Voices in the Night Part 41

'It will be, if we give him time,' replied Burkut; 'and all the more surely, if we say it is there already. That is simple, since Nushapore knows that the guardians.h.i.+p of the signet was not with my lord always.

It is but to withdraw the charge of theft, saying that we have found the ring returned to its rightful owner, the Nawabin.'

This time Jehan ground his teeth; he felt his impotence, even against this man, horribly. 'And then?' he asked sullenly.

'And then we shall be free to watch Lateefa. We can give him time to go to his hiding-place. And then we can search him--and thy house. But without the police! We must have no more of _their_ methods. It hath cost me somewhat to get beyond them now, which sum shall be as a debt between thee and me--but there must be no more of it!'

'But the pearls?' replied Jehan uneasily; 'the pearls and that jade Sobrai, whom G.o.d curse.'

Burkut gave a sudden blink of his long eyes. 'Say rather, may G.o.d curse those who led virtue astray! 'Tis a tale, my lord, to dissolve heart and liver! Kidnapped by order, almost by force. Bribed to a _sahib's_ pleasure by pearls. By four pearls taken--oh! most horrible!--from a string which the head of her house had, with tears, sold to that same _sahib_! Sold in his honourable indigence, which had not hesitated to wrench the last ornament from the necks of virtuous women in order to keep them virtuous----' He paused in his periods for breath.

'_Wah!_' said Jehan stupidly--his jaw had almost fallen in sheer surprise--'that runs well. But the proof?'

Burkut smiled a superior smile. 'Thy reluctance to allow publicity. Thy instant a.s.sertion that the pearls were thine. Lo! is not the whole true, save that Lucanaster _sahib_ gave the pearls to Sobrai? And that is for him to prove. "_Tie a lie to a truth and the two will sink or swim together_" is good wisdom!'

'But they must see the pearls--they said so but yesterday. The magistrate _sahib_----'

'Go to him, and make thy confession. Say that there was but this untruth. The pearls were not, they had been thine. Say that, even now, if thou canst but get the girl back in secret----'

'In secret,' echoed Jehan fiercely, 'when already the police----'

Burkut lost patience then. 'Fool! canst not thou see that in that lies the gain? _Thou_ canst stand aloof, but the h.e.l.l-doomed must answer!

And not the one; but all. Lo! it is a tale for the bazaars! for the newspapers! And 'tis not as if thou couldst keep it secret longer. Thou canst not. Therefore use it against those whose fault it is that thou canst not.' He paused, suddenly folded his hands in the att.i.tude of service, and said reverently: 'What orders hath the Pillar of Justice, the Mighty in Power, the Disposer of Slaves, regarding a necklace of pearls, and one Sobrai Begum, a woman of his household?'

The sarcasm bit deep, and Jehan Aziz, the Rightful Heir to such power, swore, this time, horribly, feeling as Burkut intended, that revenge was better than nothing.

'And I will bring trouble to Miss Leezie also,' he began viciously, when Burkut cut him short.

'That were unwise. She stands too close to authority. Say it was Dilaram----'

'Dilaram! wherefore?' put in Jehan stupidly.

Burkut's laugh was evil beyond words. 'Because they who touch her and hers, rouse what they cannot still. Thou needst not say it for certain.

That is the best of lies--there is freedom for the tongue in them. Say it seems so. And hearken----! Govind the editor will pay for this news.

If thou canst get word, by means of this money, to Sobrai herself, it would be well. She knows her fate if she comes back to thy house.

Promise her escape if she will say it was Lucanaster.'

Jehan's pious wishes for the immediate destruction of all the unfaithful came almost cheerfully. He felt infinitely relieved all round. So far as the ring went, he was inclined to believe that Burkut was right. It might even now be back in Noormahal's keeping; but, before making sure of that, it would be as well to see what Lateefa would do. Then as for the pearls, he at least got some revenge. And the beauty of it was that a solid substratum of truth, sufficient to save him from trouble, underlay all the lies. The pearls _were_ his; he _had_ sold them to Lucanaster _sahib_; Sobrai's _four_ did belong to that string; she _had_ been beguiled into the cantonments.

It was only that a different complexion had been put upon the facts; a complexion which might, almost, be the right one, since who was to know why Sobrai----

Once more the irrational, uncontrollable animal jealousy of the thought seized on him, and he felt a fierce joy in knowing that the story was one to rouse a similar feeling in many minds. And wherefore not? Were not similar stories true? Were they not to be heard every day? Were not tales of the libertinism, tyranny, and corruption of the _sahibs_ to be read in every line of the newspapers? And none contradicted them; therefore they could not be contradicted. So if _this_ tale were not all true (a faint scruple, that was as much an inheritance as Jehan's pa.s.sion for power, lingered in spite of his desire for revenge), there were plenty of others far worse that could be proved up to the hilt.

Thus, once more, that commonest of all Indian conjuring tricks, the making of one lie out of two or more truths, started on its evil errand.

Yet not a mile away from its starting-place rose the Government College, the Courts of Justice, the Secretariat, the Revenue Offices; all the plant, the stock, and lock, and block, of an administration which, take it as you will, is the only one India has ever had, which has allowed even a whisper to be raised against it without condign punishment.

At that very moment Sir George Arbuthnot, in his private office, was reading an article from the day's issue of the _Voice of India_, that had been brought over amongst the usual selections from the native newspapers which are submitted by the Press censor.

'_Is it too late_,' he read, '_ere the great crisis comes upon us which may mean so much to the poorest of the poor, the richest of the rich, to implore the Government to think, ere it inflicts on the helpless, the horrible and needless tortures which, there is too much reason to fear, have been inflicted on our fellow-countrymen in other parts of unhappy India? May we not once more venture to plead with the authorities for our poor townsfolk, and point out to them that these weaker brethren have beliefs which they would rather die than deny? The sacredness of the cow, for instance, must, and does seem silly, foolish, to those who eat beef every day, but to our people it is a dogma. To yield one t.i.ttle of it is eternal d.a.m.nation. So with the sacredness of their women. This thesis may not be held by our rulers.

We know that it is not. Those of us who have seen London do not need to be told this, and even a visit to cantonments shows us a different standard. Tales that are harrowing to the fathers and husbands of India may be food for laughter elsewhere. Therefore is it that at this crisis we venture to implore the great English Government to remember that to us such things are all important. That we cannot, we dare not away with them_.

'_The late generous announcement of Sir George Arbuthnot, our popular Lieutenant-Governor, to the effect that no coercion will be used, at the outset, has greatly soothed the natural alarm of all, raised by general and credible belief in a plan of campaign similar to those approved by authorities in all other parts of India. For which diplomatic utterance we poor folk are grateful, and which emboldens us to ask the following pertinent questions:_--

'1. _Would it not be possible, by treating ignorant poor folk with kindness and consideration, to allay their natural fears?_

'2. _Would it not be well to issue stringent rules that no woman shall be examined for plague even by British soldiers, and that Brahmins, cows, and family idols be not wilfully ill-treated?_

'3. _Though it is to be feared, alas, that jack-in-offices must perforce exhibit greed and covetousness, should not some supervision be exercised to prevent unnecessary removal of valuables, 'et hoc genus omne,' from plague-stricken houses?_

'4. _Finally, is it not possible, even at this late hour, when Plague overshadows us with horrible mantles of dread_ (_there are persistent rumours of three cases in Muhalla Kuzai_), _that the co-operation and advice of educated natives be invited as to means of avoiding friction.

Comparisons are invidious, but it is not too much to say that Messrs.

Bhola-nath_----'

'You can leave off there, sir,' said the a.s.sistant-secretary. 'It is up one side of Shark Lane and down the other.'

Sir George turned over the slip to the next with elaborate patience.

'It is ingeniously suggestive,' he remarked. 'By the way, have we succeeded in getting any more volunteers for search parties?'

'Two, sir; but they are both retired native officers, and as that would make all but five, military, the commissioner thought----'

'Then we want twenty more. Send a reminder to Shark Lane. And about the destruction of infected clothes?'

'There is only one thing for it, sir, as we agreed before,' replied the chief of the police. 'We must have an Englishman with each search party. It's absurd to expect constables on five rupees a month to keep their hands from picking and stealing. That fact must be faced. We do our best; but our department, which is the most difficult to deal with, is the worst paid.'

'That's a nasty story,' said Sir George suddenly. He had been glancing through another excerpt. 'Hm, the _Ear of the Wise_, editor Govinda Ram.'

'He has the best nose, anyhow, for unmitigated filth in India,'

remarked the a.s.sistant-secretary; 'but of course one can't notice that sort of thing.' Here he shrugged his shoulders.

The chief of the police, who was an old military man, squared his.

'There I totally disagree, as his Honour knows. That paper has a greater effect in Nushapore than all those high-falutin' prints put together; and that's all my business. I'd have him up, on every slander, in the criminal courts. You wouldn't allow that sort of thing about the masters to be circulated in a school? And the more we remember that our position in India is virtually that of a schoolmaster, or, if you like it better, trustee to a minority, the better it will be for that minority.'

'Bravo, Grey!' said Sir George, with a smile. 'You stick to your colours. And a good many of us agree; only the people at home won't have it. They can't grasp the situation; they would as soon believe it to be a grave political danger if the little street boys hung garlands round Guy Fawkes instead of burning him! Now, about the plague itself.

Is it on us, doctor?

'Yes, sir,' replied a small man who had just been shown in. 'We have just inspected all the native charitable dispensaries. They have no proper records, of course, and they deny increased attendance. But they are almost out of drugs. Then there are three undoubted cases in the butchers' quarter. But the fis.h.i.+est part of the city is all about the Garden Gate. Those tall old houses--there has been a lot of deaths.'

'Poor, high-cla.s.s Mohammedans,' remarked the a.s.sistant-secretary significantly. 'Rather bad luck.'

Sir George rose and put away his papers. 'Then we had better start. I think everything is settled. The great point is to keep--to keep normal as long as possible.'

As he quitted the room the men left in it looked at each other.

'Right so far; but after----' said one.

'Telegraph home for orders; what else can you do nowadays?'

'Do! I'd show them, if I had a free hand. I'd settle this lot.' The chief of the police slapped his confidential file viciously as he pocketed it. 'I'd limit their circulation by a little wholesome bloodletting.'