The Rubies of Rajmar: or, Mr. Charecote's Daughters. A romance. By Mrs. Egerton Eastwick (Pleydell North)

Front matter

a OR MR. CHARLECOTE'S DAUGHTERS. A ROMANCE. BY MRS. EGERTON EASTWICK (PLEYDELL NORTH). LONDON: GEORGE NEWNES, LTD., SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND. 1895. NOTE. The Rajputs invaded India from the North-West. The supreme characteristic of their religion is Sun-worship. The courage of the Rajput men — a race of warriors — kindled similar heroism among the women, who were regarded with a respect exceeding that accorded to the sex in the most chivalrous days of Europe. In 1535, when the city of Chitor was besieged by Bahadur, the king of Gujarat, the Queen Mother, Jawahir, clad in armour, led a sally, in which she was slain. After all hope of resistance was gone, the Queen Karnavati headed the procession of females, and 13,000 were at once destroyed on a pyre, beneath which gunpowder had been heaped ; while the warriors, emulating this act of heroism, flung open the gates of the city and rushed upon the swords of their enemies.

If a Rajput lady sent her bracelet to a warrior, NOTE. VI he became her knight, and was bound to do her faithful service, though never allowed to see her face. Queen Karnavati, before her cremation, sent her bracelet to the Emperor Humayan. He was, how ever, campaigning in Bengal, and before he could reach Chitor, all was over. The Rajputs acknowledged the Supreme Being, as is shown by the following extracts from a remarkable letter addressed by the Rajput Rana of Mewar to the Emperor Aurungzebe : — " God is the God of all mankind, and not of the Mohammedan alone. To vilify the religious customs of other men, is to set at nought the pleasure of the Almighty. Justly has the poet said, ' Presume not to scrutinize or arrange the various works of Power Divine.' " The above statements are drawn from the Kaisar n&mah i Hind, or Lay of the Empress, a poem by the late Edward B. Eastwick, C.B., F.R.S. The poem was dedicated by gracious permission to Her Majesty the Queen, Empress of India.

Copies of this unique work are in the possession of Her Majesty, and of most of the Princes of India. CONTENTS. chapter page I. In the Vicarage Garden ... ... ... i II. The First Appearance of the Rubies ... 14 III. A Mysterious Document ... ... ... 24 IV. A Murderous Idol ... ... ... 36 V. Poppy Hill ... ... ... ... ... 48 VI. Rajmar in Town ... ... ... ... 61 VII. A Dangerous Ally ... ... ... ... 75 VIII. What is there against him? ... ... 90 IX. An Hour of Forgetfulness, or the Perfumes of the Rani ... ... ... ... 107 X. Plot and Counter-plot in Brook Street 121 XI. Who has the Rubies? ... ... ... 137 XII. Two Conferences ... ... ... 150 XIII. Vaults at Portreath ... ... ... 165 XIV. Rajmar starts on a Cruise ... ... 179 XV. S-e-c-u-r-i-t-y ... ... ... ... ... 194 XVI. A Rash Resolve ... ... ... ... 208 XVII.

Chapter I. In The Vicarage Garden

THE low-lying meadows of the village of Lean Vale shone golden with kingcups in the proverbial, if rarely felt, sunshine of an English May. Through their midst, marking the heart of the little valley, ran the narrow stream of the Lean, to which was due the fresh greenness of the pasture land and the abundance of the great cup-shaped flowers, which lifted their yellow crowns in such thick clusters above the broad shining of their leaves. To the east, upon the rising slope, lay the village, almost lost in trees, and backed by the still higher ground of the Downs, which caught the fresh, pure air from the sea some twenty miles away. The village itself was composed of one long straggling street, from which the more important houses stood back in gardens, half hidden by green-fringed walls gay with overhanging lilacs and laburnums, or by thick and well-grown hedges.

Towards the centre, shadowed by great chestnut trees, was the open B space known as "The Green," flanked on one side by the schools and on the other by the garden of the Manor House. Beyond the schools stood the Vicarage, while the green was bounded by the grey towered church, and a pathway led between these two, skirting "the narrow chambers of the dead," down through the meadows to the bridge that mid way spanned the Lean. The bridge was well worn and manifestly unsafe, but constantly used neverthe less, though under much protest, for crowning the further slope and skirting the meadows for nearly a mile was the thick plantation of nut and beech trees known as " The Grove " — a walk more favoured by the villagers than even the breezy downs. Within the shadows of the beeches had been told the love stories of the village life for centuries past ; and here such tales will probably continue to be told so long as the beech grove stands, and men and women are born and live and marry and die in Lean Vale ; but never, perhaps, have the friendly shades welcomed lovers altogether like those who are seeking them this afternoon, for down the meadow and across the dilapidated bridge is coming the Vicar's second daughter, Mabel Charlecote ; and the man by her side, her latest, her last lover, bears the unchristian name of Raynim Rajmar.

As regards looks, the two are not ill-mated. Mabel is fair as a lily and considered the prettiest girl in the county ; Rajmar is handsome, tall, and well made — dark, it is true, but, barring a certain loose setting of the limbs, a certain queer roll of the English tongue, which yet he speaks with fluent ease, might claim to have a skin tanned only in his generation by Southern suns. He came, however, from the East, and is spoken of in the village as Turk, Mussulman, and Heathen Idolater generally, without much regard to the truth or meaning of epithet. In reality he is of Hindoo origin, perhaps with a strain of whiter blood, due to the admixture of his race with Persian or Circassian — or possibly with one of those fair women whose portraits are still to be found in the caves of Ajanta. He was reported to be of immense wealth and a prince in his own country of Rajputana, whom the ambition to acquire some knowledge of European nineteenth-century culture had induced to travel westward.

So much Mr. Charlecote had stated publicly, but even to him were unknown the exact views of the pupil whom he had received beneath his roof, at the modest premium of £600 a year. Raynim Rajmar was certainly neither Christian nor Mussulman ; but whether he had embraced modern Buddhism, or remained a sun-worshipper, or had become a follower of the reformed Hinduism of Rammedan Roy, was not altogether clear. The £600 a year meant wealth, independence, temporal salvation to the vicar, who, further, being of a broad and discursive turn of mind, had already engrafted Esoteric Buddhism on to the vagueness of his original creed, and enrolled himself as a Theosophic Christian. He had pictured his dark pupil as a supple and slender young man, of an indubitably copper hue, likely to prove interesting and able to afford him much enlightenment on the " culte " of India, its religions and its races ; while he, on his side, imbued the Eastern mind with the charm of "modified Christianity," and might hope to hail his pupil as a convert to his views regarding the fundamental unity of all religions.

But it is, alas ! the unexpected which, we are told, most frequently occurs. Raynim Rajmar proved to be a fully-grown man — broad-shouldered and strong, scarcely darker than an Italian, calmly receptive of the Vicar's views, and curiously reticent both as to his own and as to the mysterious environment — the glamour-land of religion, miracles, and jewels — in which his youth had been passed. To add to the complication, he had within a fortnight pronounced himself, in a calm and irre vocable manner, deeply in love, and that with the Vicar's daughter, the beauty of the village, the adored of all the curates and younger sons of the county. That he should meet with difficulty in his suit never seemed to occur to Raynim Rajmar. The girl who had so far eluded all serious love-making, who had wandered in cotton gown and straw hat through the village lanes, played tennis on week days and the church organ on Sundays, and never known (or spoken of) higher ambitions, grew tame and still beneath the gaze of his dark eyes.

She seemed fascinated, spell-bound, lost in a dream, where none moved but Raynim. Her entire life seemed changed ; her pursuits, her amusements, even her style of dress was ordered according to his taste and will. His influence became the guiding influence of her whole existence. She wore his jewels, dressed regally, moved sedately, and grew more gravely, calmly beautiful : and all the village wondered, and wise heads were shaken. And this was the pair of lovers that mounted the slope among the kingcups to the beech grove, on this spring evening in the year 188 — . Within the sheltering of the trees Raynim threw himself down upon the bank, and drew Mabel to a seat on a hewn stump beside him. " I love but thee — Oh, love thou me, Dear heart, dear heart," he rolled out in a rich, full baritone.

Rajmar had learnt many English things, English love-songs among the number, although, it must be owned, he thought the Eastern imagery more poetic and fitting to the occasion. He suddenly arrested his rendering of Tito Mattei's ballad in full flow, and raising him self into a half-kneeling posture before her, began to chant — " The evening is like my love. The opal stars in the pale serenity are the jewels upon her neck ; the moonlit clouds, the soft falling of her hair ; the deep ening space, her flowing robe ; her eyes are the white lotus flowers, which open to the rising moon ; and her voice, low and sweet, as the humming of bees." Mabel laughed and made as though she would cover his lips with her soft hand. The more simple phraseology of her native tongue pleased the village girl better.

He took the white, slim fingers in his hand, and kissed them passionately. " Her hand is the little white cloud that covers the face of the moon," he said. " Oh, hush, Raynim. You are too foolish "—but the hand rested in his. * * * * * In the Vicarage garden another pair were beginning to practise the universal language at a somewhat early stage. Amy, the Vicar's youngest daughter, still a child, not having completed her fifteenth year, and Charlie Ranks, the Vicar's second pupil, aged eighteen, as frank-faced, open-hearted a lad as the wholesome influence of a good mother and the somewhat strict discipline of Major Ranks, his father, could produce. The girl was seated in the garden swing, which had been the property of each of the Vicar's children by turns ; she was something of a hoyden still, with frocks that barely touched the rims of her boots.

Charlie Ranks was swinging her, and sent her high among the leafy boughs with right good will, bringing down showers of the silver balls, " bals de neiges," guelder roses, till she shook the white flower-rain from the waves of her dark hair. " One more — a good high one, Charlie — and then stop," she cried. The lad obeyed her, caught the swing in its descent, and let its motion softly die away. " For 'twas love made the world grow round," he sang, looking over the wall to the meadows, where he could see the two figures turning towards the nut grove. " Misquoted as usual," said the girl, looking round. Charlie went on — For love men fight, For love men die, And sometimes live, And often " " Lie," said the girl quickly, getting out of the swing. " I was going to say ' sigh ' ; but you're ahead of me as usual."

Amy laughed. " It's all rubbish.' " I don't like that sort anyhow, Amy, do you ? " He pointed to the two figures still visible on the opposite slope. " No, I don't," she said sturdily. " He's black ; fancy having him for a brother-in-law." " You'll stick to me, Amy ? " said he, leaning forward. For answer she tossed a flower-ball in his face, and ran laughing up the lawn. " Come and have a set at tennis," he called after her. " Lay you two to one, chocolates or gloves." " Gloves ! what do I want with gloves ? One pair lasts me a year. I have to put them on just one hundred and four times, worse luck." " Amy, if you're going to play tennis, you must put on a hat." The voice came from the open French window of the Vicarage dining-room. A tall, gentle-faced woman stood there, the Vicar's eldest daughter, Madeline ; she who had striven to take to her younger sisters the place of the mother lying in " the chambers of the dead."

Her years all told counted but twenty-four ; but her responsibilities had made Madeline fancy herself already middle-aged, and lent occasional premature sedateness to her ways. " All right, Maddy, my dear. Charlie, my cap is in the hall — no, bring my sailor hat. Oh, here comes Jack Trafford. Why, Jack, you're in the very nick of time." A man had turned into the Vicarage gates who wore his clothes with the air of a soldier out of uniform — a man of about thirty, spare and tall in figure, with a clear-cut face much tanned, a fair moustache, pleasant smile, and very white teeth. " In time for what, Amy — tennis ? No, thank you, after a five-mile walk — an armchair and a smoke rather " "You're just a lazy chappie, Jack Trafford," said the girl, who still claimed the immunities of the schoolroom in virtue of her frocks and uncoiled hair.

Madeline had come across the grass and placed her hand in Trafford's without much other greeting. " Why don't you get the Indian beggar to play, if you want to make up a set, Amy? He's lazy enough in all conscience," said Trafford. Charlie had joined them, laden with rackets and hat. " Oh, he's up in the grove, bless you, spooning my sister ; no getting at him for an hour or two." "Amy, my dear, six months at Girton, or a course of elocution " " Don't bother, Jack ! you're just as bad as Rag-fair, or whatever his name is. We know the meaning of your armchair and a pipe — don't we, Charlie ? " " Amy, you really are too bad ! " said Madeline, flushing. " Oh, we approve of Jack — we don't mind Jack — so don't let that worry you, Maddy dear. We don't say he's everything one. could desire, but still " She dodged Trafford's uplifted hand, and caught sight of Madeline's rather worried face.

With the impulsiveness of fourteen she straightway flung an arm round her elder sister's neck, and whispered in her ear — " I didn't mean to vex you, Maddie." Then went off, walking by Charlie more sedately than her wont, and thanking him quite prettily, after her fashion, for bringing her hat. " It's not the one I wanted, Charlie dear," she said sweetly, " and it won't keep on my head ; but, on the whole, I rather prefer that — it's here, and Madeline can't blame me if it is always on the grass, instead of saving my complexion ; still, it's quite true I've just the sort of skin for freckles. I counted four on my nose this morning, and nothing will move them ; they always come in the early spring, you know, and stay for life — they're a horrid disfigurement." Charlie groaned. "A fellow can't please you, Amy.

Do you want me to rummage for another hat ? That was the only one in the hall. Shall I call Jane, and tell her to look ? " "And lose your game? No, poor boy; the first dinner-bell would ring before you came back ! " Charlie looked gloomy, and the girl, who was watching him from beneath her eyelashes, saw she had nearly teased him into rebellion. She knew already the value of a slave too well to risk even temporary estrangement, and hastened now gently to coax him back into his usual sunny good nature. In fact, Amy's moods were known and accepted ; she was the spoiled child of the Vicarage and of the village, half the inhabitants of which considered that they held a vested interest in her bringing up, for had not Madam been removed when her youngest was but a baby, poor thing, and Miss Charlecote little more than a child herself?

Advice from all women who had brought up children of their own — and from others who thought they knew more about the matter than those that had — became incumbent. It spoke something for Madeline's discernment that the child throve. Major Trafford found a pipe and a garden seat under a laburnum bush, and Madeline joined him ; she sat idly, with her hands in front of her, although some lacework lay between her fingers. Perhaps of the three couples attached, so to speak, to the Vicarage at that moment, she and Jack Trafford were the happiest. They had been engaged six months, and were truly, honestly fond of one another ; they desired no other company than their own, and were troubled with no jealous or anxious fears as to each other's constancy ; but they had never to their knowledge, during their intercourse, sounded the depths of that absorbing passion, the ravages of which are generally described as so disastrous, the joys so transcendental ; and they were capable of remembering that other interests existed in the world besides those which immediately concerned themselves.

" Has your father really consented, Madge ? " Trafford was saying. He had just got his pipe to draw, and was looking placid. " Rather queer start, isn't it ? " " Seriously, Jack, papa's ' views ' escape me ; they are altogether too bewildering. He declares he's acting up to his principles, and furthering the ' fundamental unity of all religions.' Can you tell me what that means, dear Jack ? " " Fundamental fiddlesticks," said Trafford ; " but, as regards Rajmar, nothing will ever change these fellows — he is a Hindoo. If your father had ever been in India " " Let us suggest it to the bishop. Fancy the dear dad as a missionary ! " "A little experience outside Lean Vale and his study walls would do him no harm at the present moment," said Trafford, gravely. " Experimental views and actual knowledge are different matters ; but the serious part of the matter is — Mabel " All signs of jesting passed from Madeline's face at her sister's name.

" Ah, Jack, I believe it is too late for any experi ence now to save her. I have been talking idly about things too grave for idle talking, Jack. I jest to escape from the facts. I ask myself always, how is it that such an unheard-of thing should have happened to one of us here in our quiet home ; and, dear Jack, though I talk nonsense, I feel like — at times — like breaking my heart. Pretty Mab ! Bright, happy Mab. Why did that man ever come here ! " Tears were in the girl's eyes ; her voice broke a little. Jack knocked the ashes from his pipe. He, too, was grave enough. "You must look, in these things," said he, with the air of a philosopher, though in truth his philo sophy was not as a rule deep, "for what is called, I believe, the actuating motive. My dear Madge, the only fundamental law common to all men that I know of, as an actuating motive in this nineteenth century, is the law of £ s. d. ; and I am very much afraid " he hesitated.

" Poor papa ! " said the girl softly. "Yes, that's it," said the man. "We mustn't judge too hardly, Madge. The best of us are clever at finding fundamental laws for expediency." By this time, Madge had moved to the garden seat beside him, and her hand was on his shoulder. "But can she love him, Jack? I think sometimes she is fascinated, half afraid." " With that, too, we must deal tenderly if it is too late for escape. God help her ! " " For one thing I am thankful, Jack — so thankful — that it isn't Amy. If any harm happened to Amy — the child is full of imaginations and fancies — far too sensitive. Mabel is strong — more able to endure." " Again," said Trafford, " there being, as you think, no escape, let us make the best of Raynim Rajmar. Let us suppose that he will develop into a respectable Christian — that Mabel's influence will become the stronger influence as the years go on."

Madeline let herself be comforted. Her chief thought was thankfulness that Amy was safe. What harm could happen to Amy through having an Indian brother-in-law ? After all, perhaps, these prejudices of colour and race were narrow and exag gerated. Amy, at any rate, would always have a home with her eldest sister. Jack had promised this, should the occasion ever arise. Half an hour later, Madeline and Trafford wandered away to the tennis lawn, and there presently were joined by Mabel and Rajmar.

Chapter II. The First Appearance Of The Rubies

Amy and Charlie Ranks had finished their set, and these six people fell into a group upon the lawn, chatting idly, till the dressing gong should summon them to the house. Perhaps, had they known the issues hanging upon their contiguity, they would have endeavoured to separate then and there — to arrest by widest distance the results of the enforced familiarity of their daily life. Rajmar and Mabel were by far the handsomest couple. The Indian's features were perfectly regular, and had the thoughtful cast usually attributed to his race. He was finely formed, and half a head taller than Trafford ; but his strong physique carried a sub-suggestion of animal force and fiery passion that left the Englishman the advantage, in eyes cultivated to European standards. "We have enjoyed our ramble hugely," Rajmar was saying in his usual rolling tongue.

" Ah, my dear Trafford, favour me with a light. In deference to Miss Charlecote, I have not ventured upon a cigar." "Or because you had forgotten your matches, Rajmar," said Amy, pertly. " As for your ramble, as you call sitting in the grove, you would have been better employed here, playing tennis. In England one must take exercise, you know, Rajmar, or one grows fat." The Indian, who already showed more signs of increasing bulk than at three and thirty could be held an advantage, frowned slightly. " I confess, dear Miss Amy, your English athletics do not appeal to me. There is a want of dignity — of repose — especially for ladies. I fail to understand the attraction." " Nonsense, you really must learn to enjoy cricket. I am going to play in a girls' match to-morrow in our field — the first of the season, Mabel."

" Jack, you will stay for dinner," interposed Made line, hastily. She dreaded Amy's revelations, and their occasionally irritating effects. In the present instance, a look of apprehension had grown on Mabel's face ; it was as well to avoid the fact that she had last year belonged to the eleven. "You can have your revenge at billiards this evening if you stay," went on this peacemaker, adroitly; she knew that Rajmar was an adept with the cue, and usually won his game. The evening passed quietly. It was the Vicar's custom to leave his daughters and their guests very much untrammelled by his presence ; to-night, he merely looked into the drawing-room, listened to the latter part of one of Madeline's songs, and then quietly withdrew. He'was portly, but abstracted — much given to the undisturbed lines of life which Madeline's management secured to him, and was a thoughtful lover of ease.

He found regularity and refinement of detail in his surroundings necessary to the development of ideas, and resented interruption as a personal wrong, not without its secondary effects on society at large. He retired now to coffee in his study, to enjoy the dilettantism of cutting some new reviews and dreamily planning an astounding article for the Church Quarterly, as to the acceptance of which a margin of doubt might safely be allowed ; the Vicar having conceived the idea of a gigantic temple, situated, say, in Central America, to which all nations, tribes, and creeds should be invited to send their representatives to join in an act of worship to the Universal Principle, which, under varying titles, all men acknowledged as the One God — ignoring all diversities and aftergrowths of their varying faiths !

The idea was superb. Already, in the curling fumes of the best tobacco, the Vicar saw arise the gigantic, ever-spreading walls of the mightiest fane the world had ever known ; holding, perhaps, its place in the clearing of a primeval forest, shadowed by architecture the like of which no hand of man might rear — the spreading, interlacing branches of the belting trees. Already he saw the files of worshippers drawing near to pay their tribute— Jew, Turk, Heretic, Hindoo, Chinaman, English, German, Persian, and Arabian, natives of Russia and Japan ! — all, perhaps, save the Infidel and the inconvenient Papist, which latter insisted upon the acceptance of so much that was inexpedient and supplementary ! A world's fair why not a world's temple ? And, as a first step towards this magnificent conception, the Vicar pro posed to bestow his fairest daughter upon a Hindoo, a Rajput of the Rajputs, a chief of the purest line, claiming descent with the princes of his people, and a pedigree that traced back through unnumbered centuries ; also a man of enormous wealth.

Meanwhile, the singing in the drawing-room had ceased, and the Hindoo had gone with Trafford to the billiard-room, which the Vicar had caused to be added to the west side of the Vicarage out of con sideration for the young men, his pupils. Mr. Charlecote's own tastes were all expensive, although he rarely descended to the vulgarity of minutiae in accounts ; but he held cultivation to be the strongest lever for the raising of the world, and it was impossible to be cultivated in the present imperfect era without money ! Now, hearing voices and laughter down the long passage which led to the billiard-room, he rang, and sent a message to Rajmar to the effect that he, the vicar, would be glad to receive him in the study before retiring to rest. So far, no definite sanction to an engagement, which yet was practically recognized, had been given.

Mr. Charlecote, under the soothing influence of his pipe, his glass of wine, and his visions, determined that it should be given that night, provided Rajmar on his side was willing to accede to a few conditions necessary for the security, the safety, and honour of Mabel Charlecote. An hour later, the Eastern's handsome personality occupied the chair opposite the white-haired Vicar. c The Eastern's grave and majestic countenance, always with its latent suggestions of brute strength and animal passion, calmly surveyed the portly English clergyman through clouds of curling tobacco smoke, while he awaited the views and verdict of his pro posed father-in-law. Rajmar was not disturbed, for he had neither the expectation nor the intention of being thwarted. Mabel Charlecote he desired for his wife, and Mabel Charlecote he intended to have, if not with her father's consent, without it.

The Vicar was by far the more embarrassed of the two. There were certain questions which he desired to ask, and which Rajmar's serenity and inscrutable calm rendered inexpressibly difficult. It occurred to the old man that he might have questioned the cross-legged idol, that occupied an oaken bracket just over the Indian's head, with equal hopes of satisfaction. The idol had been sent home.by the Vicar's nephew, then quartered at Agra, but since dead of fever. Rajmar had examined the thing with interest, but little reverence, explaining, much to the Vicar's satisfaction, that it held no place in his theology. But now Rajmar sat motionless below the idol, and the idol, cross-legged, its ugly squat hands resting upon its ugly knees, seemed to squint at the Vicar, and the smoke curled upward, blurring the old man's vision till he fancied the thing looked at him with evil intent — or was it a glance he caught from Rajmar's slumbrous yet fiery orbs ?

The poor man longed to get up and smash the hateful image, but dared not in the present company, although, it was true, Rajmar had not owned its significance. But the silence must be broken, and the Vicar must break it. He coughed. " I have considered, Raynim, the proposition you made to me some few days since with regard to my daughter — to — to Mabel." The old man's voice trembled a little. Why did all manner of stories — Biblical and heathen stories — of holocausts, of fathers who had given their children into the hands of the devourer, death, flit into his mind ? Bah ! Mabel loved this man ; superstition was dead in this nineteenth century. But it would be more agreeable if the idol would cease, in appearance, to grin. The Vicar's imagination was certainly excited and unduly disturbed.