A Foster Son. A tale of the Indian Mutiny

Front matter

A Foster Son A TALE OF THE INDIAN MUTINY, BY JARVIS LANGTON. LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LTD.. 4, STATIONERS' HALL COURT, E.C. r895. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE army and navy co-operative society, limited, IO5, VICTORIA STREET, WESTMINSTER, S.W. CONTENTS. Chapter. Page. I.— An Old-fashioned Village i II. — Mrs. Innes ........ 5 III. — England, 1857 10 IV. — Innes' Horse ....... 14 V. — In the Field 19 VI. — A Bold Undertaking 23 VII. — Surprising a Rajah ...... 27 VIII. — Watching and Waiting 30 IX. — Innes Rejoins his Regiment ..... 36 X. — Asseelpore ........ 39 XL— A Sad One 45 XII.— Home Letters 48 XIII.— Sir Robert Medlake 52 XIV.— Breaking the News 58 XV. — What Panton-Green thought of the News . . 62 XVI.— Calcutta, 1862 68 XVII. — Webster at Home 72 XVIII. — The Stranger at Panton-Green ... 77 XIX. — Webster and his New Friends ... 83 XX.— Duncan Stein, M.D 91 XXI.— The Rev. Mr. D'Arcy 9S XXIL — Reminiscences of the Past ....

CONTENTS-.-nr/M„.„. Chapter. Page. XXIII. — Reminiscences of the Past (continued) . . 108 XXIV. — Mrs. Innes has Visitors . . . . . 112 XXV.— At Bay 119 XXVI. — An Open Confession . . . . . 122 XXVII.— Father and Son 126 XXVIII.— Questions 131 XXIX. — The Course of True Love .... 136 XXX.— Home 141 XXXI. — Dr. Stein gives Advice ..... 149 XXXII. — Among the Lawyers 156 XXXIIL — Mr. Jabez Jason makes a Speech . . 166 XXXIV.— The Wedding Day 172 XXXV.— Doctor Brighton 181 XXXVI. — Another Wedding . • . . . 185 XXXVII.— The End .:.....

Chapter I. An Old-fashioned Village

Panton-green was, and no doubt is, one of those quaint old places, dear to the artist and searcher after the picturesque. It did not march with the times, and in 1857 was as far behind the age in the matter of gas-lit streets, drainage, and water supply, as it was at the beginning of the present century. If you asked the inhabitants why this should be, you would have been told that the Squire did not like innovations ; and as the Squire happened to be lord paramount of the whole place, his likes and dislikes had to be attended to. He objected to railways, and having successfully opposed the construction of one which it was proposed to run through a portion of his estate, he and his tenants were distant about six miles from the nearest railway station. Not that they seemed to mind ; agriculture was their chief pursuit, and as that was carried on as their fathers had carried it on, they were content with the old time ways of cultivating the soil.

Now, as the laissez-faire system of Panton-green was ascribed to the action, or want of action, of the Squire, the man who could thus exercise so powerful an influence over the welfare of even a small village, is surely worthy of detailed description. In personal appearance he was tall and thin, with sloping shoulders on which was set a head very much in the shape of a pumpkin on end ; this, combined with a B long and scraggy neck, gave the upper part of him an unsafe appearance. His hair and whiskers were sandy grey — rather thin — the latter brushed out to make the most of them, while the former was brought forward on each side of his forehead in a way peculiarly his own ; on the same principle as the whiskers, viz., to make the most of it. So much for the Squire outwardly ; mentally he was neither better, nor worse, than his ancestors, who had never produced a statesman, a lawyer, a soldier, or a sailor worthy of the name.

They had never toiled or spun, nor did it seem likely they ever would ; the land that comprised the parish of Panton-green was theirs by inheritance, and as it provided the wherewithal for their sustenance and comfort, they had considered that their duty began in gathering in the rental and ended in the spending of it. As they had been, so was the present Squire — Ralph Forbishley — except that he was, if possible, more narrow-minded than any of his progenitors. He believed in the divine right of kings, and of squires, in consequence of which belief— the cardinal one of his creed — he exacted the homage due to such a magnate, as he considered himself to be from all those he was gracious enough to allow — in consideration of their paying for the favour — to live on his estate. But besides the Squire proper, there was a younger edition of that potentate in the shape of a son named Frederick.

He was an exact copy of his father, except that, being younger, his hair and whiskers were not yet thinned by time, nor were there any lines on his face or forehead ; in all other respects — except that the son was an inveterate smoker, while the father totally abjured the noxious weed — they matched perfectly. Both were justices of the peace, it being a well established rule in this country that the possession of land, in esse, or in posse, is itself alone a perfect guarantee of the owners fitness to administer the law ; and it would have been amusing, if it had not been sad, to see the look of supreme superiority that pervaded the face of Mr. Forbishley senior when he took the chair at the petty sessions in the adjoining town. His son generally sat by him, and coincided with him in his opinions on law and justice, however outrageous they might be.

So much for the two men, in whose hands an accident of birth had placed the well-being of the population of Panton-green. We can now describe the person next in importance to them, viz., the vicar, who guarded the spiritualities of the parish much in the same way as the Squire ruled over the temporalities. Dr. Harness was a man of consider able learning and scholarship, of whom, in his younger days, great things had been prophesied ; but in his case maturity failed to fulfil the promise of youth, and he was now, after holding the living of Panton-green for nearly thirty years, an indolent, intolerant, and overbearing specimen of a country parson. He cared nothing for his parishioners ; he never visited the schools, the sick, or the dying, and conducted the Sunday services as if he were doing penance.

The Bishop had remonstrated, but to no effect, being told he had no power to interfere ; and evidently he had not, for beyond proclaiming Panton-green the one black spot in his diocese, he held his peace. After the vicar, came a Mrs. Innes and her two daughters, who lived in a small house opposite the vicarage ; but as they will form the subject of another chapter they can now be passed over. The rest ofthe inhabitants may be described en bloc. They consisted solely of farmers, shopkeepers, and the usual handicraftsmen and labourers that com prise the industrial portion of an agricultural village. These were, as might be expected, quiet, easy-going people, not educated enough, or with sufficiently refined tastes to be companions to people whose lives had been spent in cultivated society. As they have little connection with this tale, nothing more need be said about them ; but of the parish itself a further account than that given at the beginning of this chapter will not be out of place.

It has been described as old-fashioned. This practically states the whole case, for the one street that forms the town portion is just as it was a hundred or more years ago. It is a part of the old London coaching road, and consists of one or two good houses and several smaller ones, an hotel called the " Red Lion," and the various shops that supply the wants of the farmers and others in the neighbourhood. Some way distant from them are the farmhouses, which are large, and dotted about the estate ; these, together with the labourers' cottages and the usual buildings, comprise, with the exception of the Hall, the vicarage, and the house opposite to it, all the habitable portion of Panton green. The three excepted houses are situated in a bye-road or lane, about a quarter-of-a-mile long, running off the main street of the town.

The Hall is at the end of this bye-road ; a few hundred yards from its commencement is the vicarage ; while the house opposite to it, where Mrs. Innes lives, stands back, and though little more than a cottage, is a pretty, attractive-looking dwelling place. It has a lawn in front, and is surrounded by trees ; the front of the house is covered with carefully trained climbing roses. It is altogether a pretty country house, and when the masses of bloom are at their best, the name of Rose Cottage seems an appropriate one.

Chapter II. Mrs

INNES. If Rose Cottage had an attractive appearance when viewed from a distance, a closer inspection revealed it in a yet more pleasant light. French windows reached to the ground, and signs were not wanting that the vagaries of our English climate, so usually associated with what we are pleased to call the " genial spring," had at length given way to ideal summer weather; for these windows, being open, admitted into the house a sweet scent of climbing roses and honeysuckle which grew up the face of the cottage in rich profusion. Neither blinds, nor shutters hindered the warm rays of the sun from streaming through the open windows into the room, which at the first glance, the most casual observer would have seen to be tenanted by the gentler sex. Not that the room was characterized by the general tidiness, which our wives and daughters would so often have us believe is peculiar to femininity.

On the contrary, the impartial historian is compelled to admit that the pretty morning room, with its plain though serviceable appointments, and its general air of habitation so often absent from more pretentious apartments, was distinctly untidy. A business-like looking work-basket was on the table, and seemed to have been put to good purpose during the early part of the morning, for a pile of neatly folded garments, showing signs of capable industry, lay beside it, while the rest of the table and a good portion of the floor besides, was littered with scraps of material and heterogeneous paper patterns. The canary in his cage in the window was singing merrily, and at a Davenport writing-table was seated a lady, in the lines of whose fair and delicate looking face could be seen the results of much trouble both in the past and present.

But while Mrs. Innes bore an anxious troubled look, she did not look fretful or complaining. Though she had many troubles, the principal one being the enforced separation from her beloved husband, which was to her even a greater trial than the daily want of pence with which to keep up her slender establishment, she never complained, but had always a pleasant smile with which to meet the little worries of everyday life, ever looking forward to the day, not far distant she hoped, when her husband should send for her to join him, and the expenses of a dual establishment should come to an end. For beside herself she had two daughters to train and educate, both at an age when they could not be put off with makeshifts in dress, or in those little feminine necessaries that go towards making the lives of girls who hope to mix in good society, endurable.

I say hope, because at present they knew no one with whom they or their mother cared to associate ; but when they reached India, an event now within reasonable distance, their fatber's position was such as to ensure them a favourable reception in any society. But more of the father later on ; at present the daughters must receive attention. The elder, Bertha, was eighteen years of age; tall, fair, and as amiable as her mother, never saying an unkind word to or of anyone. The younger, Ethel, was two years her sister's junior; slightly shorter, and though like her in appearance generally, unlike her in the matter of saying what she thought on subjects and people, especially if they did not happen to please her. Her plain speaking often caused remonstrances from her mother and sister, especially when she inveighed, as she often did, on the want of courtesy shown them by the squire and his son, as well as the vicar.

In vain it was pointed out that the squire was the owner of the house they lived in, and might give them notice to leave it, a thing Mrs. Innes did not want to happen, since it was cheap, and away from the busy and expensive haunts of men ; but this did not weigh with the impulsive girl ; she argued, " We pay our rent ; what more is wanted ? " Her mother then tried to explain that the rent of a cottage was not of so much importance to a rich landlord as deference to his position. This made matters worse, and the meek mother gave up the contest, hoping that her daughter would not give vent to her feelings before any one who might inform their landlord of them. As far as the people of Panton-green were concerned, Mrs. Innes was the wife of a Captain Innes in India. They learned this from the local postmaster, through whose hands the letters passed, and they also learned from him that letters were re-posted from Guernsey to her, when she first came to their village.

Beyond that, nothing was known to them of her or her antecedents. They did not know that her husband had been originally in the ranks and had received his commission for services mentioned in a special gazette ; nor did they know that she was the daughter of one of the richest men in Lancashire, who had disowned her when she married the man, or boy, as he was then, to whom she had given her girlish heart. And of those who knew anything of the affair when it happened, more than twenty-two years previously, some were dead, and the others had forgotton it. It was a case of "out of sight, out of mind," and the scandal, as it was then called, after being a nine days' wonder, was relegated to the list of things it was " much better not to mention." Besides the two daughters, there was a son Harold, twenty-one years old, now in India, a subaltern in one of the native regiments.

He was the child Mrs. Innes doted on, and much as she tried to feel alike to all her children, she could not repress the feeling that he stood first in her affections. Oh ! how she longed for the mail that should bring the letter saying she was to come to India with her girls, for let the climate be what it might she could bear it, if only her son were near her. And this was the principal reason why she studied economy in her household, for everything saved helped to swell the amount she was hoarding for the passage money, and the outfits necessary for the voyage she hoped soon to take. But though " hope springs eternal in the human breast," yet it is often not proof against the many vexatious incidents that so frequently impede its path. Just now Mrs. Innes wore a harassed anxious look, which she tried in vain to dispel.

The letters which the Indian mail brought her frequently, alone helped her to bear bravely and even contentedly the load of anxiety and trouble which she ever carried. But it was some days past the ordinary time for the mail, and no letter had, as yet, come. It was no uncommon thing for the letters to be delayed a day or two, but a week of delay had now elapsed, and at the end of it all those fears regarding the safety of her husband and son which she was ever trying bravely to suppress, returned with renewed force. As yet no whisper had reached her of the commencement of that stupendous movement which was to bring desolation to so many happy homes, but instinct needs no news, and her wifely and maternal instinct told her that all was not right. In vain her daughters tried to pass the event over, telling her that their father had missed the mail, or that something unforeseen had delayed the letter on the way.

Mrs. Innes felt she knew better, though she could not give any reason, and for the third or fourth time that week she had bidden the girls go to the post office, and see whether or not the long expected letter was there. So far their errands had proved barren of result ; Mrs. Innes could only pray that this time they might return with the news she so ardently longed for.

Chapter III. England

1857. Only those who are old enough to remember the time when the news of the Sepoy revolt in 1857 was received, can realize the widespread feeling of horror and dismay that pervaded the country. Were we going to lose possession of the grandest colony ever held by any of the Western nations ? was one of the first questions asked by the faint hearted. Then followed the feeling of sorrow for those who had been foully butchered by their own soldiers, while this was followed in turn by indig nation and the determination to be avenged. But before this came about, suspense and agony of mind had to be endured by those who had relatives in India. Mrs. Innes was amongst these, but for the first few days after the Indian mail bringing the news had arrived she was in blissful ignorance of the state of things over there.

She learned it from gossip in the village. The two girls had gone to the shop in Panton green, where nearly all their necessaries were obtained, to buy some small article, and while it was being weighed the shopkeeper said, " 'Orrid news, Miss, this from Injia." As neither of them had heard anything, they expressed surprise, and asked what it was. " Oh ! 'aven't you 'eard ? " was the reply ; " why the blacks have all risen and are killin' the whites right and left. Your pa is out there, ain't he, Miss ? Ah ! well, let's 'ope he'll escape. Eight pence, please Miss, thenk you, you're leavin' yer parcel behind yer." Parcel — everything was forgotten. Both the girls walked out of the shop as if in a dream. What did the news they had just heard mean ? Was it true, or was it an exaggerated account of a little brush on one of the frontiers ?

They could not tell ; they simply knew they had received no Indian letters this mail, but that gave no occasion for alarm as they knew their father and brother were not always able to write regularly. But what they had just heard made them think it might be as serious as represented. Ethel was the first to speak. "Shall we tell mother. " she said. " No, I think not ; these sort of people like to make the most of anything horrible. But shall we go and ask where he heard it ? " " Yes, let us go," and the two returned to the shop to make the enquiry suggested. " Oh ! I read it in the noospaper yesterday," said the shopkeeper, " and if you goes up to the ' Red Lion ' and arsts for it, they'll let you 'ave it to read." " But we don't know the people at the ' Red Lion,' " said Bertha. " You jest use my name and they'll let yer 'ave it ; here's the parcel yer left."

The two girls went to the " Red Lion," but they did not use the shopkeeper's name ; they merely asked if they could buy the newspaper of yesterday's date. This request was put to the landlady, a good-natured woman who had been housekeeper to a family of good position. She at once asked them into a private room, saying to the elder girl, " If you will sit down I will get you the paper, Miss. I suppose you want to read about the revolt in India ; it is very terrible, but I daresay it is not as bad as the papers say." She then left them, returning in a short time with two glasses of wine and sundry papers. " Your father is out there, and I said to my husband I feared you'd be anxious, and I'm sure you are, poor dears ; bad news travels fast enough, so you'd have heard if anything had happened to your father.

Here, drink this ; you need it, and you can take the papers with you," and the good woman had hard work to keep the tears out of her eyes as she watched the terror stricken girls mechanically drink the wine she almost forced upon them. Too bewildered even to thank the landlady, they left the hostelry and walked towards their home. For a long time they kept silence, but when they neared their gate it seemed that the same thought occurred to them at the same time, for they said simultaneously, " Mother must be told ; " and told she was, as gently and kindly as such news could be told. Mrs. Innes, like many more of her sex, " loved the soldier, but hated war," and though proud of her husband for what he had done in the past, had, up to now, hoped that his remaining years in the service would be passed in the usual routine work of military life.

Then there was her son ; she was pleased when he got his appointment, but now regretted that he had not entered one of the more peaceful branches of the Indian service. But Mrs. Innes was not a woman to give way to useless regrets. The feeling of despair that came over her when she first heard the news was soon followed by one of hope for the best ; and at last she succeeded in persuading herself that matters could not be as bad as she and her daughters had pictured, but that they might even be much brighter. Still it was often a hard task to her to have to bear up in this trying time of anxiety, for the sake of her girls. At the very best, some weeks, they knew, must elapse before they could receive any definite tidings from those they loved ; and in the meanwhile we may be sure their doubts and fears were not allayed by the highly coloured paragraphs in the papers, which, by the kindness of the good hostess of the " Red Lion," they were enabled to see pretty frequently.

Slowly the weary days dragged on, while every paper was full of fresh horrors. Happily there was as yet no mention either of Captain Innes or Harold, and with this scant comfort Mrs. Innes and her daughters had perforce to be content. Here we will leave them, while under sunnier skies, and amidst terrible scenes, we follow the career of those whose safety was causing them so much painful anxiety.

Chapter IV

innes' horse. The causes, real or imaginary, of the Mutiny of the Sepoys in 1857, are too well known to need recapitu lation in a tale whose object is to interest rather than to instruct. It will suffice if I say that the husband of Mrs. Innes of Panton-green was one of those who, with Hodgson, Probyn, Cureton, Alexander, and others, raised levies of Sikh cavalry and stemmed the torrent till troops from England arrived in India. While the little circle at Panton green were in such trepidation about the fate of the two nearest and dearest to them, the latter were making names for themselves, soon to be known all over England and India, as connected with a regiment, whose deeds were cited as marvels of what can be done by Englishmen when the occasion arises. The levy raised by Clement Innes, and known as Innes' Horse, had for its commander the aforesaid Captain Innes, a man whose career in India was a remarkable one.

He had come to that country as a private about twenty years before. Soon after landing he attracted the notice of his commanding officer for his promptitude in dealing with a riot in the bazaar of a town in which he was quartered. Then his wife joined him, and immediatelv a certain Sir John Lacey, K.C.B., took such an interest in him, that his success in the service was assured. He soon passed through the several grades of non commissioned officer, and finally received his com mission for brilliant services in the field. His foot, once on the ladder, did not remain long on the bottom rung ; step by step he rose, till just before the Mutiny broke out he was holding a good staff appointment in Upper India. What his antecedents were no one knew, he was a gentleman, and that, with his brother officers, was sufficient.

In appearance he was tall and spare ; his face was a sad one, hardly ever having a smile on it, and deeply lined as it was, gave one the idea that Clement Innes must have known great trouble. Next in command to Captain Innes was Lieu tenant Alan Webster, generally known among his brother officers by the soubriquet of "the Butcher," from a weakness he had for dealing in a summary way with prisoners of war. With him, according to popular report, prisoners always made a point of trying to escape, consequently summary proceedings had to be taken. But let that be as it may, he was a good soldier, and Innes was glad to have him in his regiment ; for though a most difficult man for the generality of men to get on with, Innes knew his peculiarities, and never rode rough-shod over them. Webster's chief fault, or misfortune, was an in ability to hold his tongue if anything came across him that savoured of jobbery, or incompetency in those above him.

No matter how high the position of the offending persons, Webster would speak his mind on their actions so freely, that " What will the Butcher say? " became a common saying amongst those who knew him. For women, too, he affected to entertain very little respect, and many were the bitter things he said about them. In appearance, though tall, he was a great con trast to his commanding officer, being a dark, broad, heavily built man; he had black curly hair and a heavy moustache. He was a man of prodigious strength, a good swordsman and horseman, and when mounted, as he nearly always was, on some thing out of the common in the way of horseflesh, he looked as if by sheer weight alone he could break through anything opposed to him. Like his commander, little was known of him, he seldom sent or received home letters, and those he did send were always to a man high up in the poli tical world in England, a certain Sir Robert Medlake, and this fact made many men in India conclude he had sufficient interest in that quarter to make him feel independent in his criticisms of other people.

It was also supposed he had private means, for no one knew of his being in debt, yet on his horses alone he spent a fair income. His guns and rifles represented a large sum, and as he never studied expense when on a shooting expedition, his financial position was often discussed till he was generally believed to be a very rich man. who could afford to snap his fingers at anyone in the service. But though his peculiarities often prevented others from getting on with him, they by no means prevented Innes from doing so. The two had met before, and by judiciously avoiding the subjects that raised controversies, Innes had made, in days gone by, a friend of his new subordinate, who in return joined Innes' regiment with a determination to give loyal service to the man, who, as he often said, " never riled me, even when saying things I did not like."

The third officer was Harold Innes, who had been spending a short time with his father just before the Mutiny broke out. He was on his way to join his regiment of native infantry, when news reached him that all his brother officers had been murdered by their own men. Acting on a friend's advice he at once returned to his father, and assisted him in raising the levy that bore his name. Unlike his father in the matter of stature, he was a little man, but what he lacked in height he made up for in muscularity. He was as hard as steel, and as untiring as a machine. In temperament he was amiability itself, a shade never crossing his face whatever discomforts he had to endure. Such qualities made him doubly welcome to his father when raising the levy ; for in all the troubles they had with the raw recruits, his imperturbable nature made his father's task easier than it would have been, had he had one of those unpractical men who are so ready to make mountains of molehills.