ipation of the
whole affair. Miss Arden was his partner in one of the few mixed events.
He was to wear her favour for the Tournament--a Marechal Mel rose; and,
infatuated as he was, he saw it for a guarantee of victory....

In view of that intoxicating possibility, nothing else mattered
inordinately, at the moment: though there reposed in his pocket a letter
from Dyan--with a Delhi post-mark--giving a detailed account of serious
trouble caused by the recent _hartal_:[23] all shops closed; tram-cars
and gharris held up by threatening crowds; helpless passengers forced to
proceed on foot in the blazing heat and dust; troops and police
violently assaulted; till a few rounds of buckshot cooled the ardour of
ignorant masses, doubtless worked up to concert pitch by wandering
agitators of the Chandranath persuasion.

"There were certain Swamis," he concluded, "trying to keep things
peaceful. But they ought to know resistance cannot be passive or
peaceful; and excitement without understanding is a fire difficult to
quench. I believe this explosion was premature; but there is lots more
gunpowder lying about, only waiting for the match. I am taking Aruna
into the Hills for a pilgrimage. It is possible Grandfather may come
too; we are hoping to start soon after the fifteenth, if things keep
quiet. Write to me, Roy, telling all you know. Lahore is a hotbed for
trouble; Amritsar, worse; but I hope your authorities are keeping well
on their guard."

From all Roy heard, there seemed good reason to believe they were;--in
so far as a Home policy of Government by concession would permit. But
well he knew that--in the East--if the ruling power discards action for
argument, and uses the sceptre for a walking-stick--things happen to men
and women and children on the spot. He also knew that, to England's
great good fortune, there were usually men on the spot who could be
relied on, in an emergency, to think and act and dare in accordance with
the high tradition of their race.

He hoped devoutly it might not come to that; but at the core of hope
lurked a flicker of fear....

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 23: Abstention as sign of mourning.]

CHAPTER V.

"Her best is bettered with a more delight."--SHAKSPERE.

The great Gymkhana was almost over. The last event--bare-back feats of
horsemanship--had been an exciting affair; a close contest between Lance
and Roy and an Indian Cavalry officer. But it was Roy who had carried
the da