Rujub, the Juggler, G. A. Henty [top fiction books of all time .TXT] 📗

is not the man to say a thing without meaning it, I suppose he intends to come over again. He knows there is always a bed for him in my place.”

“We see very little of him,” Mary Hunter said; “he is always away on horseback all day. Sometimes he comes in the evening when we are quite alone, but he will never stay long. He always excuses himself on the ground that he has a report to write or something of that sort. Amy and I call him 'Timon of Athens.'”

“There is nothing of Timon about him,” the Doctor remarked dogmatically. “That is the way with you young ladies—you think that a man's first business in life is to be dancing attendance on you. Bathurst looks at life seriously, and no wonder, going about as he does among the natives and listening to their stories and complaints. He puts his hand to the plow, and does not turn to the right or left.”

“Still, Doctor, you must allow,” Mrs. Hunter said gravely, “that Mr. Bathurst is not like most other men.”

“Certainly not,” the Doctor remarked. “He takes no interest in sport of any kind; he does not care for society; he very rarely goes to the club, and never touches a card when he does; and yet he is the sort of man one would think would throw himself into what is going on. He is a strong, active, healthy man, whom one would expect to excel in all sorts of sports; he is certainly good looking; he talks extremely well, and is, I should say, very well read and intelligent.”

“He can be very amusing when he likes, Doctor. Once or twice when he has been with us he has seemed to forget himself, as it were, and was full of fun and life. You must allow that it is a little singular that a man like this should altogether avoid society, and night and day be absorbed in his work.”

“I have thought sometimes,” Mr. Hunter said, “that Bathurst must have had some great trouble in his life. Of what nature I can, of course, form no idea. He was little more than twenty when he came out here, so I should say that it was hardly a love affair.”

“That is always the way, Hunter. If a man goes his own way, and that way does not happen to be the way of the mess, it is supposed that he must have had trouble of some sort. As Bathurst is the son of a distinguished soldier, and is now the owner of a fine property at home, I don't see what trouble he can have had. He may possibly, for anything I know, have had some boyish love affairs, but I don't think he is the sort of man to allow his whole life to be affected by any foolery of that sort. He is simply an enthusiast.

“It is good for mankind that there should be some enthusiasts. I grant that it would be an unpleasant world if we were all enthusiasts, but the sight of a man like him throwing his whole life and energy into his work, and wearing himself out trying to lessen the evils he sees around him, ought to do good to us all. Look at these boys,” and he apostrophized Wilson and Richards, as they appeared together at the door. “What do they think of but amusing themselves and shirking their duties as far as possible?”

“Oh, I say, Doctor,” Wilson exclaimed, astonished at this sudden attack, “what are you pitching into us like that for? That is not fair, is it, Major? We amuse ourselves, of course, when there is nothing else to do, but I am sure we don't shirk our work. You don't want us to spend our spare time in reading Greek, I suppose?”

“No; but you might spend some of it very profitably in learning some of these native languages,” the Doctor said. “I don't believe that you know above a dozen native words now. You can shout for brandy and water, and for a light for your cigars, but I fancy that that is about the extent of it.”

“We are going to have a moonshee next week, Doctor,” Wilson said, a little crestfallen, “and a horrid nuisance it will be.”

“That is only because you are obliged to pass in the vernacular, Wilson. So you need not take any credit to yourself on that account.”

“Doctor, you are in one of your worst possible tempers this morning,” Isobel said. “You snap at us all round. You are quite intolerable this morning.”

“I am rather put out by Bathurst running away in this fashion, Miss Hannay. I had made up my mind that he would stop three or four days longer, and it is pleasant to have someone who can talk and think about something besides horses and balls. But I will go away; I don't want to be the disturbing element; and I have no doubt that Richards is burning to tell you the odds on some of the horses today.”

“Shall we see you on the racecourse, Doctor?” the Major asked, as the Doctor moved towards the door.

“You will not, Major; one day is enough for me. If they would get up a donkey race confined strictly to the subalterns of the station, I might take the trouble to go and look at it.”

“The Doctor is in great form today,” Wilson said good temperedly, after the laugh which followed the Doctor's exit had subsided; “and I am sure we did nothing to provoke him.”

“You got into his line of fire, Wilson,” the Major said; “he is explosive this morning, and has been giving it to us all round. However, nobody minds what the Doctor says; his bark is very bad, but he has no bite. Wait till you are down with the fever, and you will find him devote himself to you as if he were your father.”

“He is one of the kindest men in the world,” Isobel agreed warmly, thereby effectually silencing Richards, who had just pulled up his shirt collar preparatory to a sarcastic utterance respecting him.

Isobel, indeed, was in full sympathy with the Doctor, for she, too, was disappointed at Bathurst's sudden departure. She had looked forward to learning a good deal from him about the native customs and ways, and had intended to have a long talk with him. She was perhaps, too, more interested generally in the man himself than she would have been willing to admit.

That evening the party went to an entertainment at Bithoor. Isobel and the girls were delighted with the illuminations of the gardens and with the palace itself, with its mixture of Eastern splendor and European luxury. But Isobel did not altogether enjoy the evening.

“I suppose I ought to congratulate you on your success last night, Isobel,” Dr. Wade said, when he dropped in after breakfast. “Everyone has been telling me that the Rajah paid you the greatest attention, and that there is the fiercest gnashing of teeth among what must now be called the ex-queens of the station.”

“I don't know who told you such nonsense, Doctor,” Isobel replied hotly. “The Rajah quite spoilt the evening for me. I have been telling Mrs. Hunter so. If we had not been in his own house, I should have told him that I should enjoy the evening very much more if he would leave me alone and let me go