elf shamed and
scorned.

* * * * *

When she arrived at the hotel, she brooded far into the night over her
bedroom fire, reviewing bitterly her moral decline from the day of her
first great mistake. Feeling unable to face the people who had known her
in the Station, she departed the next morning for Muktiarbad, leaving
her infantile charge and its ayah to the tender mercies of the
Sanitarium.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE FAIR

The _mela_[19] week was a great event at Muktiarbad, for the Europeans
as well as the natives of the District, as it gave the officials a
holiday, brought people together, and encouraged healthy competition in
arts, crafts, and various industries of the country. Prizes were offered
for the best exhibits, and local shopkeepers took advantage of the
opportunity to advance their own interests by placing on the market,
articles of use and ornament from all parts of India. Eager crowds,
garbed in all the hues of the rainbow created a kaleidoscope of colour
as they jostled one another among the booths, bent on bargaining or on
sight-seeing. Merry-go-rounds, puppet shows, monkey-dances, juggling,
and cocoanut shies, entertained adults as well as children, while the
noise and confusion of tongues was Bedlam.

[Footnote 19: Fair.]

The fair was usually held at the crossroads where a large irregular
patch of green afforded ample space for the pens, stalls, booths, and
side-shows that contributed towards the joys of the occasion; and to it
came people from miles around, and even from distant parts of the
District.

Just when this annual _fete_ was at its height, Mrs. Dalton arrived at
Muktiarbad to take up her abode under her husband's roof, thus providing
enough of a sensation among his neighbours to last beyond the regulation
nine days for wonderment.

That the Civil Surgeon should prove a married man was not so outrageous
as his having neglected to admit, while she was among them, that Nurse
Dalton was his wife, instead of misleading them tacitly into thinking
that the name was a coincidence. It was unpardonable! And now, to add
insult to injury, after she had made herself conspicuous in Darjeeling
by flirting openly with her late patient, the Station of Muktiarbad was
expected to forget and forgive, and take the black sheep to its bosom.
Unheard of audacity!

How far Ray Meredith was to blame for the gossip concerning himself and
the lady, was immaterial, since