumference to defend, with enemies without and mutiny within?" "But you did something?" "Yes, we did something. Willoughby and his THE STORM BURSTS 57 eight men blew up the magazine, and sent a thousand or so of the devils to perdition. Scully, the plucky fellow who fired the train, perished in the explosion, and so did Sergeant Edwards. I wish I'd gone with them. No such luck. Lennard, old chap, I'm off to the cantonments. I shall see you later on. Good- bye, Mr Atherton." He strode away with the fierce hunger for revenge shining in his eyes. " He hasn't said a word about himself," cried Lennard. "That's just like Jack Hawke. I'll tell you what his comrade said. At the last moment his regiment, the 38th, turned against their officers. A few surrounded Major Abbott, who was very popular, and forced him out, shutting the main guard gate so that he shouldn't return and be killed. Hawke was among the officers left behind. He was about to make a jump from the ramparts into the ditch when he heard the scream of women. He and another man rushed back, rescued two ladies, and making a rope with their handkerchiefs, lowered them safely into the ditch. They made their way to the river and lay in hiding. Hawke was the only one of the party who could swim, and he got his friend and the two women across safely. Then after terrible priva- tions, to say nothing of being attacked by three troopers two of whom Hawke killed single-handed his friend was wounded and almost hors de combat they reached a village where the natives were friendly, and here the women were left indeed, they couldn't travel any farther and Hawke and his friend came on to Lucknow to bring the news." " How brave of him ! " Lennard started. Unperceived. Jean had joined 58 LOVE BESIEGED them. She was too anxious to remain any longer in the tyekhana. " Go back go back, Jean," said her father im- patiently, almost harshly. "Don't you know the danger of sunstroke?" The girl looked wistfully from her father to Lennard as if seeking an explanation from the latter ; the doctor was impassive. " I must insist, my dear," reiterated the magistrate. Jean did not contest the point, but slowly turned to the Residency with a disappointed look on her face. "The women had better not know of this fresh disaster," said Atherton. " It will only increase their apprehensions, though I still maintain there's nothing to fear in Lucknow." " I hope so," said Lennard curtly. " At all events, we may know more before to-night. I'm going now to see what gossip I can pick up. You know I've many friends among the bazaar people." They parted, the magistrate returning to the Residency, and the doctor passing into the city. CHAPTER IV AT GUN FIRE THE following day was Sunday, the 3Oth May a day ever to be remembered in the history of Luck- now. Everything went on with its usual routine. A religious service was held which all the European troops in the cantonments attended. Sir Henry Lawrence, as was his custom on Sunday evening, invited his staff to dine with him at the Residency bungalow. It was the quarter of an hour before dinner. Sir Henry Lawrence was surrounded by a group of officers who were talking eagerly on the position of affairs. Sir Henry took very little part in the con- versation, he preferred to listen. Lennard, who had been invited, was that evening more than usually impressed by the man upon whom so much depended. The sight of his attenuated but soldier-like form, the eyes already sunken with sleeplessness, the forehead furrowed with anxious thought, the soft hair cut short on the head, the long wavy beard descending to his breast, presented a noble and pathetic picture. Of all the men who came to the front, in that terribfe time, not one was so beloved as Sir Henry Lawrence. "Is it true?" exclaimed a young lieutenant, "that that unlucky beggar Jack Hawke has been seen in Lucknow?" 59 60 LOVE BESIEGED "Quite true," replied the adjutant of the 7ist. " I met him looking as if he had just come back from a tiger-hunt, and had had a severe mauling. I could get nothing out of him. He was inquiring for you, Sir Henry. Did he succeed in finding you?" " Yes," was the answer. " I saw him." Lennard watched the commissioner narrowly. Hawke must have made him acquainted with the horrible details of the Delhi murders, but by not the movement of a muscle did the staunch old man betray the possession of his knowledge. It was clear that besides Hawke and his comrade there were only three Europeans in Lucknow who at that moment knew of the Delhi tragedies. Those were Sir Henry Lawrence, Atherton and Lennard himself. The conversation suddenly turned upon Hawke. He was freely discussed, the majority lamenting that so promising a young fellow should have gone to the bad. Drink, betting, gambling, dissipation of various kinds Jack Hawke had indulged in all the social vices. A good many of the men had been Hawke's chums ; and so engrossing was the topic that it was con- tinued after the dinner was commenced. " It's the old story," said the adjutant. " A woman was at the bottom of his misfortunes. He was madly in love with Agnes D'Arcy, and they were engaged. Then she jilted him, and he went to the devil as fast as he could." " Didn't he pay a great deal of attention to that pretty widow, Mrs Sandilands, at the time he was engaged to Miss D'Arcy?" asked Major Walters of the 1 3th Native Infantry. "What of that?" exclaimed the adjutant. "Mrs AT GUN FIRE 61 Sandilands was an awful flirt, and all the fellows went mad over her." " But," said Colonel Lambert, " nothing excuses his dishonourable and shameful act afterwards. I mean the writing of the anonymous letters to George Holcombe, who married Agnes D'Arcy." " That was never proved against him, and he denied it," said the adjutant. " Well, the handwriting was exactly like his. His own orderly swore he posted the letters for his master, and when Holcombe challenged Hawke, he refused to fight." " That wasn't because he was afraid of losing Jack Hawke's one of the best swordsmen in the service, and a crack shot besides," put in Lieutenant Savage of the 7 1st. "Hang it all," said the pompous colonel, "he was glad enough to exchange into another regiment and get out of Lucknow. That doesn't look like innocence. I hope I sha'n't have to meet him : I shall feel bound to give him a piece of my mind." " How generous," whispered a pert young ensign to his neighbour, " considering how little he has to give." Sir Henry Lawrence was apparently either in- different to this talk or he did not hear it. He was engaged in an earnest conversation with Lennard. Colonel Lambert had just expressed his determina- tion of acting the part of the censor when the door opened, and in walked the very man about whom they had been talking Jack Hawke. The wagging of tongues instantly ceased. Half of the diners looked at Hawke, the other half at Sir Henry Lawrence. 62 LOVE BESIEGED The latter rose and, beckoning to the new-comer, said : " Captain Hawke, will you come to this end of the table ? I've had a seat reserved for you." " A slap in the face for Lambert," muttered the ensign. " What will he do now ? " The colonel did what was wisest under the cir- cumstances he held his tongue. Hawke three hours before had reported himself to Sir Henry, and the latter had sent him to make cautious inquiries as to the state of affairs. A better man than Jack Hawke could not have been selected for the duty. Before he had been transferred to the 38th Native Infantry he was a captain in the 7ist, stationed at Lucknow and idolised by his men. But this was some time since. The 7lst were now regarded by Sir Henry Lawrence with considerable suspicion. And, indeed, but a few days before Hawke's arrival, a number of the sepoys belonging to the regiment had been removed from the Mutchee- bhawun on account of their suspected disaffection, and were stationed in the city. " Well, have you found out anything, Hawke ? " said Sir Henry in a low voice when Jack was seated. " Yes. A man of my old company told me that at gun fire the signal to mutiny would be given." Sir Henry heard this disquieting piece of news with perfect equanimity. " And what did you answer? " he asked. " I laughed ; but all the same, made inquiries else- where to see if I could find any confirmation, but I could learn nothing. Anyhow, the fellow was so AT GUN FIRE 63 positive, I'm afraid there's something in it. Have you any commands for me, Sir Henry ? " " Only that you should make a good dinner. You have a good deal of leeway to make up in that direction," said Sir Henry, with a kindly smile. Hawke made no reply, but fell to, heedless of the astonished glances which were directed towards him from all sides. Gun fire was at nine o'clock, and swiftly the minutes went by, then in the midst of the talk came the sullen boom of a single cannon. Sir Henry leaned forward, and said almost jest- ingly to Hawke : " Your friends are not punctual." Scarcely were the words out of his mouth when the rattle of musketry shook the bungalow. The Mutiny in Lucknow had begun. At the sound of that volley, the ominous meaning of which all knew, Sir Henry Lawrence sprang to his feet, as did the officers. " Gentlemen," he cried, " if we have coolness and courage, it is now the time to show both. Each one knows his duty. To the lines." Not an instant was to be lost. Already a young lieutenant had rushed to the stables to hurry round the horses. Lennard turned and looked at Jack Hawke. Hawke's face was that of a man who had nerved himself to do some terrible deed. " Lennard," he muttered hoarsely, " I've been through the horrors of Delhi. I know what these devils will do if they once lose their heads. I've got a long score to wipe out in blood before I shall be satisfied. If they'd only stayed their hand when 64 LOVE BESIEGED they came to the women ! But they didn't and the poor little youngsters too. What about the Residency is it safe ? " "Yes, I feel sure it is at least, for the present. Sir Henry has taken care of that." " He's a brick. There's one woman there whom I hate, but I suppose I should save her life, even though she mightn't thank me. There's another well, I know little about her ; but I think she'd be worth dying for the girl that neither you nor her father would introduce me to, and you were quite right. Everybody knows I'm a blackguard, but blackguards can sometimes fight. I wonder if Sir Henry has a spare mount for me? If not, I can walk." Hawke spoke in jerks. His manner almost sug- gested he was talking to himself rather than to Lennard. Meanwhile the two were crowding out with the staff to the verandah, where Sir Henry was awaiting his horse. The moon was shining brilliantly, and everything bushes, trees and buildings stood out with micro- scopic sharpness. The volley of musketry had been succeeded by a few dropping shots, but now there was a pause of silence, the significance of which no one could fathom. Suddenly fierce shouts of exultation were heard in the distance, and the next moment a tongue of flame shot into the air, followed by another and another. It was the firing of the mess-house bungalow, and the dry wood crackled and blazed with fury. Sir Henry and his staff were standing in the full glare of the fierce ruddy light, and all their faces were recognisable. At that very moment the soubadhar of the sepoy guard on duty for the night at the AT GUN FIRE 65 Residency bungalow brought up his men, and halted them facing the group of officers under the verandah. This, of course, was only in the ordinary course of things, but to-night in the light of that blazing bungalow, which was signalling to the million in- habitants of the city that rebellion had broken out, who could say what it might mean ? Going up to Captain Wilson and saluting him, the soubadhar said : " Shall I order the guard to load with ball ? " Captain Wilson would not take upon himself to decide such a point at so critical a period. "Are the men to load with ball, Sir Henry?" said he, turning to the commissioner. Sir Henry Lawrence answered without a moment's hesitation : " Yes, let them load." " My God," said Hawke in a low voice, " that's plucky. He trusts them. Well, perhaps it's the right thing." The loading then began, Sir Henry and the officers standing motionless as statues in the glare of the fire. The thud of ramming down the cartridges was distinctly heard, and sounded like a menace. Then the sepoys brought their muskets to the capping position. The caps were adjusted. What was to happen next? All waited in anxious suspense. Sir Henry Lawrence and other responsible mili- tary chiefs of the British force were at the mercy of these men. One bolder than the rest, with the spirit of rebellion at his heart, could at that moment have decided the fate of the city, and the fate of those who from the upper windows of the Residency were E 66 LOVE BESIEGED anxiously watching the red angry glare to the north- ward, and tremblingly listening for a renewal of the firing. There was not one of these calm European men standing within the portico of the Residency who did not feel that their lives hung upon the merest chance. But not an action, not a gesture, not a word betrayed what was in their minds. The capping was finished, the last movement would decide the point. The word of command rang out sharply. The guard shouldered their rifles. They marched to their posts. The crisis was past. The next moment the horses arrived, and Sir Henry swung himself into the saddle. Then, fol- lowed by his staff, he started for the lines. At first it was thought that the ringleaders of the outbreak were the disaffected men of the ?ist Native Infantry, who, as already mentioned, had been re- moved from the Mutcheebhawun to the city. This proved to be not so. The real instigators were the men of another company of the same regiment in the cantonments. These turned out and commenced firing, while a body of about forty made straight for the mess-house, ransacked it and set it on fire. The officers were everywhere on the alert. Hearing the volley they at once left their messes, and rushed to the lines to try and reason with the men. All this happened simultaneously with the departure of Sir Henry Lawrence and his staff from the Residency bungalow. Lennard and Hawke were left standing beneath the verandah. They watched the officers gallop away, and not until the party had skirted a line of AT GUN FIRE 67 buildings on the left, and were lost to sight, did the two men speak. " We're in for it now, Lennard," said Hawke, draw- ing a deep breath. " I'm off to the stables. If I can find a horse I won't be left out in the cold when fighting's to be done." Without waiting for Lennard's reply, Jack Hawke strode away. The young doctor stood vaguely watching the flickering flames. Hawke's reference to Jean Atherton as a girl worth dying for was still in his memory. "Worth dying for?" he muttered. "Yes a thousand times yes. But better worth living for. If Jack Hawke should fall in love with her, and she with him, what chance have I ? Jack pretends to despise women. That's all moonshine. And she well, women don't altogether dislike a handsome reprobate. She said ' How brave of him.' And it was my praise of Jack which caused her to utter the words." He spoke aloud with a bitterness in his voice he could not repress. " Bah," he continued, almost fiercely, " what does it matter? Maybe all that either Hawke or I can do will be to die for her." A rapid step on the verandah caused him to turn. It was Hawke. " All the horses are gone," cried the latter. " What are you going to do ? " asked the doctor. " How can 1 tell ? I can't stop here anyway. Perhaps my old company of the /ist may listen to me. They would once, I'll swear. It would be funny if the man who was almost drummed out of 68 LOVE BESIEGED Lucknow turned out to be of use, wouldn't it? What will you do stay here ? " " No," said Lennard slowly. " I shall try and get to the Residency. The women will be anxious to know what's going on. I may be able to ascertain something on the way." " The Residency," exclaimed Hawke, twisting his moustache. " Yes, you're right. Lennard," he added after a pause, " each of us carries his life in his hands. If you should never see me again, say a good word for me to that brown-eyed little girl. She will probably hear a few lies from Mrs Ross about Jack Hawke, and I should like her to know the truth." " Do you mean Jean Atherton ? " said Lennard huskily. " Yes. I can't explain why, Lennard ; but I swear to you that when I looked into the soft eyes of that girl I felt as though I had been seeking her all my life, and had at last found her." Lennard made no reply. He understood Hawke perfectly. He had had the same feeling himself. At that moment the sharp rattle of musketry fire awoke the echoes. "Musical, isn't it?" cried Hawke. "What busi- ness have I to be standing here talking like a love- sick fool when there's work to be done ? Good-bye old chap." And turning abruptly, he rushed into the night. The cantonments were northward of the city and to get to the latter Lennard would have to cross the bridge over the River Gumti. The Residency lay a little to the left of the bridge. Cautiously he proceeded. It was a night of doubt, AT GUN FIRE 69 distrust, chaos. No one knew exactly the extent of the disaffection. The majority of the 7ist were not to be relied upon, but a faithful few had not wavered in their allegiance. But there were the 48th, the I3th, the 7th Light cavalry at Mudkheepore, about three miles away from the cantonments, to be reckoned with also- All the force that Sir Henry Lawrence had was a portion of one solitary regiment of British soldiers the 32nd. The Europeans, military and civil, amounted to about 900, of whom only 300 were soldiers, and this handful might have to engage in a hand-to-hand struggle with over 4000 troops, fully equipped and trained to arms by European officers. When Sir Henry Lawrence rode from the Residency bungalow that night to quell, if possible, the rising storm, he knew full well the formidable task which lay before him. On the very afternoon of the 3Oth, some six hours before the volley of musketry gave the signal for the sepoys to rise, he wrote to Mr Raikes, judge at Agra. " If the Commander-in-Chief delay much longer, he may have to recover Cawnpore, Lucknow, Allahabad indeed, all down to Calcutta. While we are entrenching two posts in the city i.e. the Residency and the Mutcheebhawun we are virtually besieging four regiments (in a quiet way) with 300 Europeans. Not a very pleasant diversion from my civil duties. I am daily in the town four miles off for some hours ; but I reside in the cantonments, guarded by the gentlemen we are besieging." Lennard knew the terrible situation quite as well as if he had read the Commissioner's letter. And as he cast his eyes round, and saw a circle of fire 70 LOVE BESIEGED gradually gathering, he shuddered. He knew that Lucknow had been drawn into the vortex of rebellion. On all sides the officers' bungalows were being fired. A hailstorm of musketry shots, now near, now far away, seemed to be descending. The fierce shouts mingled together sounded like the roar of an angry sea. Yet he almost reached the lines of the 7ist without meeting a soul. It was only when he was within five hundred yards or so of the native barracks that he heard the sound of a horse's hoofs and the jingling of arms and accoutrements. Were they friends or foes ? The next half minute decided the question. That solid tramp, tramp could not belong to the sepoys. It was the march of the British soldiers. The commander now came in sight. Lennard at once recognised him. It was Brigadier Handscomb, as fine an old soldier as ever put on uniform. A com- pany of the 32nd followed him, and they came on at the double. At the same moment appeared a mass of dusky heads and white uniforms from the lines of the 7ist. An angry yell burst from them, but they did not advance. They had a wholesome dread of the Europeans, even though they outnumbered the little force by ten to one. " Fix bayonets ! " The words rang out in the still air with a sharp metallic sound. Lennard could see that the men of the 32nd could hardly restrain their impatience. " Gently, my lads," cried the old brigadier, half turning round in his saddle. " Not a man must stir till the order is given. You might kill friends." AT GUN FIRE 71 The soldiers stood firm, and the brigadier rode ahead to address the mutineers. He had scarcely ridden twenty yards before a flash ran along the line of the sepoys with the rapidity of a fuse. A hundred muskets were emptied, and the old commander was seen to fall from his horse. He was shot dead, riddled by a score of bullets. "Charge, my lads," shouted the officer second in command, almost beside himself with grief and rage. "No quarter to the murderous devils. What! you, Lennard ? For heaven's sake see to the Brigadier, though I fear it's all up with him." Waving his sword, the young officer bounded away after his men. They needed no leading. They were mad to avenge the death of their chief. " Dead dead," muttered Lennard, as he bent over the corpse of the old man. "The first victim in Lucknow. How many more will follow?" The doctor dragged the body of the brigadier to a place of safety for burial on the morrow he could do no more and hastened onwards. Meanwhile, the little band of the 32nd, with a yell of fury, dashed forward. The sepoys turned tail, and made haste to join their comrades, who had concentrated themselves to the extreme right of the lines. From here they intended to march to the city, but Sir Henry Lawrence had been one too many for them. He saw from the first the importance of preventing, as far as possible, communication between the mutineers outside and the budmashery that is, the bad and turbulent, the very scum of Lucknow. On leaving the Residency bungalow, Sir Henry took with him two guns and a company of the 32nd to 72 LOVE BESIEGED occupy the road leading from the cantonments to the bridge. Towards this point the 7 1st, mad with the taste of blood, rushed and opened a hot musketry fire. They were received with a deadly discharge of grape. Desisting at once from the attack, they returned to their lines, passing the infantry picket, composed of natives and commanded by Lieutenant Grant. When the picket saw their comrades hurrying by in a kind of delirium, shouting, yelling, firing their muskets at random, they were seized with the in- fection of excitement. The soubadhar was one of the few who kept his head cool. " Hoozur hoozur," he cried to Lieutenant Grant " Come with me. They mean to kill you." "Let them," cried Grant firmly. "I shall stay where I am." " No no. What can you do among so many ? Come to my quarters," pleaded the man. The sepoys in the darkness had not seen Grant But it was scarcely possible he could escape without attracting notice. He trusted the soubadhar, and followed him into the bungalow. Scarcely was he in one of the rooms before the mutineers were heard in the verandah. "Under the charpoy " (native four-legged bedstead), whispered the soubadhar. The infuriated mob rushed in. "You are too late, brothers," cried the soubadhar. " the hoozur has escaped." " Nur Singh lies," cried the havildar of the picket. " The hoozur is there." AT GUN FIRE 73 The wretch pointed to the charpoy. With a yell of brutal triumph, a score of men rushed at the bedstead. In a second it was over- turned. Bayonet and sword finished the bloodthirsty work. In the middle of the butchery came a pistol shot fired through the open window of the bungalow. The havildar, red with the blood of his victim, with a malignant grin on his fiendish countenance, dropped like a stone, shot through the head. In a moment the sepoys stayed their hacking and slashing, though this mattered little to the murdered officer, and looked with scared faces at each other. The death of the havildar seemed like the punishment of Heaven. Then, recovering themselves, they rushed out of the bungalow. But those outside could tell them nothing. They had heard the shot, but that was all. While the sepoys were running hither and thither, thrusting their bayonets into the thickets and yelling like very maniacs, Jack Hawke was creeping through the long grass at the back of the bungalow. It was he who had shot the havildar. " You devils," he muttered half aloud. " My own men too. I know them every one. I would have showed myself, but to what end? It was too late. They'd got the blood fever on them. They were seeing red." This was quite true. Jack knew the native tempera- ment thoroughly. " Anyhow, there's one rascal less in the world," he continued with a grim smile. "That dastardly havildar will murder no more." He crept rapidly, like one who was well acquainted 74 LOVE BESIEGED with the ground, and knew the point he was aiming for. A very few minutes brought him to the road. The moonlight showed about fifty men coming towards him, and Hawke shrank back into the grass till he had made out who they were. He soon determined, from their carriage and long, easy strides, they were Sikhs. He waited till they were within a dozen yards or so, and then emerged from his concealment. He saw they were commanded by a European officer. " Who goes there ? " called out the latter. " No stranger to you, Loughnan. I'm Jack Hawke." " What, dear old Jack? It can't be. Hawke's in Delhi." " He was, old chap. Never mind explanations now ; what's the game ? " " The rascally traitors of the 7 1st have secured the treasure and the colours ; but they won't have them long." " Not if John Loughnan's on their tract. I'm with you. Have you a spare sword ? " Loughnan turned round quickly, and taking a tulwar from one of the men, handed it to Hawke. " It won't be the first time you've made a stroke with a tulwar," said he. " Nor the last, I hope," returned Hawke. They wasted no time. While they were talking they were hurrying on to the cantonments, which now seemed one mass of flame. The officers' bungalows had been fired in every direction indeed, as was discovered the next day, only the Residency bungalow and one or two more escaped. " The crash has come at last, Hawke," said Lieu- tenant Loughnan. " We've been expecting it for the AT GUN FIRE 75 last three weeks. I'm not sorry ; we've had a dog's life." " How ? " " You know the regulation ordering all the officers to sleep in the native lines. The object was, of course, to prevent or check conspiracy, and show confidence in the sepoys." "Confidence in the tiger," broke in Hawke abruptly. " Exactly much about the same thing. The regulation was a stupid farce. As if the men couldn't conspire and plot and intrigue just as well when we were present as when we were absent. All it did was to keep us in a state of constant worry. You know Farquhar of the 7th Cavalry ? " " I remember him." " He wrote home the other day, and he showed me the letter ; and by heaven, every word he says is true. I only hope some newspaper in England will get hold of his letter and print it. He tells how all the officers of each regiment have had to sleep together armed to the teeth, and two or three of each regiment had to remain awake, taking two hours at a time, to watch over our men. That's what we've had to do for the last month ; and by Jove, we kept the watches strictly, you bet, when our throats depended on it. I've slept in my clothes every night for a fortnight, and I'm jolly well sick of it." " I know," growled Hawke. " And yet, I suppose, some red tape, doddering fool at Calcutta, squatting in his armchair, will want to know why you didn't disarm the native regiments." "Disarm? How the devil could we? If we'd a couple of European regiments and a few more guns 76 LOVE BESIEGED we might have tried the game ; but as we were rot!" They talked on in a low voice, for they did not want the Sikhs to hear not that there was much danger of their being understood even if their words reached the ears of the men. Still, it was best to be on the safe side. " For two pins," said Loughnan, giving a half glance round, " my men would cut and join in the general scramble for plunder. The Sikhs are born looters. I've had to promise them handsome presents if we succeed in saving the treasure-chest." They had now entered the main street of the cantonments. On each side bungalows were burn- ing. The contents which were at all portable were scattered on the ground. They would not remain there long. The camp followers, the villagers and the budmash, with which Lucknow swarmed would soon be on the scene of the plunder. A few sepoys were about, but they were too busy making off with booty to trouble about Loughnan and his Sikhs. " This way, Jack. The bungalow containing the treasure is on the right. By Jove, we're in time," Loughnan muttered. It had not been set on fire, but was filled with armed men, who were shouting and quarrelling over the division of the spoil. Loughnan posted twenty of his men within the verandah, so as to command the windows. The rest he led softly within the doorway. Jack Hawke was by his side. Loughnan's idea was to discharge a volley of musketry within the room. This he expected would drive the sepoys to the windows. AT GUN FIRE 77 "Half-a-dozen of you kneel," he whispered, "the rest fire over the others' heads. Now." The interior consisted of a suite of three rooms. Probably there were at least a hundred men scattered about. At the discharge of the muskets they gave a hideous yell. Some, unarmed, sought the windows, others rushed to seize their muskets, which they had laid down so as to seize the spoil the readier. The next moment Loughnan and Hawke, followed by their men, dashed in. A fierce hand-to-hand combat ensued. The sepoys had no stomach for fighting. Most of them, seizing what coin they could, fled. The treasure-chest containing the money for the payment of the troops had been forced open, and was lying in the middle of the centre room. Not far off was the dead body of a young English officer He had given up his life rather than desert his post. " Poor Fitzgerald ! " muttered Loughnan, stopping a moment. " He was engaged to be married to a girl in Calcutta. It'll break her heart." The two stooped to restore the rupees to their receptacle. The Sikhs were quite equal to the task of driving out the sepoys, and were doing their work well. Hawke listened for the firing outside. Loughnan had given orders that as the sepoys came rushing out of the windows, the Sikhs he had stationed in the verandah should open fire. But not a shot had been heard. " Something's wrongl " suddenly exclaimed Hawke. He rushed to the nearest window, pushing the soldiers right and left. The Sikhs outside had left their posts. Apparently they were fraternising with 78 LOVE BESIEGED the sepoys. The glare of the burning bungalows on all sides made everything as clear as though it were day. He could see them a few yards away talking with the mutinous men of the 7ist. This was bad enough, but what he saw beyond was worse. Some two or three hundred men, attracted by the firing, were coming to the assistance of their comrades. If the Sikhs proved traitors, he and Loughnan would be caught like rats in a trap. Not a moment was to be lost. Leaping out of the window, Hawke rushed to the Sikhs. Boldly thrust- ing himself in their midst, he asked them why they held parley with traitorous Hindoo dogs. " Are we not your friends ? Have you not eaten our bread ? You, Ras Singh, are you, too, false to your oath ? " Ras Singh was the soubadhar, and Hawke re- membered him well, though he had not seen the man for some two years. But he had once done the Sikh a service, and now was the time to ask for a requital. Ras Singh's answer was significant. " We like our lieutenant and you, too, Hoozur, and we will not allow you to be harmed ; but if the whole army turns, we must turn too." There was meaning in this. No doubt it explained the rising of many regiments who felt themselves bound to obey the mysterious and powerful authority of the " Fouj ki Bheera " or general will of the army. Hawke was far too masterful to permit the argument to override him. " But the whole army hasn't turned. You have not turned. I've just come from Delhi, and I tell you the Sikhs there are faithful." Ras Singh might have proved obdurate, but one AT GUN FIRE 79 of the sepoys hastened matters. He raised his musket, and pointed it at Hawke. He was in the act of cocking it when Jack sprang forward, swift as a greyhound. With one sweep of the tulwar, its short bent blade, keen as a razor, he buried it deep in the man's neck. The sepoy dropped like a stone. It was enough. The Sikh to whom the tulwar belonged was among those who were wavering. His blade had shed Hindoo blood. Heaven had ordained this. Therefore it was meant that he should be faithful to his salt. " Come, brothers ! " he shouted. " We were wrong. Let us follow the Hoozur." " Bless you for those words ! " growled Hawke in his own vernacular, "you know which side your bread's buttered." Then he shouted the order to close up. The sepoys heard the order and bolted. One volley from the Sikhs sufficed to disperse the advancing force. The critical moment was passed. Hawke returned in triumph to the bungalow, to find Loughnan on the point of coming to his assistance. "Saved, old chap, and by the skin of our teeth!" cried Hawke. " On with the treasure ! " The coin chest, secured to a couple of poles, was carried by four study Sikhs towards the spot where Sir Henry had concentrated his little force of European soldiers. CHAPTER V A LULL IN THE STORM As dawn approached, Sir Henry gradually grasped the extent of the danger by which he was surrounded. On only one point was he unsatisfied. No information had come in concerning the 7th Cavalry. The lines of this regiment were at Mud- kheepore, about three miles from the cantonments. It was a hazardous task for a messenger to get through the latter, with the bungalows blazing and lawless marauders in possession of the ground. Some of the 7th had accompanied the 32nd, being in the cantonments at the time of the outbreak. Of these Sir Henry felt pretty certain. At the first streak of morning light, a party of horsemen were seen by the picket on guard in the direction of the Mudkheepore road. They proved to be a detachment of the 7th all who had remained faithful out of those stationed in the lines. The men had been called out immediately the red glare in the sky told what was happening in the canton- ments ; but before the line could be formed some forty of them dashed off at full speed towards the cantonments, the rest patrolled during the night and at length found their way to headquarters. Sir Henry was much relieved in his mind when he saw them ; and after day had fairly broken he resolved to take the field. The 7th Cavalry were 80 A LULL IN THE STORM 81 directed to move towards Mudkheepore, where the officers' houses and the troopers' lines had been seized and fired by the mutineers, who had gone up from the cantonments in great numbers, hoping to win over the cavalry. Two companies of the 32nd were ordered tb support the cavalry, the rest being left behind to guard the approaches to the city. Just as the force, with Sir Henry Lawrence in person leading, were about to advance, Mr Martin Gubbins, the commissioner of Oudh, rode in from Lucknow. He reported the city to be violently agitated, but that no outbreak had taken place. " Nothing could be better than your arrangements, Sir Henry," said he. " I left some 6000 of the bud mash howling and yelling, and ripe for any villainy, the other side of the Gumti. They dared not cross the bridge in face of your troops. But for that they would by this time have joined the mutineers." " And the Residency the women and children ? " asked Sir Henry anxiously. " They are quite safe." " Poor things ! " said Sir Henry, in a tone of com- passion. "There will be many an aching heart within those walls before long. But this isn't the time for sympathy ; sterner work lies before us. I'm off for Mudkheepore." " And I am with you," said Mr Gubbins. The word was given, and in the pale light of dawn the 32nd moved forward with the steady swing of the British soldier. Had Jean been present, it might have reminded her of the trooping of the colours and that spring morning in the Mall, and of Azimoolah's question : 82 LOVE BESIEGED " Do they fight as grandly as they march ? " The sequel proved that Jean's retort was the right one, and that Azimoolah's countrymen could best answer his impatient sneer. There was not a man there who was not burning to avenge the murder of the old brigadier, of Lieu- tenant Grant, and of the young officer who died in defence of the treasury bungalow. There was no singing, none of the light-heartedness of men on the march. Their faces were set, their eyes had in them the angry concentrated look of revenge. At four o'clock Sir Henry and his little army reached Mudkheepore. The fort was occupied by the enemy in force, over a thousand men having fled thither from the cantonments. When they saw the British soldiers advancing, they rushed out in disorderly masses, without any attempt at forming in line. Apparently they had no leader. Meanwhile the 32nd had been halted, awaiting the artillery to take up its position. Immediately the guns were unlimbered occurred one of those sudden and curious revulsions of feeling without warning, without premeditation, of which the Indian Mutiny furnishes so many instances. A horseman rode from the rebel ranks, and waved his sword before the yet loyal cavalry. Instantly there was a move- ment of disturbance. The troopers seemed agitated by some irresistible impulse which attacked them simultaneously. There was no appearance of a concerted arrangement. The four guns attached to the force were stationed to the extreme right of the cavalry, and the officer in command was in a position to see what was going on. He acted with terrible promptness. A LULL IN THE STORM 83 The guns were loaded and pointed towards the distant line. The gunners were at their posts. " Fire ! " said he. The sullen roar of the cannon awoke the echoes, and at the same moment the wavering 7th Cavalry, with the exception of about thirty, raised a fearful yell and galloped over to the enemy, who turned and fled. "Will the rest of your troopers follow you?" asked Sir Henry quietly of Colonel Fielden. " Yes," answered Fielden promptly. " I doubt it. Offer them 100 rupees for every mutineer taken or slain." The colonel galloped up to his men, who were still occupying their ground and taking no part in the pursuit, and repeated Sir Henry's words. The troopers made no answer, and evidently obeyed the order to advance with reluctance. The guns were moved slowly with the infantry, but it was clear the cavalry could not be trusted, and that pursuit was impossible ; and after proceed- ing a few miles the design was abandoned. The scene was like the disturbance of an ants' nest. In every direction men and women were seen running with bundles on their heads villagers and camp followers making off with booty obtained in the cantonments during the preceding night. About thirty prisoners were taken,some being seized by Commissioner Gubbins, who, with his own orderly and three of Fisher's horse, got detached from the rest of the cavalry ; but the odd thing was, the com- missioner did not know what to do with the fellows. "We had not," said he afterwards, grimly, "yet learned to kill in cold blood." 84 LOVE BESIEGED While Sir Henry was clearing the air outside Lucknow, the city itself was in a seething ferment. The streets were teaming with the Lucknow bud- mash and shoda the very scourings of the city. Every man was armed with his tulwar, and hundreds swaggered along with their shields of buffalo-hide and their matchlocks and pistols. The rabble reached the stone bridge, to find that Sir Henry Lawrence had forestalled them. The British soldiers and a half-battery of guns were between the bridge and the cantonments. Budmash and shoda had not the least desire for a conflict with regular troops, and they swarmed back to their lairs. Here they commenced a disturbance, promptly suppressed by the police, assisted by a few faithful companies of the irregular infantry. Within the Residency confusion and alarm still reigned. The flat roof was crowded with men, women and children. When the musketry fire told them the critical moment had come, all save those who were ill ran to the highest points. With terror in their eyes and fluttering hearts they watched the fires blazing one after the other in the cantonments. The musketry, sometimes in volleys, sometimes in dropping shots, kept their nerves quivering. No intelligence as to what was going on had reached them ; for aught they could tell, the mutineers might have repeated the horrors of Meerut and Delhi. The appearance of Lennard, calm and collected, gladdened every heart. The doctor looked with pity on the white faces of the ladies who crowded round him. It was now three o'clock in the morn- ing, and they had been watching the lurid sky northward since nine the previous night. They were A LULL IN THE STORM 85 haggard and worn with anxiety. Four-fifths had husbands, brothers, lovers, in the little force which was opposed to such fearful odds. Lennard did his best to answer and soothe, but his eyes did not meet those he most wanted to see. At last he managed to disengage himself from the groups of persistent and half-weeping women. He went in search of Jean Atherton. He found her seated on a wicker chair. She had a shawl drawn over her head, and the pale light of dawn gave an almost unearthly beauty to her face. " I could hear what you were saying, Dr Lennard," said Jean quietly, "so I didn't seek to monopolise you. There are so many here who have a much greater claim on you than I. I've no personal friends or relatives among those brave men who are fighting for us out yonder." "Personal feelings often disappear when we're face to face with a terrible crisis like this. A com- mon danger draws us closer to each other. Enemies may even become friends in the face of peril," re- joined Lennard. "What has become of Captain Hawke?" said Jean suddenly. A footstep caused Lennard to look round. It was Mrs Ross. Mrs Ross seemed a little disconcerted at being discovered, and moved away a pace or two. Lennard bowed in acknowledgment of her presence, but did not speak to her. He went on to reply to Jean. " I can say little about Hawke. We parted soon after the outbreak. He went off to the cantonments, and I made the best of my way here. But you may 86 LOVE BESIEGED depend upon it, Miss Atherton, that where the fiercest fighting is, Jack Hawke won't be far off." "That's true," said a voice suddenly. Mrs Ross had crept nearer to them. Why was she so anxious to join in the conversation ? " I'm glad to hear you say that, Mrs Ross," said Lennard a little coldly. "Oh, I'm not unjust," answered the lady in a peculiar tone. " I can even be glad to hear that Jack Hawke is safe." " I didn't say anything about his safety," said Lennard. " There's not a man over yonder who can hold his life as his own for a single minute. It's more than four hours since I parted from Hawke. Much may have happened since then." "Very likely. But men of Hawke's stamp aren't the first to get shot. Providence seems to take remarkably good care of the scoundrels." She glided away. The bitterness of her speech impressed Jean painfully. "Why does Mrs Ross hate Captain Hawke?" said she. " She's been warning me against him. I should have thought that at such a dreadful time as this, as you said just now, all private enmity would be forgotten." " Mrs Ross isn't one to forget anything," said Lennard shortly. "But don't let us talk about her," he went on, suddenly altering his tone. "You must be in need of rest. There's nothing to fear to- night." "Are you sure?" she inquired anxiously. "Yes, indeed. Our men are drawn up between the cantonments and the city. The mutineers can't pass over the stone bridge, nor can the budmash get A LULL IN THE STORM 87 out to join them. Ah, here's your father. He'll tell you the same thing." Mr Atherton had come in search of his daughter. He had been out in the streets to gather news, and also to do his best, with the assistance of the police, to preserve order. " There's yet hope," said he. " The men haven't got out of hand. I met Colonel Palmer with a loyal remnant of the 48th Native Infantry coming from the iron bridge. He told me that although mutiny had broken out, and murder and fire and pillage had begun, yet Sir Henry was more than holding his own." For a few minutes Lennard and Atherton com- pared notes, Jean listening anxiously the while, and her face growing white as the doctor told how old Brigadier Handscomb had met his death. " Poor old fellow," said Atherton with a sigh. " It was his fate. Well, he's beyond the reach of trouble and anxiety. I wish we could all say the same. Come, Jean, let's take a little rest while we can. I've been on my legs for the last three hours and I'm dead beat." Jean turned, and put out her little soft hand to the young doctor. " Au revoir, Dr Lennard," said she, with a grateful smile. " Au revoir. I'm glad you say that. Good-bye is too ominous." "Ah, you think that because you're not one of the scoundrels, to whom, according to Mrs Ross, Pro- vidence is so kind," said she lightly. " I believe she was unjust if she was alluding to Captain Hawke." "You're quite right, Miss Atherton," said Lennard with emphasis. " Hawke is no scoundrel." 88 LOVE BESIEGED Hawke's words, "If you should never see me again, say a good word for me to that brown-eyed little girl," were fresh in Lennard's mind. Well, if he had taken leave of Jack Hawke for ever, he had kept his word. As morning crept on apace the angry light of the still smouldering bungalows disappeared. Wreaths of curling smoke alone were visible. The musketry shots had long since ceased. A faint and confused murmur of voices came from the busy quarters of the centre of the city. Lennard's thoughts were not of Lucknow not even of the mutiny. Jean's sad face and large tender eyes haunted his memory. '"As though I'd been seeking her all my life, and had at last found her,' " said Lennard. " Confound it! How many more of Jack Hawke's words am I going to quote to-night ? He used not to be very quot- able. Well, she's not for me nor for him either. Some other lucky beggar perhaps has won her. Who ? No one in Lucknow, I'll swear. We're both luckier than he, after all. We can die for her, he can only grieve." "Dr Lennard," whispered soft tones in his ear. He at once recognised Mrs Ross's voice. Mrs Ross seemed to be hovering about him like a ghost. What did she want now? He turned towards her. He was struck with the look of intense anxiety in her large, dark, lustrous eyes. Usually they wore a cold, disdainful expres- sion. Now they were liquid and almost soft. "You spoke doubtfully just now, Dr Lennard about Jack I mean Captain Hawke. You said much might happen in four hours. What has happened ? Tell me ! " A LULL IN THE STORM 89 " I don't quite understand you, Mrs Ross. I spoke generally, of course." "Then Jack's safe?" " I don't know. We parted, as I told you. Since then I haven't seen or heard of him." "Ah!" A sound like a suppressed sigh escaped the woman's white lips. She drew her shawl tightly about her. "Thank you, Dr Lennard," she breathed, and glided away. "What does that mean love or hate?" thought Lennard. " That woman has always been an enigma. But I suppose much may be forgiven her. Heredi- tary taint, temperament, climate and opportunity explain a good deal. Her father, General D'Arcy, to the day of his death, was a hard liver, and he never troubled about his two girls. They certainly followed his example in the way of getting as much enjoyment out of life as possible. Was it enjoyment ? What about Mrs Ross's life when she was Edith D'Arcy? Unlimited flirtation, a continual round of gaiety, engaged to be married three times bah, she played with men's hearts as though they were skittles. One man shot himself because of her, another was hounded away in disgrace. Her life ended in a marriage with a rich man who, in spite of her scorn of him, left her all his money. But has her life ended ? " And with this question hovering in his brain he went to snatch a few hours' sleep. CHAPTER VI NURSE AND PATIENT IN Lucknow, on the day after the outbreak, all was quiet. On the evening of that day, 3ist May, Sir Henry Lawrence moved his headquarters from the cantonments into the Residency. The enthusiasm was tremendous. When he appeared with his staff, a perfect storm of acclamation burst forth. Loud "hurrahs" and shouts of "Long life to Sir Henry" continued until he had passed out of sight. Then commenced preparations for defence. Though the rebels had for a time disappeared, it was known that they were but gathering their forces. From all quarters came mutinous sepoys to swell their numbers. To conquer the capital city of Oudh was their ambition. To secure this conquest they were prepared to make any sacrifice. Sir Henry was on the alert. He did not wait to be attacked. The Residency was crowded with women and children. Every house and outbuildings were occupied. Preparations for defence were con- tinued. Thousands of coolies were employed at the batteries, stockades and trenches. The treasure and ammunition of which, fortunately, there was a large supply were buried, and as many guns as could be collected were brought together. Never was there such a busy, motley crowd ! Soldiers English, Irish and Scotch sepoys, go NURSE AND PATIENT 91 prisoners in irons, men and women of all ranks, children black and white, of all ages hundreds of servants,respectable natives arriving in their carriages, coolies carrying weights, heavy cannons, field pieces, carts, elephants, camels, bullocks and horses, were continually passing between the Mutcheebhawun and the Residency. Shouting and gesticulating, bustle and noise, and occasionally a little strong language, were kept up from morning till night. The engineers were blowing up buildings and endeavouring to level as many houses as possible. The din was deafening and incessant Sir Henry was indefatig- able, and when he slept was a mystery to all. Nine days had passed since the outbreak, and the city, apparently, was quiet. But those who, like Sir Henry Lawrence, were capable of penetrating below the surface, and knew what Oriental plotting meant, were not deceived by this apparent calm. Of all the hard workers in the Residency and the Mutcheebhawun in those anxious days while await- ing the attack, which all knew must come before many days were over, Jack Hawke was the hardest. He did not seem to know what fatigue was. No- thing came amiss to him, from searching for hidden guns in the various suspected houses in the city, to helping to carry in bags of flour to the stores. He avoided that portion of the Residency which had been assigned to the ladies. Those who knew the scandal attached to his name were not surprised. "A meeting between Captain Hawke and Mrs Ross would be exceedingly embarrassing for both, and, of course, more embarrassing for him than for her," said one lady. " I don't wonder at his keeping away." 92 LOVE BESIEGED " Embarrassing or not," said Mrs Hudson, a blunt Yorkshirewoman, the wife of a colonel in the I3th Native Infantry, "they'll have to meet if we're shut up in these walls. Embarrassments won't go for much when fighting's to be done ; and in such a case I think I know who I'd rather have with me. It wouldn't be Mrs Ross. I mistrust that woman." " Aren't you a little uncharitable, Mrs Hudson ? " asked Jean. She, with half-a-dozen more ladies, were busy making lint. " Oh, maybe : but I can't help airing my opinions. I always believe in speaking my mind. Jack Hawke's a big, blundering fool. I've told him so more than once in the old days ; but I don't think he's bad at heart. He hasn't got the brains to be irreclaimably wicked." " But don't you think weakness is sometimes as bad as downright wickedness? It does as much harm, I'm sure," put in an elderly lady of somewhat grim aspect Mrs Bartley, the widow of a com- missioner, and a Wesleyan Methodist, with all the conscientious views peculiar to that religious body. " Captain Hawke set a shocking example to all the young men drinking, gambling and betting." " Oh, he was much about the same as the rest. I never could see that the Company's officers required any example. When they come out to India they take naturally to pale ale and brandy pawnees. The first duty of an Anglo-Indian, whether he's in the Army or the Civil Service, is to ruin his liver as speedily as possible. Jack Hawke arrived in Calcutta a mere boy, and he was unlucky in having too much money, and in falling in with a fast set. The D'Arcy NURSE AND PATIENT 93 girls would ruin any young man they ruined Jack Hawke." Mrs Bartley did not dispute this assertion. Indeed her opinion of the " D'Arcy girls " was even more severe than that of Mrs Hudson ; but she adhered to her belief that Hawke was a most disreputable, unprincipled, worldly-minded young man. Another lady thought he was "horrid," and a third considered it was a great pity that he had come back to Lucknow. The talked jarred upon Jean, whose impulses were generous and forgiving. Hawke interested her. She knew nothing about his drinking habits, his gambling, his betting. The sinister insinuations of Mrs Ross had not resulted in prejudicing her against him, if, indeed, that was Mrs Ross's object. Jean knew he was a brave man her father and Dr Lennard had said so and bravery covered a multitude of sins. "It's unjust," thought the girl indignantly, " to look only on the one side of anybody's character, and that side the worst." Suddenly the conversation veered round to the " D'Arcy girls," and some of the scandalised elderly ladies had a good deal to say concerning their flirta- tions and their " fast " ways generally. "What became of them ?" asked a lady, who had not been in India long. " One of them Agnes married a Mr Holcombe, and she went home to England with her husband. It was over her there was such a scandal with Captain Hawke. It drove him away." "And the other?" " Edith D'Arcy ? Why, she's Mrs Ross, of course. Didn't you know that ? " Jean started. She had not the least idea that one 94 LOVE BESIEGED of the D'Arcy girls, remembered for their beauty as for their recklessness, was now Mrs Ross. It seemed inconceivable that this woman, with the worn, almost haggard face, sallow complexion and bitter tongue, could have been the fascinating girl about whom half the men at the station raved. But beauty ripens quickly in India, and it might be that Mrs Ross, who could not be yet thirty, had burned the candle of life too rapidly. Her features were certainly exquisitely regular, and her eyes remarkably fine ; while her voice, soft, low and musical, was capable of infinite modulation. But the expression? At times it was one of settled melancholy, at others it seemed to show that the fever of unrest was burning within. She had been a widow scarcely a twelvemonth when the mutiny broke out, and to Jean the faded look on the woman's face was amply accounted for. According to Mrs Hudson, the D'Arcy girls had been the ruin of Hawke. What did this mean ? Well, it was no affair of hers, and tired of the scandalmongering, and with fingers stiff and sore with work, Jean rose from her seat, walked to the window, and looked out on the busy scene below. A long procession of natives carrying burdens on their heads were coming in through the Baillie Guard Gate. They were provision bearers. Then followed a team of bullocks, dragging a heavy gun, the drivers urging them on with shrill cries and hoarse maledic- tions. They were under the charge of three or four European officers. Suddenly she saw one of the latter apparently trip over a package a careless native had let fall, and come heavily to the ground. She could not see pre- NURSE AND PATIENT 95 cisely what had happened, for the bullocks swerved round. All she knew was that the man's brother officers had rushed to help him. At that moment she was called away from the window. The chief of the medical staff, Dr Mac- pherson, had entered the room, and was addressing the ladies generally. He was a short, burly, bluff man of about fifty, a splendid surgeon, and despite his roughness, with the kindest heart in the world for the genuine sufferer. " Now, leedies," said he, with just the slightest flavour of Northern accent, " I want to have a few words with ye all. We've got serious work maybe before us, and we mustn't be taken by surprise. We'll have need of plenty of nurses, so the sooner some of ye learn the preliminaries bandaging and what not the better. Who'll volunteer ? " " If I can be of any use, doctor? " began Jean. "Of use, lassie. Why, I'll make a first-rate nurse of ye in less than no time. That's one. Who's next ? Don't be in too much of a hurry to speak. Mrs Hudson, I can reckon on you, I know." Yes, Mrs Hudson was quite willing, and so were half-a-dozen more. Quite proud of his success, the doctor led the way to the banqueting hall, which had been turned into a hospital. A good many sick had been brought into the Residency when shelter was first sought there, and some half-a-score of wounded, the result of the outbreak of the 3Oth, had been added since. Dr Macpherson was just beginning a little lecture when the tramp of feet was heard outside, mixed with a bumping sound, the meaning of which the 96 LOVE BESIEGED surgeon knew full well. It was the arrival of a patient borne on a litter. An orderly opened the door, and Dr Macpherson went hastily forward. "Case of sunstroke, sir," said the young officer who accompanied the party, "and an accident besides. Gun carriage wheel went over his arm, but I don't think it's broken. It was on the loose sand, luckily." " Ay, ay. Bring him this way. Put him on this bed. Ye're just in time, leedies, to have a vera useful preliminary lesson. Ye'll have many sunstroke cases to look after, and it's as well ye should know as soon as possible how to deal with them." The man was lifted gently on to the bed, and the women, after a little hesitation, went forward. Jean was in advance, but the man's face was turned from her. Mrs Hudson, who was on the other side, exclaimed : " Why, it's poor Jack Hawke ! " The doctor's eyes fell upon Jean, and he told her to come nearer, so that she might watch what he did. " This isn't a vera serious case, and I'm glad of it. We can't afford to lose so fine a lad." Hawke was a stranger to the surgeon, who had not been long in Lucknow. The doctor administered restoratives, and eventu- ally Hawke opened his eyes ; but he had only half regained consciousness. He stared vacantly round. "A couple of days' rest and he'll be all right. The arm will be much longer in getting well. It's badly sprained and bruised. There'll be plenty of lotioning and cold-water bandaging for you, Miss Atherton. He shall be your first patient, and I put him under your care." NURSE AND PATIENT 97 " Dr Macpherson," hurriedly exclaimed Mrs Bartley, "just one word." There was a look of concern on Mrs Bartley's face, as though she had something very important to say. The good-natured doctor turned aside. She said something to him in a whisper. " Pooh ! Nonsense ! Don't be ridiculous, woman ! " Dr Macpherson was heard to say quite sharply. Whereat Mrs Bartley tossed her head, sniffed, and put on a resigned, deprecatory attitude, as much as to say, " Well, I've done my duty. For whatever happens, please remember I'm not responsible." As a matter of fact, she had whispered to the surgeon, that, in her opinion, a young and handsome girl ought not to be put to nurse a good-looking dare-devil of a fellow like Jack Hawke. Macpherson turned back rather irritably to the patient. He hated any interference with his orders, and nothing put him out so much. Nevertheless, he cast a shrewd glance at both Jean and Hawke. " He's a braw lad, and she's a bonnie lassie," he muttered to himself, "but she's no fule. Plenty of decision in that handsome face of hers, though, maybe, she hasn't yet been worried about deciding anything more important than the shape of a bonnet or the fit of a frock. He'll be out of this place in two days, or three at the most." And so it came to pass that Jean's first experience of nursing was to keep Jack Hawke's left arm well supplied with wet bandages. The duty was not a very arduous one, and only entailed visits to the hospital at stated times. It would be untrue to say that Jean did not feel an interest in her patient. His tawny hair was cut G 98 LOVE BESIEGED close to his head by order of the doctor, and the mass of rings which formerly came rather low down in front, no longer hid his broad rather than high forehead. He lay very quiet all that day, and seemed quite content to watch Jean's soft white fingers deftly applying the cool white bandages. Not a word escaped his lips. The effect of the sunstroke seemed to partake of the nature of semi-paralysis, and for some hours he remained in a kind of lethargy, conscious of what was going on, and quite aware of the ministrations of his nurse and accepting every- thing in a dreamy, helpless condition. The coolness of the night air worked wonders, and about an hour before midnight he fell into a deep sleep. At five o'clock he awoke. The hospital orderly happened to be near him. He cast a quick glance round, and seemed as if he were making a strong effort to pull himself together. " Orderly," said he, abruptly, " what are the arrange- ments here? Will the same nurse lady, I mean, attend me to-day?" " I don't know, sir. I suppose so." Hawke was silent for a moment, and then said: " Can you shave ? " M Yes, sir." "Then just take off this stubble. You'll find a rupee in the pocket of that waistcoat. I shall look a little less like a scarecrow with my chin a bit cleaner," he muttered to himself. The orderly was only too glad to earn the rupee, and when his beard of a week's growth was removed, Hawke looked quite a gentleman. He insisted on NURSE AND PATIENT 99 rising in spite of the orderly's arguments that he would be much better in bed. " A fellow looks like a molly-coddle," was his rejoinder. " Besides I feel as fit as a fiddle, save this confounded arm of mine." "You don't look it, sir. Your eyes are queer." "So would yours be if you'd been working for three days in the blazing sun. I'm a little giddy about the nut, but that'll pass off in a few hours. Can you give me a brandy pawnee ? " " Not without the doctor's orders." " Hang the doctor ! Well, what time did you say my lady attendant was expected ? " "About seven, sir, and it's now six. If you like I could change these bandages for you. They're very dry." "Let them alone, will you?" said Hawke fiercely. He dressed himself with the assistance of the orderly, and awaited Jean's coming, his eyes con- stantly wandering to the clock on the wall, as though time didn't move quickly enough for him. At last she appeared, and his face brightened. " Are you better ? " said she. "Yes," he said slowly, "thanks to you. You've been very kind." " Oh, it's nothing," she answered lightly, and at the same time a little nervously. The strange light in his ardent eyes was something she was not used to. " It's only the duty of the women to help in the hospital work. Unhappily, we can do no more." " It's everything. But some of the men here are not worth the trouble." " Why do you say that ? " She was taking off the bandages and she felt him ioo LOVE BESIEGED wince. His arm was terribly bruised and battered and the skin was broken. "Ah, I hurt you. I'm so sorry. It's my awkward- ness, but I hope to improve." " I don't mind being experimented upon by you, Miss Atherton," said he ; " if you become proficient through practising on my arm, it'll show, anyhow, that I'm not altogether good for nothing." Again he looked at her with that fiery glance. She felt a little embarrassed ; perhaps he noticed it, for he was silent while she replaced the dry bandages with wet ones. "And now, I suppose, you'll go and make some other lucky beggar feel he's had a glimpse of heaven," said he huskily. " I'm glad the cool wet rags give you so much relief," said she, wilfully misunderstanding him. " Hang the rags ! I beg your pardon, Miss Atherton, When I spoke of heaven just now I didn't refer to this arm of mine." " I know you did not. But you musn't say such things, please." " When are you coming again ? " he anxiously asked. " Dr Macpherson said every three hours the band- ages were to be changed." " They'll be stiff and dry long before then. Mac doesn't know what this fiendish climate can do. Two hours say you'll come in two hours?" "Very well," she interposed hastily, " I'll return in two hours' time." He gave her a grateful look, and she glided away. CHAPTER VII THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER As Jean was hastening along the corridor, she suddenly came face to face with Mrs Ross. The latter had entered the corridor from a narrow passage leading to the rooms occupied by the ladies. The light, feeble as it was, enabled Jean to see that the woman was strangely agitated. Her face was deadly pale, her lips worked convulsively, her hands trembled with excitement. " Miss Atherton," exclaimed Mrs Ross fiercely, feverishly, " is it true you've charge of Captain Hawke, now in the hospital ? I was very unwell all yesterday, and have only just heard of it." " Captain Hawke has badly bruised and sprained his arm, and Dr Macpherson asked me to renew the bandages. I don't know whether that means that he is under my charge," answered Jean quietly. Mrs Ross's breath came quick and short. " You remember I warned you against him ? " she burst out. " Oh yes, I remember perfectly well. You didn't explain why." "There was no necessity. You were fresh from England, and why should an old scandal in which you have no personal interest be raked up? I thought it was sufficient to caution you about the danger of associating withCaptain Hawke." 101 102 LOVE BESIEGED "You're mistaken," said Jean, her cheek flushing with annoyance. " I am not associating with Captain Hawke. Dr Macpherson wanted as many ladies as possible to learn something about hospital nursing, lest our services should be required. It's purely an accident that has forced upon me the duty of attending Captain Hawke. I fail to see why I should be answerable to you, Mrs Ross, for anything I may do." Jean was angry. Mrs Ross's anxiety and absurd officiousness annoyed her. Did the woman imagine she was about to fall in love with Hawke? No wonder her face crimsoned. To her surprise, Mrs Ross did not, as she expected, return a tart answer. Her manner changed ; her voice softened. " Forgive me, dear Miss Atherton. Of course, I've no right to make suggestions to you. I was only thinking of my own unhappy girlhood. I pity anyone who makes the same mistake as I did. You're not offended, are you ? " Mrs Ross held out her hand. Jean could not help taking it. Mrs Ross was apologetic, conciliatory, almost humble. " Now," she went on, " we all ought to be friends, and yet it seems to me that since we've been shut up in the Residency there have been more bickerings and quarrels than ever." This was quite true. Anglo-Indian society in those days was a mass of frivolity and jealousy, always accentuated when people have plenty of money and little to do. The wives and daughters of the officers and civilian officials took their personal enmities with them into the Residency. Until the actual siege THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER 103 began, when the better part of human nature came out, the place was a hotbed of gossip and petty disagreements, not always good-natured and harm- less. The heat and the strained condition of the nerves were no doubt answerable for a good deal of this irritability. Maybe not a little was due to the enforced crowding together of ill-assorted natures which jarred upon each other. " Let's go into this little room and talk there," said Mrs Ross suddenly. " It faces the north. It's as cool as the tyekhana, and much pleasanter with the open window looking on the river." Jean consented, and they sat down on the low basket seats. The light fell athwart Mrs Ross's face, and her profile, faultless in contour, showed sharply and distinctly against the wall behind. Where Jean was sitting it came distinctly into view, and she was struck by its strangely un-English look. With all its regularity, it was an enigmatical face. Calm and impassive as now, there was something which suggested that her nature could rise to heights of passion undreamt of by placid people with even temperaments. " You in England don't understand quarrels ending in death," said Mrs Ross, with a peculiar smile. " Oh, there are such things, but they don't happen often." " Ah ! In India death, sooner or later, ends all quarrels. We hate with our whole souls." "We?" repeated Jean wonderingly. " Didn't you know I had Indian blood in my veins ? " io 4 LOVE BESIEGED Mrs Ross laughed. It wasn't a pleasant laugh. Jean had heard many such in the streets of Lucknow. "Yes," she went on, "my grandfather, Colonel D'Arcy, was one of Lord Clive's officers. He married the daughter of an Indian rajah. They say I'm like her." Mrs Ross leaned back in her chair, and raising her arms clasped her hands behind her head. She had crossed her knees, and one foot was lazily swinging. In her were all the typical characteristics of the Hindoo woman. The feet and hands, the ankles and wrists, were small and delicately fashioned ; the forehead low, the chin beautifully rounded. Her attitude and expression just then were of the languorous warmth and the love of repose which belong to the East. They chatted on trivial matters, as women do when they feel there is one subject it is not safe for either to approach. Suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, Mrs Ross sprang to her feet. Her keen eyes had caught sight of a couple of horsemen galloping in at the Baillie Guard Gate. A few musket shots could be heard some distance away. " What's the matter?" cried Jean. " Who can say ? " returned Mrs Ross, with a flash like midnight lightning from her dark eyes. " Aren't we living on a volcano? Who knows when it may burst into flame?" They watched the two horsemen gallop to one of the doors of the Residency, and throw themselves from their horses. Instantly there was a commotion, and a dozen men or more were seen running to the stables, THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER 105 No cause for alarm could be seen. But Jean felt horribly nervous. She declared she must inquire what had happened. "Do as you like," said Mrs Ross. "Anyhow, if it's bad news we shall hear of it soon enough." Jean ran towards Sir Henry Lawrence's quarters. She met an officer with whom she had some slight acquaintance, and begged him to tell her what was going on. " The infantry police have followed the example of their gallant comrades the cavalry," said he, " and joined the rebels." The officer bowed to Jean and darted away. The girl went back where she had left Mrs Ross, but found that she was gone. Men's shouts and oaths came from the street. She ran to the window. What could only be called an awkward squad was going in chase of the mutineers. The men had rushed to the stables, or to any place where they were likely to find a horse. They seized what they could. A field piece was being dragged along by some wretched-looking animals, and a few volunteers had found seats on the tumbril. The infantry could not be got ready in time, so the mounted men did not wait, but went out helter-skelter. No order or formation could be kept. Very few of the Europeans were military men, and the regulars were represented by sixty or seventy Sikhs. Agitated by what she had seen, and by thoughts of what might follow, Jean slowly made her way back to the hospital. Do what she could, the caution which Mrs Ross persisted in giving her respecting Hawke was upper- io6 LOVE BESIEGED most in her mind. She wished Mrs Ross had said nothing. It made her think of the man otherwise than as simply a patient, and for this she had no desire. What was Captain Hawke to her? For all that as she entered the room, the colour on her face deepened. It was impossible for her not to be conscious of the change which went over Hawke's countenance when he saw her enter. The gloom, the anxiety disappeared : his features became restful. " I thought you were never coming," said he eagerly. " The time has passed so slowly." " You make a very bad patient, Captain Hawke," was Jean's reply. " You're too impatient." " Yes, I suppose so. Yet I think I could be patient, if ifyou bade me hope." What did the man mean ? She resolved to fix her mind on the routine of the duty and take no notice of anything beyond. She asked him for no explana- tion, but went on preparing her cold-water bandages. Perhaps he saw that she wasn't inclined to talk, for he was silent, and contented himself with watching her. "I'm an ass," he muttered savagely. " I'd better hold my tongue or I shall say something that may embarrass or offend her, and that'll shut me up." Jean clearly was improving with practice, for the renewal of the bandages took a shorter time than ever. At least, it seemed so to Hawke. Having completed her task she rose, and would have taken her leave silently, in pursuance of her resolution to be a nurse and nothing but a nurse. But she saw the eager, yearning look in his eyes, and it seemed heartless to go without a word. Hawke, at any rate, had no intention that she should. THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER 107 " When will you visit me again?" he asked, implor- ingly. " At the proper time," said she, with decision. "Ah, yes, of course. I couldn't expect otherwise," he returned in a dull tone. She walked swiftly across the room, and went out. His eyes followed her. "Jack." Mrs Ross had approached unseen, and was stand- ing by his side. " Why do you come here ? " he asked, recovering himself with an effort. " Is that girl your latest conquest ? " " I've nothing to say to you, Mrs Ross. You've done me injury enough. Leave me alone. Go." " Not yet. I want to talk to you about Jean Atherton. May I ask if you've acquainted her with certain interesting events in your past life, or do you wish other people to save you the trouble ? " He bit his white lips, and his nostrils quivered with passion. "You, for instance?" he replied in a low hoarse tone. " Oh yes, if you like." " What have I done to you, Edith Ross, that you should pursue me so bitterly, so mercilessly ? " " Pursue you ? Why have you come back to be pursued? You know my feelings towards you. They haven't changed they never will change. The only love I've ever had for man I gave to you, Jack." " I wish to heaven I'd never seen your face," said he, scowlingly. " Amen to that," she cried, with heaving heart and quivering lip; "but it was to be. How can we io8 LOVE BESIEGED escape our fate? Just think. Didn't we, five years ago, bid each other farewell ? and " " Did we say farewell ? " he asked ironically. " I thought we parted with mutual execrations. I per- fectly remember what my feelings were." " If I said anything that was bitter, forgive me," she exclaimed passionately. " Don't you know I would crawl in the dust, humble myself before you for one smile, one fond word such as you used to give me?" " I know I was a silly young fool, or I shouldn't have forged George Holcombe's name to get you money, after I'd spent every farthing of my own." " Yes, I tempted you, I own ; but no harm came of it. George made it right with the bank, and no one knew anything about the matter." " Do you call the contempt of George Holcombe nothing ? Was giving up your sister Agnes nothing ? My love for her is an old memory now ; it was real enough then. I believe it nearly broke my heart when I told her, disgraced as I was, I couldn't become her husband. And what happened afterwards ? " His brow became black as midnight. "Yes, yes, I know," she replied hurriedly. "We needn't recall that incident." "Oh, but it's as well we should keep it in our minds. 7 intend to do so. Perhaps you've forgotten the particulars. I'll refresh your memory. George Holcombe received certain scandalous anonymous letters reflecting on his wife. They contained allu- sions to matters which could only be known to her, to me, and to one other person. The letters were in my handwriting, or near enough, and they were posted by my own servant. He swore, you remember, THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER 109 that I gave them to him. What could I do or say against such evidence ? Wasn't it better I should clear out of Lucknow ? What's your opinion ? " Edith Ross moved her dry lips, but no sound came from them. " I think we've nothing more to talk about," he went on coldly. " I don't understand, since circum- stances have forced me to meet you again, why you should choose to persecute and slander me." " That is it you don't understand." " Very well ; let it remain so. I always was slow in reading women. Now let's drop the subject." " And Jean Atherton ? " she asked huskily. " Ah" he drew a long breath " if the time ever comes when I may speak freely to Jean Atherton, I sha'n't sail under false colours. I think," he went on musingly, and apparently not caring whether the woman heard him or not, " death itself wouldn't be unwelcome, if I knew she loved me. And, by heaven, she shall love me." Every syllable lashed Edith Ross like the sting of a whip. Her shapely, delicate fingers were inter- twined, and pressed till they were almost bloodless. She rose, every nerve quivering with fierce passion. " And you think she will ? " she cried. " We'll see. You pretend to scorn the hand of fate. It may be your destiny to be tortured as I've been tortured. Or maybe, you'll come to me to help you, as you came in the old days to ask me to help you to gain the love of Agnes " " Who was as heartless as yourself, and cared for me as little as " " As Jean Atherton." no LOVE BESIEGED The strain on her nerves was too intense to be borne in the presence of Jack Hawke. With a face like marble, she hastened from the hospital. Alone in the corridor, Mrs Ross could have burst into a flood of tears, but with a strong effort of will she restrained herself. Her nerves were over- wrought, her senses confused, and it was with difficulty she found her way back to her room, which she shared with other ladies. Fortunately they were absent, having gone to the tyekhana for coolness. She flung herself on the bed, and there lay for hours, exhausted, and more dead than alive. About eight o'clock the grounds of the Residency were filled with an excited crowd. The detachment of improvised cavalry, the two field pieces, and the two companies of the 32nd despatched to punish the mutineering military police, had returned weary and footsore. They had had a long and trying march on an exceptionally hot day, and what was much worse, had done very little good. They had not succeeded in having a fair blow at the main body. The cavalry could have reached the enemy, but were not allowed to charge. Though their hearts were good, they were not disciplined warriors, and the result might have been disastrous, so broken and difficult was the ground. The guns did a little execution, but the infantry came up too late to be of any use. Edith Ross had by this time recovered her com- posure, and with the other ladies went to see the returning force march if the limping, halting gait of the exhausted men could be called a march through the Baillie Guard Gate. THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER in Some ten prisoners had been captured ; they were tied together by a rope, and passed very close to where the women were standing. One man in the dress of a bhistie, or water-carrier, attracted their attention. His face was not that of a low-class native. He had a beard and moustache and a pair of remarkably keen piercing eyes. Suddenly there was a commotion in the group. " Mrs Ross has fainted," exclaimed someone hastily. At that moment the water-carrier paused, and his flashing eyes remained fixed on the figure of the half-senseless woman. Mrs Ross's unconsciousness lasted but a short time. She was not a weak-nerved woman, but that day of violent emotion and revulsion of feeling had been a trying one. She had received a terrible shock. In the water- carrier who had been brought in as a prisoner she recognised the one man in India whom she least desired to meet. Azimoolah Khan ! This man had been Jack Hawke's confidential native servant in the days of the reckless young officer's prosperity, when he gambled and betted and drank, and went through the whole gamut of Anglo-Indian vice. " Are you better ? " said a girl's voice. Jean Atherton was by her side. Edith Ross had not regained her self-command, and she could not disguise the look of hatred which flashed across her features when she recognised Jean. " Oh yes, I'm better, thank you," she rejoined in a dry, hollow tone. At that moment Ernest Lennard came up and one of the ladies hastily told him what had happened. ii2 LOVE BESIEGED " I should advise you to take a long rest," said he, with a searching glance at Mrs Ross. "Excellent advice if it only could be followed," she replied. " Give me your arm, Dr Lennard. I want to talk to you." He obeyed. They separated themselves from the group of ladies. But despite Mrs Ross's expressed desire to talk, she said nothing. As a matter of fact, all she wanted was to get away from the sympathy of her friends. Lennard was not surprised at her silence. It was only natural. A fainting fit was generally followed by lassitude and exhaustion. He made no reference to it, but talked on other subjects. "It's a pity," said he, "Colonel Inglis couldn't have given the rebel police a sharp lesson. As it is, they've got safely away, free either to go on to Cawnpore or to join the other mutineers, and attack us in Lucknow when the time comes. All we have to show for our day's work are those ten prisoners I saw being taken into the Baillie Guard." "Into the Baillie Guard?" repeated Mrs Ross. " What will be done with them ? " " The sepoys of the party may be hanged. The others, the villagers I noticed a grass-cutter and a water-carrier may be released. It depends upon what they were doing." Dr Lennard had by this time conducted Mrs Ross to the main entrance of the Residency. " Thank you," said she, " I feel much better. I think I can mount the stairs to my room without any assistance. I'll release you, Dr Lennard, so you'll now be able to devote yourself entirely to Miss Atherton." THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER 113 She said this with a suspicion of malice, partly because she had noticed the young doctor's atten- tions, and partly because she could never think of Jean without bitterness. Edith Ross fixed her dark glittering eyes on Lennard, and did not fail to note the effect of her words. " He's in love with her," she thought. " So much the better. If I could bring about an engagement between them it would settle Jack Hawke. But that must wait. I've something much more pressing to think of." The shadows of evening were lengthening apace. The sun had nearly dipped below the horizon. The white cupolas, minarets and towers of Lucknow were tinted with a rosy glow. Mrs Ross ascended to her room, and sat watching the west till the sun had wholly disappeared. Then changing her white dress for a darker one, which in the grey light would not be readily noticeable, she stole out. She went in the direction of the Baillie Guard. The Baillie Guard was a continuation of that portion of the Residency which had been converted into the hospital, built on ground to which one had to descend considerably. A portion of it was used as a store-room, another as a treasure depository, and the remainder as offices and the barracks of the native soldiers who had remained faithful to their allegiance. Within one of the smaller rooms of the Baillie Guard, the captured natives had been temporarily confined. The officer on duty for the night was of that immature age and experience when a man has a u ii4 LOVE BESIEGED tendency to fall in love with a woman older than himself. His infatuation amused Mrs Ross, and she permitted Lieutenant Hilton at times to flirt mildly with her. At others, she snubbed him unmercifully. He was standing in the doorway, smoking a cheroot, when she stole softly up to him. " Is it you, Mrs Ross? " he exclaimed. " Why not ? But I suppose you would rather it were someone else." " Hang it all, not likely. But you haven't come to see me, I'll bet." "Why not? Anyhow, you don't seem particularly glad to see me, so I'll go away." " Don't don't," he pleaded. " I am glad awfully glad. I thought I'd offended you. I passed you twice to-day and you never noticed me." " Poor fellow," said she, in the melting tones always at her command. She held out her hand in token of amity, and the enraptured youth raised it to his lips. "There, that'll do. You needn't hold my fingers so tightly." "I should like to hold them for ever," he mur- mured. "Don't be silly. I suppose you're on duty now, Fred, and that I'm doing wrong in talking to you." It was the first time she had called him Fred, and the monosyllable from her lips thrilled him to the finger-tips. " You can't do wrong in my eyes, Edith. I may call you Edith mayn't I ? " " Perhaps if you behave yourself very nicely. But I mustn't be seen here. Suppose any of your brother officers were to pass." THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER 115 She allowed him to hold her hand, and the poor lad, overcome with such condescension, scarcely knew whether he was standing on his head or his heels. " Do you know why I came to see you ? " said she, fingering a button on his uniform. " I felt so dull, I wanted somone nice to talk to me." Lieutenant Hilton was delighted. "No; you don't mean it? How awfully jolly of you." Her hair brushed his cheek, and had he dared he would have kissed it, but he always had a fearful joy in flirting with Edith Ross. He never knew when she was in the mood for unlimited admiration. Suddenly she drew herself back. " What's that noise ? " she asked. " Those prisoners who were brought in about an hour ago. What a jolly row the beggars are making. I'll make 'em shut up if you like." " Oh, it doesn't matter at all, now that I know the meaning of the noise. I'm so interested in prisons and prisoners. They always make me think of Baron Trenck, the Man in the Iron Mask, the Prisoner of Chillon, and half-a-dozen more. There's so much romance in a prison. Don't you think so ? " " I don't know. I've never seen any romance in a prison. I've seen a good deal of dirt," said the prosaic Hilton. " I should so awfully like to know what the inside of a prison's like. Mayn't I have just one peep?" said she, glancing upwards. " I wouldn't if I were you you won't like it." " Oh, but I must. I've set my heart upon it." Lieutenant Hilton laughed. A pretty woman's n6 LOVE BESIEGED whim must be gratified. He conducted her along a passage to the door of a room, in front of which a couple of sentries were posted. At the young officer's orders the door was opened a little way. " Oh, but I can't see," objected the lady. " I want to go in altogether and feel that I'm really in prison." Hilton allowed her to enter. A smoky lamp was hanging in the centre of the room. Its lurid light obscured rather than revealed the men squatted on the ground huddled together. At the extreme end was the bhistie, his eyes glowing like coals from beneath his dark, lowering brows. "May I say a word to any of them?" inquired Mrs Ross, with soft timidity. " If you like. / don't mind." The lady spoke to the water-carrier in his own language. It was unintelligible to Hilton, whose knowledge of Hindustani was very limited. But even he, guileless, as he was, noticed that the way the man answered Mrs Ross angered her. This was what passed between the two : " I thought Mrs Ross would contrive to pay the poor water-carrier a visit," said the man, with a covert sneer. " Why are you here, Azimoolah ? " "The mem-sahib can herself answer that question. Was I not brought here by her countrymen ? " " But you were near Lucknow. Didn't you promise me you'd never visit the city, and didn't I pay you well for that promise ? " " Oh yes, five years ago. But the Azimoolah who was Captain Hawke's servant then is not the Azi- moolah of to-day. Don't you know that since that I thought Mrs. Ross would contrive to pay the poor water-carrier a visit," said the man, with a covert sneer. THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER 117 time I've gained power, wealth that the Nana himself is but a puppet in my hands ? Have I not been across the black water to England ? Ay, and the bright eyes of English ladies, as fair as the mem- sahib herself, have brightened at my coming." Mrs Ross had heard nothing of this. It seemed incredible. " It's a lie," she exclaimed angrily. "It's the truth; but I trust to Mrs Ross to keep my secret. It will be good for her own sake to do so. I know Captain Hawke is here, and he will recognise me if you betray me. What shall I say then ? That you bribed me to forge his handwriting ? That you paid me to write scandalous letters to Mr Holcombe ? That you again paid me to post them, and swear that I did so by the order of Captain Hawke?" Hot and stifling as the room was, the woman shivered. All the blood in her body seemed to rush to her heart. Yet it was necessary to master her feelings. Was not this young Englishman standing close by and watching them ? He might be suspicious though he did not understand a word they said. " You won't do that, Azimoolah," she forced herself to reply as calmly as she could. " I've never injured you, and I paid you well for all you did for me." " Oh, that's nothing. I act to please myself, and bad things are more pleasant than good. You're like that, too. The blood of our race runs in your veins. You loved Captain Hawke with your whole being, and yet you struck him a fatal blow." It was too true. Bitterly had Edith Ross regretted the mad fit of spite and revenge which had prompted u8 LOVE BESIEGED her to injure the man she loved an injury which could only be atoned by the exposure of her own wickedness. " What's the fellow saying, Mrs Ross ? If he's inso- lent, I hope you'll tell me," suddenly struck in Hilton. "Nothing, nothing," she replied hurriedly. "He's not rude. It's only his way of speaking." "Yes," resumed Azimoolah, "it's true I've been to England. If you don't believe me, bring me face to face with the girl who was standing by your side when we were brought in. She did not recognise me in my disguise, but I knew her again. She is very handsome as handsome as you, Mrs Ross and younger. Would you like me to tell her the story of Captain Hawke, and how he was ruined by the woman who loved him ? " " Great heavens, no," she cried, her agitation overpowering her for a moment. " Azimoolah, you shall be released. I'll say that I knew you years ago, as an honest, respectable man." "Aha!" laughed the Mohammedan, "they think I am a spy, and they are right, liyou vouch for my character they may let me go. But if I meet Captain Hawke, what then ? " " There's not much fear of that if you're released within twenty-four hours. He's in the hospital. Remember, you must leave Lucknow at once." " Yes, I agree to that." "Then it's a compact?" " I swear it by Allah ! " " I've seen enough, Mr Hilton," said she, turning to the young officer. " Thank you very much." "That fellow had a tremendous jaw," said Hilton, a little discontentedly. THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER 119 He had never seen Mrs Ross so animated ; and though it was absurd to be jealous of a prisoner a common water-carrier something like the pangs of jealousy shot through him. " Well, he interested me a little, because it turns out my father used to employ him. Directly he reminded me of two or three things, I recollected him at once. He's a very respectable man, and I can't understand his being suspected as a spy. You must take me at once to Colonel Inglis." "At once?" faltered Hilton. "At once, please," said Mrs Ross, peremptorily. "Oh, you needn't be afraid of my getting you into trouble." " I don't mind that a bit," said the young man gruffly. " If it is for your sake." " Don't talk nonsense ! I suppose you want to rise in your profession. I shall simply say I saw the man as he was being taken to the Baillie Guard, and recognised him." All Mrs Ross's sweetness had disappeared. But her influence over the ingenuous lad was not lessened. She was taken to Colonel Inglis, and so impressed him with the innocence of the supposed water- carrier whose name she did not say was Azimoolah. Khan that the man, after being examined the next day, was ordered to be released before sunset. But she was in a fever of anxiety until this became an accomplished fact. She ascertained that Azi- moolah would be marched to the iron bridge across the Gumti. Here she waited for and joined him when the guard had crossed the bridge. " I've kept my word, Azimoolah. You owe me something in return," she whispered. 120 LOVE BESIEGED " What shall it be ? " " You said you had met in England the girl who was standing by my side when you were brought into the city. Tell me her name." No one was by, and they were talking in English, which Azimoolah spoke with a perfect accent. He smiled. " Jean Atherton," said he. " How did you meet her ? When and where was it ?" she cried excitedly. Azimoolah explained. " And you can prove this ? " " I have letters in which her name is mentioned." " Let me have them. That's what I ask in return for the service I've done you to-day." " I promise." "When?" "Within two weeks." He salaamed. Some people were approaching. They parted. CHAPTER VIII IN THE RESIDENCY GARDEN AFTER her interview with Azimoolah Edith Ross hurried back to the Residency. She had done a daring thing in venturing out alone the distance of nearly a mile. Rebellion was seething unseen in the city, and the revolt of the military police the day before was but an ebullition of the hidden ferment. An upheaval was within measurable distance. Edith Ross, like hundreds of other Anglo- Indians, never thought of this. She lived in a state of false security. The fact that Azimoolah Khan was in Lucknow as a spy did not come upon her with any significance. Spies had abounded in India from time immemorial. They were indigenous to the soil. What was one spy in Lucknow, more or less ? Had she disclosed to Colonel Inglis the identity of this man, the horrors of Cawnpore might have been averted. But she had not the gift of second sight, neither did she know Azimoolah's real character. She remembered him only as Jack Hawke's servant, and as a man admirably adapted to carry out her scheme of passionate revenge. She knew nothing of his altered position, of his visit to England on behalf of the Nana, of his being really the master spirit of the mutiny, not only in Meerut but in Cawnpore. How could she tell that his visit to Lucknow in disguise was really to ascertain the state of affairs 121 122 LOVE BESIEGED there and to find out for himself whether Sir Henry Lawrence was in a position to send assistance to Sir Hugh Wheeler? There is little doubt that Azimoolah's hand stirred up the military police to revolt. When these men went off to join the mutineers, Sir Henry became convinced that he would have enough to do to hold his own. The police fled on the I2th of June, and on the i6th Sir Henry sent a letter to Sir Hugh Wheeler in reply to the beleaguered general's earnest appeals for help. " I am very sorry, indeed, to hear of your condition," wrote Sir Henry Lawrence, " and grieve that I cannot help you. I have consulted with the chief officers about me, and except Gubbins, they are unanimous in thinking that, with the enemy's command of the river, we could not possibly get a single man into your entrenchments. I need not say that I deeply lament being obliged to concur in this opinion, for our safety is as nearly concerned as yours. We are strong in our entrenchments, but to attempt the passage of a river should be sacrificing a large detachment without a prospect of helping you." And without a doubt, Sir Henry was right. In all probability Azimoolah satisfied himself that Sir Henry was powerless to assist Sir Hugh Wheeler. What he saw in Lucknow determined him to hurry on with the bombardment of the Cawnpore entrenchments. There could be but one end to the siege. Edith Ross went back to the Residency like one who had been relieved of the burden of a millstone. Of all contingencies, the last she reckoned upon was meeting with Azimcolah. But she was now safe IN THE RESIDENCY GARDEN 123 and free to further her scheme as to Dr Lennard and Jean. " I've no ill-will against the girl," she comforted herself by saying, " unless she comes in my path. If she does she'll have no mercy from me. It may be," she added and her eyes shone with a light not often seen in them, it almost suggested tenderness "if Jack is once convinced he can't get her, he'll turn to me. Time was when he would do anything I asked. But in those days I had a dozen men at my feet, and Jack was no more to me than any of the others. So I used to think then I know differently now." Hawke was only detained in the hospital two days, in one way far too long for his impatient spirit. But after the first day there was no inducement to remain, for Dr Macpherson ordered Jean to another patient. " Ye ken enough about cold bandages, lassie," said he grimly. When she was gone the place became hateful to Hawke. Macpherson released him with some misgiving. "That sunstroke has done ye nae good, my lad," said the old doctor to himself, with a shake of his head. A week passed away, and no change took place. The city was quiet, but Sir Henry Lawrence never relaxed his efforts towards strengthening the Resi_ dency. He knew this was destined to be his strong- hold. The Residency with its adjacent buildings was to the west of the city, and not quite a quarter of a mile south of the river Gumti. The iron bridge was well within half-a-mile of its western extremity, the stone bridge was a little more than three-quarters of a mile still farther west. These were the only bridges the i2 4 LOVE BESIEGED city possessed. They led to the British cantonments, to the north side of the river, where the first signs of the mutiny were seen. The entrenchments surrounding the main buildings were in the form of an irregular pentagon. Many houses were within these entrenchments, and all were carefully loopholed in every direction. Where there were exposed verandahs overlooking the exterior wall towards the street, these verandahs were walled up with mud from two to three feet thick. Thus they were protected from any attempt at storming. In some cases, where it was practicable, a sort of scaffolding was built upon the roof, so as to enable the defenders to fire from a more elevated position. Other roofs were surrounded by low earth walls covered with sandbags. Mr Martin Gubbins, the commissioner, a man of wonderful energy, was untiring. He erected at his own expense a half-moon battery, mounting a nine- pounder, which could play on three different points. Another house was defended by a deep ditch and a cactus hedge, and fortified by a couple of guns. The church, a gothic building, with twenty low pinnacles, was converted into a storehouse for grain. At the gate to the east was a mortar battery, destined to shell the whole of the western and northern buildings outside the entrenchments as far as the iron and stone bridges. The victims of the outbreak in the cantonments were the first who were buried in the church. It had not before been used as a place of interment. It was soon destined to be filled with the bodies of the gallant defenders of the Lucknow garrison. The strongest piece of fortification work was the IN THE RESIDENCY GARDEN 125 redan, erected by Captain Fulton, an engineer of great capacity. The whole of the riverside and the buildings on the opposite banks could be played upon by the cannon Fulton planted here. In the event of an attack both the north and east, as well as the west sides, could be swept with grape from the redan. Along the redan, to the north, in an irregular line extending to the hospital, was a wall of fascines and of earthwork, above which and through whose loop- holes formed by sandbags the men were able to fire with certain effect. The Baillie Guard was in an isolated position, and practically outside the bound- aries of the Residency entrenchments. The Baillie Guard Gate to the right was lofty, and a fine piece of architecture. The gate was to be blocked up with earth, and in the event of an entrance being forced.two nine-pounders and an eight- inch howitzer could between them shower grape and canister upon the assailants. The post-office was one of the most important positions. It commanded a large area in different directions. It was made the barrack-room of a great portion of the soldiers. It was besides the head- quarters of the engineers, and offered accommodation to several families. There were also other buildings, some of them inside the boundaries, and others on the borders, and used as outposts. Here many of the most stubborn fights occurred, and hundreds of sepoys paid for their temerity with their lives. Through the enclosed space ran various roads and lanes, most of them very narrow, and all destined to be scenes of fierce combat. 126 LOVE BESIEGED Sir Henry Lawrence's quarters were in the Resi- dency itself, in a room convenient from its elevated position for observing the enemy, but unduly exposed. Had he regarded his own safety, he would have chosen any room but this. As the days went on the feeling of disquietude which was always present in a greater or less degree deepened. No news had come from Cawnpore, and upon Cawnpore everything depended. Sir Henry Lawrence, writing to Lord Canning on the 23rd of June, said : " If Cawnpore holds out, I doubt if we shall be besieged at all." But five days later came the terrible news. Cawn- pore had fallen, and its brave garrison had been butchered. A thrill of horror went through the little commun- ity. Never before had the savagery of the mutiny seemed so real to them. Never had it touched them so nearly. Cawnpore was not so many miles from Lucknow. Until the mutineers closed the roads, communication between the two places was ready and frequent. Members of the same families were in both, and the friendships were many. Yet, amid the thousand and one rumours which spread with lightning rapidity, in spite of the appre- hensions as to the approach of danger, love, hatred, jealousy, revenge, went on apace. The moment for the merging of purely personal feelings into one common emotion had not arrived. Jack Hawke's fierce unreasoning love for Jean became more intense day by day. For all that he was careful to avoid her. He busied himself in work which took him to a distant part of the Residency and only saw her at a distance. IN THE RESIDENCY GARDEN 127 Edith Ross was not deceived by this apparent indifference. She knew Hawke thoroughly. He was a man who could by a strong effort of will abstain from anything towards which his passions or inclinations led him ; but the self-imposed barrier once broken, he knew no bounds. It was so with gambling, so with betting, and so with drinking. " I shall leave Jack alone for a while," said Mrs Ross to herself. " I gain nothing by irritating him. Why doesn't Ernest Lennard make the running with Jean now he has the chance? I hate your scientific men. They're so slow in making up their minds. They must be sure of everything before they stir a step." This was not quite true of Lennard. He had made up his mind that he loved Jean Atherton. The doubt was what her answer would be if he declared himself. Mrs Ross never lost an opportunity of dropping hints to Lennard as to what she pretended she knew about Jean's feelings towards him. Jean herself always appeared pleased when he approached her, and her father was certainly in his favour. Mr Atherton was both a shrewd and blunt man and he never beat about the bush. " You needn't be unnecessarily reticent about the matter, Lennard," said he with a smile. " I've seen for some time past how your thoughts have been tend- ing. Let me say at once there is no man to whom I would more gladly see my dear girl married than yourself." " How good of you to say that," cried Lennard, his pale face flushing. "I admit that I admire well, admire is too cold a word let me say plainly that I love Jean ; but " 128 LOVE BESIEGED " Well, where does the ' but ' come in ? " said Mr Atherton, seeing that he hesitated. " I fear she doesn't care sufficiently for me. There may be some prior attachment somebody in Eng- land perhaps." " Don't you worry, doctor. It wouldn't amount to more than a mere flirtation a boy and girl affair. Girls of her age are not in the same mood two weeks together. Besides the present lover has always the advantage over the absent one. It's his own fault if he doesn't make full use of his opportunity. And especially now, Lennard," continued Atherton, his voice suddenly becoming very grave. " We're on the eve of a terrible crisis. Do you know what news Sir Henry received this morning ? " "No; I've been in the hospital all day, and have heard nothing." "The rebels are massing from all quarters at Nawabgunge, only twenty miles away. This morning a spy came into the Residency with the intelligence that an advance guard of 500 infantry and 100 horse had arrived at Chinhut on the Fyzabad road, to collect supplies for a main body, who are to follow. Chinhut, as you know, is but eight miles away. Twenty of our cavalry the best we could muster, and that isn't saying very much went out at once to reconnoitre, but were unable to do so. The cunning rascals posted pickets, and these were in too strong a force to allow our men to pass. They came back without learning anything." "What's going to be done?" returned Lennard, with an anxious face. " Sir Henry will attack the enemy in force to- morrow morning. He hopes to smash up the advance IN THE RESIDENCY GARDEN 129 guard before the reinforcements reach it. I'm very doubtful as to the result. The fall of Cawnpore has released a few thousands of the devils, and my opinion is that the enemy is much stronger than Sir Henry imagines. It will be an awful business if we're defeated. You may depend upon it, the Residency will be at once attacked, and well, it may be Cawnpore over again." Atherton paused a moment and went on in lower and more earnest tones. " Lennard, this is a queer time, isn't it, to talk of marriage and giving in marriage, and what I'm going to say is for your sake and for the sake of my daughter whom I dearly love. At any moment I may be taken away there are no non-combatants now ; even you surgeons may have to fight, though heaven knows you'll have plenty of work in the hospital and it would be some slight comfort to me in my final hour to know that my girl had a husband who would guard her to the last drop of his blood." " By heaven, Atherton, you speak the truth there," cried Lennard, his eyes flashing. " Very well. Then lose no time. You know my ideas. I leave the rest to you. Go at once to Jean." Lennard went out in a tumult of feeling. He would not give himself time to think. It was not a moment for doubts, subtleties of thought and analysis of emotions. One lurking suspicion had indeed been removed, at least so he thought. Jean, while pitying Hawke, did not love him. So much he had learned in his conversations with her. Nor had Hawke forced himself in any way upon her. With hope thrilling in every nerve, he hastened i 1 3 o LOVE BESIEGED towards the quarter of the building which had been assigned to the ladies. As a doctor here, there, and everywhere, at every- body's beck and call, Lennard was known by sight to every lady in the Residency and to a large number by professional service ; and there were few indeed among the children who did not know him and look upon him with that reverence and awe with which children commonly regard men in his profession. He had therefore no difficulty in finding a messenger to carry a note to Jean, to ask her for an early inter- view. When he reached the ladies' quarters, he commandeered a sometime patient of nine or ten years of age to carry his note to Miss Atherton and to bring him her reply. The girl, glad to do the doctor a service and pleased to win a smile from Jean, whom everybody loved, carried the note to her and delivered it with more exactness than necessary, saying that she had brought it from the doctor, who waited her reply. Several ladies heard the child's remarks as she delivered the note, and one of them, whose eyes lit up with an unusual interest, rose and left the room. As the child returned with Jean's answer, she met the lady, who induced the child to let her look at the scribbled note she carried, from which Mrs Ross learned that Jean Atherton had promised to meet Ernest Lennard by the fountain in the Residency garden in a quarter of an hour. Having secured this important secret, she hastened with all speed to make the best possible use of it for her own purposes, and immediately set out for the redan. Here she knew she would find Hawke. She met IN THE RESIDENCY GARDEN 131 him half way. He was leading a horse, and he scarcely noticed her. She went up to him. "Jack!" said she. He turned abruptly. " Don't hinder me. I'm in a hurry." "You've need to be," she replied with emphasis, " if you don't want to lose Jean Atherton." " What do you mean ? " he asked fiercely. " I suppose you thought you were the only man likely to take her girlish fancy, and that you'd but to look at her and she would wait your highness's pleasure. That's how it used to be in the old days. You haven't altered much, Jack, but circumstances have worse luck for you." He seized her wrist, twisted her round, and glared into her face. " You haven't sought me without a motive. You never do anything without a motive. What is it now ? " Edith Ross knew Jack Hawke well. He was a man who required a strong stimulant before his nature was roused. " How dull you are ! Can't you understand that a man at this very moment is making love to Jean Atherton? But perhaps you don't care sufficiently about her for this to affect you." He started. The blood surged to his face. He allowed the rope attached to the horse's head to drop from his hand. Hitherto Hawke had been living in a delicious day-dream. He had got it into his head that Jean was perfectly free, and he resolved to wait his time. The stigma attached to his name was the stumbling- block. He knew the difficulty of explaining away LOVE BESIEGED his past. Even if he could do so, it meant going into so deep a confession of folly, that he shrank from the task. What an older woman would readily understand and condone, a young girl would look upon with repugnance. He longed to do some daring deed, some stupendous feat of heroism which would blot out all that he had done in the past and all that was said against him in the present. Then, when all would be glad to shake him by the hand, he would go boldly to Jean and ask her for her love. This was his dream. Mrs Ross had rudely shaken him out of it. The possibility of another man carrying Jean off before his eyes had never occurred to him. It roused every drop of hot blood in his body. " Have you anything else to say ? " he cried hoarsely. " I see you don't believe me," said Mrs Ross. "It's easy to satisfy you that I speak the truth. Come with me." He hesitated for a moment. Edith Ross watched his heavy brows lowering, and his lips tightening till they were almost white. She knew she had gained the day. "Where?" " In the Residency garden, near the fountain/' He wrenched his horse's head round with a force which must have hurt the animal's mouth, tied him to a palisading, and with a look of midnight on his handsome face, followed the temptress. The Residency garden, once so trim and gay, was now a scene of disorder. Stores in boxes, barrels and bags were heaped upon the flower-beds ; shot IN THE RESIDENCY GARDEN 133 were piled up on the lawn ; bullock carts, tumbrils, artillery waggons crowded the paths. Only the few flowers near the fountain beneath a large tree had been spared. In some places the stores had been so heaped up in sections that going through the narrow gangways was like threading a maze. The sun was setting, and they could easily ap- proach the fountain without being seen by the two who were already there. "Come nearer," whispered Edith Ross, "you can hear what they are saying." "Who's the fellow? " was Hawke's fierce answer. " Don't you know ? Ernest Lennard 1 " His friend 1 The man who had stuck to him through evil report, who had defended him when all seemed black. " I'll not go a step farther," he muttered in a choking voice. " Lennard, at least, is worthy of her more worthy than I am. Why did you bring me here, Edith?" A gleam of triumph lit up the woman's dark eyes. It was the first time he had called her Edith since his return to Lucknow. Was this a sign of her returning power? He was destined to hear, whether he would or not. The two figures who had been talking so earnestly, moved from the fountain, and came slowly in Hawke's direction. To move would mean discovery. Mrs Ross's fingers closed swiftly round his arm, as a sign for him to remain quiet. Lennard did not look like a man who had proposed and had been accepted. He was very pale. There was no joy in his eyes. Jean was walking by his 134 LOVE BESIEGED side, not close to him, as she would have been had things gone smoothly. Her eyes were bent on the ground. Her lips seemed to tremble. Neither spoke. "You'll forgive me, Dr Lennard, won't you?" at last they heard her say, and she spoke with evident effort. "What have I to forgive, Miss Atherton? I staked and lost, that's all. Many men have done the same thing," was his answer. And he drew a long breath. " I'm so sorry," she went on pityingly. " I I do like you very much ; but you see how it is, don't you?" " Yes, yes, say no more. I'm glad you've told me. It's better always to find out the truth. It's saved me much future pain, because had I not known what I now know I might have come to love you so much that " Then he checked himself, and cried : " What's the good speculating as to what might be? I've done too much already of that, I'm afraid." " But we shall still be friends ? " she urged. The vibration of feeling in his voice had brought tears to her eyes. She knew that her refusal had in- flicted the sharpest pain a man can feel, and it went to her heart to tell him she could never become his wife. " I hope so. What has happened can make no difference in my regard for you. May I see you to the Residency ? " She bowed her head, and slipped her little hand within his arm as a token he had not offended her. They went slowly off together. IN THE RESIDENCY GARDEN 135 The man and woman left behind exchanged a glance. The eyes of the former had in them a savage joy. The eyes of the latter were dull with disappointment and baffled spite. " I never thought to thank you for bringing me here," he exclaimed, " but I do. Poor beggar ! How nicely and considerately she refused him ! Perhaps you'll say she'll refuse me when my turn comes to ask her." " Yes," said Mrs Ross, in a voice trembling with suppressed passion. " Fool that you are, Jack Hawke ! Can't you read between the lines? Didn't you hear sufficient to tell you that the girl refused him, not because she could not love him, but because she loved someone else better ? Are you the one she loves ? " " Why not ? " returned Hawke. But his tone was not confident. " Shall I find out for you ? Nothing is easier. Take my advice, Jack Hawke. Think no more ol Jean Atherton. You're not the man to take punish- ment in Dr Lennard's fashion." "That's my affair." And with a reckless laugh and at tug at his moustache, he strode off. CHAPTER IX THE FATAL DAY OF CHINHUT HAWKE returned to his horse with a strange sense of exhilaration. He knew that Ernest Lennard had proposed to Jean Atherton and had been rejected. He cared to know nothing more. He was going into battle with a light heart. It was the 29th of June. Sir Henry Lawrence's spies had brought word that the main body of the enemy would not reach Chinhut until the evening of the 3