I must wait until I am invited--if I am!" he hesitatingly
said. "You know that my rank is--to say the least--shadowy!" The
lady passed over this semi-confession in silence.
"It is not like Johnstone to let Nadine meet all the gay coterie
which will fill the great halls," mused Madame Delavigne. "I
suppose that the dear child will have a week of 'marble prison'
in her rooms, with only the governess. I think I shall let General
Abercrornby leave before I call. What do you advise? Johnstone has
always ignored the ladies of Delhi!"
"I really am powerless to counsel you," said Major Hawke gravely,
"as I am outside of the circle. I would watch this man keenly. He
bears you no good will. And now--what shall I do? Did your business
at Calcutta bring me the summons to action?" There was no undue
eagerness in his voice. He was gliding into a safe position for
the future eclaircissement.
"Not yet. But it will come! It will come--as soon as this General
goes. For I now will demand the right to drop Berthe Louison, and
to be my own self. To be Alixe Delavigne to one bright, loving human
soul only, in this land of arid solitudes, of peopled wastes. The
land of the worn, scarred human nature, which, blind, creedless,
and hopeless, staggers along under the burden of misery under the
menace of the British bayonet."
"When do you leave it?" quietly asked the cautious Major.
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