The Daughter of Brahma | Page 5

of the word and plodded on through the blinding heat with
a mechanical stoicism which suggested that a brick wall would not
have stopped her. Evidently she was well acquainted with the road and
her present destiny.
At a sudden bend which revealed a low, white bungalow lying well
back amongst a pleasant clump of trees, she jerked her head and
resumed her canter with a spirit wholly inconsistent with her previous
performance. The judge sat up, like a man aroused from sleep by a
well-known signal. He straightened his shoulders, and, as though
obeying some command of the will, colour ebbed slowly back into his
cheeks. The moment's rest "behind the scenes" was over, and it was as
a dashing cavalier that he swung into the compound and drew rein at
the verandah steps. A native servant lay curled up in the shade,
apparently undisturbed in his slumbers by the sound of horse's hoofs,
and the judge bent over in his saddle and tickled him playfully hi the
ribs with his whip.
"Now, then, Josephus, bestir yourself, will you? No, it's all right, I'm
not the tenth Avatar. Just help my mortal remains out of the saddle so,
that's better. Ah, then I am expected!" He ran up the steps with the
agility of a boy, one big hand outstretched, his square face transformed.
"Do you know, I was afraid I had dreamt it!"
His hostess, who had advanced out of the shade of the porch to meet
him, smiled faintly.
"I hope it was not a nightmare, Judge!"
"It was a day-dream," he answered, "and, alas, day-dreams have a trick
of proving delusive. It took all the eloquence of my boy and my boots
to persuade me that your note of this morning was not a pleasant trick
of my hopeful imagination."
"Your boots?" she queried.

He looked down at the articles in question and then at her. His
expression was ludicrously reproachful.
"My dear friend, can't you see ?"
"They are certainly very beautiful--"
"And an intolerable tight fit. Do you think I should sacrifice so much
for my appearance to please any one?"
She laughed quietly.
"I accept the compliment, but come in. I have ordered tea in the
drawing-room. You will be thirsty."
He followed her, endeavouring to control a grimace of pain, for the
patent leather boots, following the laws of their species, had contracted.
Once in the shady drawing-room, he chose the first strong chair and sat
down with a sigh of relief.
"It will be some time before you get me to move again," he said
conclusively. "I have suffered much, and I claim my just reward."
She seated herself opposite him, but close to the open window, so that
her gaze could wander over the sun-scorched plain which undulated
towards the hills. The smile hovering about her straight-cut mouth was
contradicted by her eyes, which were grave and preoccupied.
"You need not be afraid," she said. "I am not so inconsiderate as to ask
a busy man like yourself to call on me in the hottest time of the
afternoon for the pure pleasure of saying 'How do you do'-- I have
something serious to talk to you about, and I wanted to be alone."
The judge opened his small, blue eyes wide, but made no immediate
answer, allowing the entrance of a native with a silver tea-tray to fill up
the silence. During the noiseless arranging of the cups he took the
opportunity to study his hostess with a frank and uncritical admiration.
A critical observer would have admitted that she made a striking but

not beautiful picture, though he might have been hard put to it to
explain the latter limitation. Perhaps the exceptional about her was too
emphasised; for the human taste has erected conventional standards in
human beauty, to trespass against which may bring even perfection
very near to the repugnant.
The woman seated by the window was, indeed, not perfect, but so
nearly did she touch that high ideal that it was difficult to understand
why, for many eyes, she was physically almost displeasing. True, it
depended on the eyes. The ladies of Kolruna declared among
themselves that there was something about Mrs. Hurst's beauty which
made them " go cold all over," as they expressed it, but the newly
arrived subalterns raved about her and wanted to marry her. Which was
an innocent enough form of insanity, for Mrs. Hurst's attitude towards
them was scarcely even maternal. As a consequence, they ended by
calling her a "hard woman," and their admiration became tinged with a
nervous respect. Her very height and bearing seemed to claim that
much tribute from them. Her shoulders were broad and straight, like a
man's, and suggested strength, though they were perhaps a