Brenda's Experiment. A novel

Front matter

f^ST^w BRENDA'S EXPERIMENT. The " Unknown Author" Series OK ORIGINAL ONE VOL. NOVELS Crown Svo. Cloth, 216 each. Uniform with "Brenda's Experiment." The Burning Mist. By Garrett Leigh. On the Cards. By Mary Allen. Brenda's Experiment. By Major Greenhow. The Minister's Man. By M. G. Fairbairn. Was He a Gentleman? By Francis Geldart. Qeraldine's Husband. By Mary Macleod. OTHERS IN PREPARATION. London : Jarrold and Sons, io and __, Warwick Lane, E.C. DRENDA'S U EXPERIMENT A Novel By Surgeoij, Major H. M. QREENHOW Author of "The Bow of Fate,' Etc. LONDON JARROLD AND SONS WARWICK LANE E.C. CONTENTS. CHAPTER pAGE I. After Dinner ... ... ... ... 7 II. A Reception ... ... ... ._ 18 III. In the Professor's Study ... ... 29 IV. Letters from Home ... ... ... 44 V. A Cruel Death ... ... ... ... 55 VI.

A Bad Start 70 VII. New Quarters ... .. ... ... 83 VIII. Rumours ... ... ... ... ... 97 IX. Cousins .. ... ... ... ... 112 X. Preparing for Action ... ... ... 126 XI. On the March ... ... ... ... 136 XII. Rajgunge ... ... ... 147 XIII. Brenda's Visitor ... ... ... 165 XIV. An Evening at the Nawab's ... ... 180 XV. Man and Wife ... ... 194 XVI. Attacked ... 206 XVII. A Brightening Prospect ... .-

Chapter I

After Dinner. " You are prejudiced, Barton, I tell you — prejudiced by your Indian experiences. We know much better about these things than you, because we look at them with a clearer and more impartial eye." " And you flatter yourself," replied the man addressed, " that your view of people and of things at a distance of some five or six thousand miles is truer than mine, whose best years have been spent out there, whose life indeed has been practically given to India." " Well," said the other, evidently the host, raising his eyebrows and looking Doctor Barton straight in the face, " I do, because, as I have just remarked, your vision is contracted and your life there has run in only a narrow groove." " How do you know that, Mogadore — have I really given you good reason for saying so ? " Doctor Barton spoke with the greatest good humour, and a laugh was in his eye as he helped him self to another glass of his friend's excellent port ; but Professor Mogadore was too deeply in earnest to relax his attack even for an instant.

" Oh, all the English out there are hard and tyran nical, and 'those in the service,' as they call it, prejudiced and exclusive." "Really?" smiled Barton, smoothing his napkin over his knee, and quietly sipping his port. " They think they are all-knowing, and that they can rule with an iron rod two hundred and fifty millions by means of their own handful of men — men that have not a quarter of the brains possessed by half-a-dozen or more natives I have myself met with." "You say this, my friend," rejoined the other, "with an assurance that is surprising. Let me ask if you do not make an inordinate assumption in passing so severe a criticism on your countrymen, whose work in India you have had no opportunity of seeing, and who undoubtedly deserve something better at your hands." The professor leant back in his chair and smiled incredulously.

" In time they will discover their mistake, Barton," he said ; " no such exclusive government by aliens can ever be successful." " I do not admit you are a fair judge, Mogadore, and I tell you so plainly. Your ideas, I in my turn maintain, are confined and warped ; and, indeed, how should you possibly be able to judge of the wants of an Eastern people, with whose character and mind you are absolutely unacquainted ? " " True, Barton, I have not been in India, but I can point to those whose birthplace it is, whom I reckon among the ablest and the most interesting of my young friends here." " Perhaps," returned his friend gravely ; " but you must recollect that the few who have found their way to England to study law or medicine are picked men, far raised above the ordinary level of their compatriots both in ability and enterprise."

" I'm not sure of that ; but, even were it so, there must still be amid all those millions, hundreds, thousands, as good as they." " Abilities I admit — of a certain kind that is. Intellect, memory, capacity of mastering an abstruse subject, and of holding it in the mind in the form in which it has been received — all this I allow." " And what do you disallow, may I ask ? " "Well, as far as I can judge, there is a want of originality, of striking out new lines of inquiry, of doing more than follow, accurately no doubt, and even to the utmost limits, the most intricate reasoning." "I see what you mean," responded the professor; " but you will hardly expect me to agree with you." Doctor Barton held up his glass to the light. "You think, having spoken with half-a-dozen young natives of Bengal, that you see into the moral and intellectual character of the whole race as clearly as I discover the tint of this old wine by holding it between me and the light ?

" " Personal intercourse seems to me the easiest and most satisfactory means of becoming familiar with these young men, and therefore it is that Mrs. Mogadore and I have shown them hospitality while they have been students here," remarked the pro fessor. " Most good indeed you are to them and to all, and Mrs. Mogadore is like a mother to any that need help ; but still — excuse me for saying so — that cannot change the spots of the leopard." As the doctor said this in his quiet determined manner, his friend's face flushed. " Really you are incorrigible," he blurted out. " I have means, I tell you, Barton, of knowing that such students as Ameer Ali and his friends, lead stricter lives and spend more laborious days and nights than nine-tenths of our English youths." " Ameer Ali, who I think is the only Mahomedan you have with you at present, is probably very poor and knows he must make the most of his time or he will not attain his object."

"You are absolutely wrong in speaking so of this most promising young fellow, Barton. Surely you are aware he has become a Christian, owing very much, I believe, to — to our influence over him." Barton simply stared in astonishment at this state ment, while the professor continued in the same tone, unaware apparently of the wonder he was exciting. "Far from his home, constantly receiving hospitality here, yet with a purse, as you rightly surmise, all too poorly-furnished for his needs, he has confided to Mrs. Mogadore in the most trusting spirit his anxieties and troubles, and has charmed her and me too by his gentleness and fortitude." A short cough interrupted the professor at this point, and Barton essayed to speak. " Pardon me," he said, the sly look so familiar to his friends just crossing his face for an instant; "but may I ask if this Ameer Ali had any introductions to you when he first came over ?

" The professor cast an indignant glance at his ques tioner. " Introductions!" he exclaimed impatiently. "Upon my word I can't remember now precisely, but he has studied law under me during all his residence here — is not that sufficient introduction to a mind that is not warped by prejudice or race-hatred ? " Barton let the taunt pass. " No," he said with decision, " certainly not — in my poor opinion at least." " We welcome any man here who desires to study, no matter what his faith or race," broke in the pro fessor warmly ; " and I am astonished you do not agree that in this we are acting on true Christian principles." " Softly, my friend," interposed Barton, " I have no fault to find with you, so far ; but is this all ? Have you not made this young Ameer Ali, without appar ently knowing anything of his antecedents, too familiar with your household, too intimate with — with those who are dearest to you, and whose well-being should be your first care ?

" The professor drew himself up somewhat stiffly. " I have no idea what you mean," he observed gravely. " My wife, as we know, has been kind, that goes without saying, and — " He stopped as Barton waved his hand just a trifle impatiently. " Yes, yes, Mogadore, that's all very well ; but you have a daughter, remember — a beautiful fresh English girl. Have you never considered what might happen, what deplorable consequences might ensue if — yet one positively shrinks from contemplating such a catastrophe, and, after all, I have no real right to suggest what is in my mind." But the professor appeared to take the matter very coolly. "You mean well, Barton," he responded with a smile, " and I will not affect ignorance of that which you point at. But, though Brenda is a clever and independent child, she would never go against her mother's wishes or mine in any serious matter — of that you may rest assured."

During the dinner that had preceded this conversation Barton's attention had been drawn to the face of the fair Brenda when by chance the name of the young student from India had been mentioned, and it was in consequence of the flush that for a moment then reddened her cheek, and the fear to which it gave rise in his imagination, that he had ventured on the hint he had just given to the girl's father. "Well," he said, not half satisfied, "you should know your own daughter best, and how to guard her from haim." " Why, yes, indeed, old friend, I think you may trust her mother and me for that." But the other looked troubled still. The fact was he was far from feeling assured on the very point just assumed by the professor, excellent and high-minded and generous man though he knew him to be ; and, realizing Mogadore's almost too philanthropic theories, — shared as they were in a large measure by his wife — Barton could not divest himself of an uneasy dread of what these theories, or principles, as the Mogadores would have called them, might lead to.

" Let me give you a solemn word of warning," he observed with emphasis. " Though you treat all these students alike, and admit them all on an exactly similar footing to your house, never forget the differ ences that exist between the Eastern races and ours — the differences of moral nature which it must take generations to overcome, if indeed such a change is possible under any circumstances whatever." " Your belief in these racial distinctions is, I see, too deeply rooted for me to alter," laughed the professor; "but, seriously, I find in some of these young students what I should call the noblest moral qualities, and certainly those who, like Ameer Ali, have become of our faith, have done so, I am satisfied. from the very highest motives." The doctor shook his head. "Ameer Ali was brought up in a Mahomedan household, and taught the Mahomedan religion," he said ; " and it is impossible for you to conceive what that means, for how can you know the contempt in which women are held, the slavery and worse than slavery that they suffer, the lives they are condemned to lead in Mahomedan establishments?"

" But Ameer Ali's will be a Christian establishment — a Christian family, Barton." " You believe that, my friend — you think this young man sincere, and that his honour is to be trusted ? " " Certainly," responded the professor in a tone of assurance ; " I know him too well to have a scintilla of doubt as to his absolute renunciation of his old errors of faith and belief." Barton shrugged his shoulders. "Pardon me, Mogadore," he exclaimed, with a touch of warmth ; " but do you not see what the moving and immediate cause of this conversion, as you call it, really is ? " "The moving cause?" repeated the professor, half mechanically, and in a puzzled tone. "Undoubtedly, as I say, the sole reason is to be found in the fine candid character of the young fellow himself, who consents to abjure his errors even at the expense of losing his friends of the old faith, boldly casting aside his Koran and taking in his hand as his guide our English Bible."

Barton could hardly repress a smile, yet he was unwilling to give up his point without a struggle. "Well," he said, "supposing it is as you think, and that the attraction of your daughter has nothing to do with Ameer Ali's desertion of his early faith, what is to be the end of it all ? " The professor did not answer at once ; indeed it seemed as if his friend's words had at last made some sort of impression on his mind, and, at any rate, they had had the effect of placing in a strong light the possibilities which up to this time had floated but vaguely before him. "Brenda, as I said just now, will never engage herself unless with my wife's and my sanction," he at length replied ; "nor, I am certain, would Ameer Ali ask her to do so. He is as true as steel, and I place the utmost reliance on his honour and fine principles."

" Then you would consent to his union with your daughter," demanded Barton ; " you would willingly give her to him ? " "The question has not arisen as yet," was the uneasy response; "but, if Brenda — " " Now, look here, Mogadore," interrupted his friend with a serious air, " this is not a matter to be trifled with, and your darling child is herself no fair judge of it. You must determine it — you and Mrs. Mogadore — between you." "Well, well, Barton, but there's time enough, and I doubt if you and I should ever agree as to the most desirable course, seeing what your ideas and prejudices are." " My dear fellow," continued the other, " supposing this young man is not deceiving you, that he is in all respects to be relied on in his religious professions, are you aware that he will be treated as an outcast, absolutely and without hope, by his own people on his return to India ?

Have you thought of that — it is a fearful fate to contemplate ! " For a moment the professor looked staggered. " If that is so he doubtless is aware of it," he answered slowly, "and will be prepared to bear it bravely." "And what will be her position — the position of his English wife, do you think ? " " I know not — I have not considered — " " But I know, for I have considered," said Barton rapidly, resolved to push his advantage to the utmost "Just as Ameer Ali will be despised and ostracised by his own people, so will his wife be shunned and looked down upon and avoided by her countrymen and women." " Never ! " cried the professor, gazing in astonishment at his friend. " God forbid that my Brenda should ever stand in such a position as that ! " "Aye, that or something not far short of it would be your daughter's case, provided, that is, this young man is genuine in his protestations, and that his adoption of Christianity is sincere."

" Really, are you still such a sceptic as to doubt his conversion ? " Barton shook his head ; then continued hurriedly: " In the other alternative, that is, if he remains a Mahomedan, well — I have hinted something, but, ah ! I dare not disclose what I have known, what I have myself seen : Mogadore, it would make your blood boil as mine does at the remembrance of it." Still the professor seemed incredulous. " I have looked into this young man's heart," he said, " and feel convinced of his truth and sincerity, while you know him not — at least so I understand." " No," acknowledged the doctor, " I have yet to make his acquaintance, for somehow we have missed meeting hitherto." " Well, well, my friend," rejoined Mogadore in a lighter tone, " you have a chance of seeing him this very evening, and of forming some opinion of his character ; indeed, 1 have little doubt he is already in the drawing-room."

He smiled pleasantly, and Barton could not but assent to what he said. " I shall, of course, be delighted, but Mrs. Mogadore's receptions are always so popular and so crowded, that it may not be within my power to have more than the most superficial talk with him." " Perhaps so, Barton ; but I shall be surprised if you are not charmed even by that. And now, if you won't have another glass of wine, we'll adjourn to the drawing-room, for the company is arriving fast." So saying the professor led the way through the hall, and brought his guest to the garden side of the old-fashioned house. B

Chapter II

A Reception. The rooms, for there were three en suite as well as a conservatory at the further end, were already well filled, and Mrs. Mogadore was not sorry to see her husband and his friend appear. Her task, indeed, was not light or easy — to welcome and amuse the two hundred and more guests that were expected ; and one who did not know the power of arranging and organizing every detail possessed by the little, gentle mannered, kindly lady, might well have been puzzled to understand how it could all be managed. " Oh, Doctor Barton, so my husband has allowed you to come up at last ! " she said, shaking her head at the professor, who was instantly engaged in exchang ing warm greetings with those around. " You must have had some very interesting subject of discussion to detain you so long."

" Indeed we had, Mrs. Mogadore, and I'm afraid we have neglected our duty here sadly." " Well, you must make up for it now," she returned laughingly, " and that I know I can rely upon you for. You will find many friends here, and — " "The Dean and Mrs. Currer," announced the servant in sonorous tones, while Barton passed further on to look for his acquaintances among the crowd. It was a varied throng — varied in age, for old and young were mixed together — varied in looks, for girls the prettiest and the least learned in aspect held their own easily against their blue-stocking sisters — varied in colour, for the lightest-haired and downiest of undergraduates elbowed the dark-brown strangers that had come from the Easternmost regions to study under the great Mogadore. Barton wandered on, passing one group after another, greeted here and there by an acquaintance, yet finding that many were strangers to him, till finally he reached the pretty conservatory to which few of the visitors had as yet penetrated.

Here the blaze of colour that met his eyes was dazzling, and he stood at the threshold not knowing whether to admire most the wax-like texture of the many-coloured begonias, the gorgeous hues of the pelargoniums, the delicately-tinted gloxinias, the plumbago with its cool refreshing blue, or the tacsonia climbing and cluster ing up the pillars, its beautiful crimson flowers hanging by their thread-like stalks from the roof. Lost for a moment to everything else, he seemed to care only to gaze on this gorgeous show, ignorant that two bright pairs of eyes, the owners of which were shrouded by the foliage from his view, were fixed wonderingly upon him. To enjoy in quiet, a quiet which could not be expected to last long, a thorough inspection of his favourite flowers was indeed more congenial to the doctor at that moment than to mix with the throng behind him, and it was with this intention that he stepped into the conservatory, instantly to be con fronted by a young girl who came forward from its inner recesses, and with a certain reserve of manner addressed him.

" Oh, Doctor Barton," she said in evident confusion, "you have soon found your way amongst the plants — but I ought not to wonder at that when I remember your tastes, and — and — " She stopped, her embarrassment increasing pain fully under the look of astonishment with which the intruder regarded her, for, long as he had known Brenda Mogadore, Barton could not reconcile her present atti tude with the usually frank and open trustfulness that distinguished her. She stood boldly before him, as if to bar the way to further passage ; her face raised towards his, yet shrinking from his gaze, her eyes downcast, her whole bearing betraying some strange mood with which he was wholiy unacquainted. And yet, puzzled as he was, he could not help being struck by the wondrous delicacy of her features, lighted as they were by the brilliant blush that now suffused both her cheeks and neck.

Her beautifully-formed arms, bare to the shoulder, hung down at her side, and it was not surprising, from the position she had assumed in so immediately facing him, that Barton suspected there must be some good reason for her evident disquietude. "Brenda!" he exclaimed: "you here— and by yourself ? " "Well, yes, I am here — certainly," she assented in an unwilling tone, her colour seeming to brighten still more, her eyes flashing as she glanced at her questioner. " I looked for you in the rooms there and wondered where you could be, but how little I thought to find you here ! " Though feeling there was something wrong, or at least uncomfortable in the situation, Barton was not one to shrink away from it, and indeed it occurred to him she might be in some difficulty, for her distress became more apparent every instant, and words seemed to fail her.

" As you surmise," he continued in a lighter tone, " I wandered on till I came here, attracted like a bee to the flowers — and amongst them I find, far from the busy crowd, the fairest flower of them all ! " She smiled now in her sweetest manner. "Ah, that's so like you, Doctor Barton — and so kindly said," she responded in a more natural tone, yet maintaining still her place in front of him. " You do not require assistance of any kind," he asked. " Perhaps you are moving the plants, or — " There was a sudden crash, a fall of something heavy, and it was instantly evident that an unper ceived force had upset a couple of the larger vases, for a considerable gap appeared among them, which was but partially filled by the figure of a man stand ing calmly amid the ruins, just dusting his coat and looking downwards to see that his boots had not been damaged by the shower of broken pots and earth.

The individual thus revealed to sight was a young fellow of middle size and rather slight figure, whose handsome and intelligent face would have attracted attention anywhere, but did so all the more in his case because his complexion was peculiar, being of a light brown— something of the tint often seen in Europeans who have undergone severe exposure to a hot sun — while the distinct grey of his expressive eyes seemed to contradict the presumption of his descent from a coloured race. Brenda Mogadore started in alarm, and turned suddenly towards this person ; then, seeing him unmoved and apparently unhurt, she recovered herself sufficiently to speak. " I'm so sorry," she murmured hurriedly, moving back a few steps and forgetting for the moment Barton's presence. " But I trust no harm has come to you — that those great pots have not really fallen upon you !

" " No, I assure you," he replied, smiling pleasantly and showing a perfect set of teeth ; " no harm is done — except, indeed, to your beautiful plants, and for their fate I must apologize deeply." "They deserve it," responded she, laughing; "or rather our gardener does, for placing them so in securely on their shelf." Though really the fault was entirely his own, for it was in moving his arm carelessly that he had over turned the pots, he seemed satisfied to leave the girl in the belief she had expressed, and turned his eyes on Doctor Barton, who stood wonderingly looking on at this little scene. " Present me to the gentleman," he whispered ; " I don't know him, though his name is so familiar. It's unlucky to be caught here, but we must make the best of it." Brenda instantly led him towards the doctor.

" Let me introduce our — our friend, Mr. Ameer Ali," she said blushing ; " and this is Doctor Barton, one of father's oldest and most intimate companions." The gentlemen bowed to each other, but there was little opportunity for conversation where they now stood, as many of the guests had by this time come to see what the noise meant, and were crowding in to satisfy themselves that no harm was done. " I'm happy to make your acquaintance," said Barton, eyeing the young man curiously and moving off into the drawing-room, " for the professor has mentioned you to me more than once." " Really, sir, I had no idea I was of such impor tance," replied Ameer Ali, casting back a longing glance at Brenda, now fully occupied in explaining to those around how the accident had, as she understood it, been caused.

" Every student of his is an object of deep interest to the professor, as you must be aware," continued Barton ; " and I hear Mrs. Mogadore also has been kind to you." "Yes, indeed, kind beyond measure to me — they are the most delightful people," responded the young man with warmth. Barton nodded in assent " I knew them years ago, before I went out to India," he observed quietly, "and they are still of precisely the same benevolent, enthusiastic, and kindly nature as in those early days." " You are an old friend, I perceive, for no doubt your service in the East was a long one," hazarded Ameer Ali. " Twenty-five years altogether, during which there were few corners of the country, Bengal at least, I did not visit." The other looked at him intently. " The North — perhaps you have been in the North- West and North ?

" he asked quietly. " Certainly — as far as Peshawur and the Khyber, and of course to Lahore, Delhi, the cities of Rajpootana, as well as Rownpore — " Ameer Ali started momentarily — then assumed an air of unconcern which however did not deceive the wary doctor, and indeed did not sit at all well on the young fellow. " You know Rownpore ? " continued the elder man imperturbably, and in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone. " You have been as far North as that ? " " Well, yes, I ought — that is I do know it," replied the other. " In fact, it's my — my birthplace, Doctor Barton." " Now that's very curious — quite a coincidence indeed : I spent a couple of years there, and very happily too. It's a great ground for shikar, you know, and the Nawab used to organize shooting parties on a right royal scale, which, with his array of elephants, was not a difficult matter."

" The Nawab — yes," observed the young man ; " then you are acquainted with him ? " " Certainly ; at that time I knew him well." " I am distantly related to him through my mother, who was of the Persian royal family," continued Ameer Ali ; " but our branch has become poor, not from any fault of its own, but because of those abominable laws, which — but you would hardly understand the matter, so why should I enter on it ? " Barton was struck with the bitter tone of his speech, and when he remembered that this youth of high descent had, according to Mogadore, renounced the faith of his race for Christianity, he looked at the young man in great perplexity. "You are quite right to attempt to cut out a career for yourself," he said after a pause, " and from what I hear you have a good chance before you of success."

" 'Tis impossible to say, Doctor Barton ; there's so much in luck. But, if I can only succeed in getting the most recent and most iniquitous decision against us reconsidered, and perhaps reversed, my education here will not have been in vain." His eyes flashed, and the last words of his sentence seemed to come with a hissing vehemence through his teeth. " Are you so soon to return to India then ? You will regret leaving many of your friends here," said Barton, his eye falling on Brenda Mogadore, who at this instant was taking her place at the piano opposite to where they stood. The young man's glance also followed the girl's movements with a hardly concealed eagerness, and he acknowledged with more warmth than he had yet shown the truth of Barton's suggestion. " Yes, indeed, after my experiences here it will be hard to tear oneself away from such hospitable houses as these, and from the friends who have made my time in England pass so delightfully."