him,
and then his ringing footsteps went down into the courtyard, and
Gerrard heard him shouting for his horse. The man who had all went out
into the sunshine, the man who had nothing was left. To keep himself
from tracing the sound of the horse's feet growing faint in the
distance as the happy lover rode away, Gerrard forced himself to plan
for the future. He must leave Ranjitgarh, and at once; he could not
stay and watch the happiness of the pair, lest he should grow to hate
them both. Bob would understand, Bob would not expect it. Some day he
might be able to stand it, but now---- He had not realised how firmly
he was building on Honour's parting words; he had not doubted that the
blush just now was for him. But it was for Bob, and Bob was worthy of
any woman's love, even of that of the woman of women. "Heaven bless
them both!" groaned Gerrard, and rolled over with his face to the wall
to make his plans. He must wait to wring Bob's hand when he returned
triumphant, but after that he would go. Bob would take his place at
the Cinnamonds' dinner-table, would sit next to Honour, would---- No,
it did not bear thinking of; that way madness lay. To his own plans!
He would go back to his Habshiabadis, and move heaven and earth to get
the help of the contingent accepted by the Commander-in-Chief. If not,
and when the war was over--no, he could not face the solitude of his
position at Habshiabad again. Had he not General Desdichado as a
warning of the depths to which an isolated European, without hope and
without ambition, could sink? There was a place for him elsewhere.
Coming events were casting their shadows before them, and there could
be little doubt that the close of the war would see the annexation of
Granthistan. Sir Edmund Antony, who had striven so zealously and with
such a single eye against annexation, would not stay to see it; his
brother James would be the man of the hour when the step was taken.
The Governor-General would be just, even delicate, in his treatment of
the vanquished; Sir Edmund would not be shelved, but transferred to
some other post where his tenderness for native susceptibilities would
be an advantage instead of a drawback. Thither Gerrard would accompany
him. Had not Sir Edmund said to him that morning, almost wistfully, "I
should like to have you with me, Gerrard, when I am kicked out of
Granthistan"? and he had answered eagerly that he could desire nothing
better--then paused