Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 126.djvu/317

 must at least have a cup of tea before going on; and he made his request so earnestly, standing at the steps of the carriage, jockey-cap in hand. Miss Cunningham's shawl still over his shoulders, while she looked at her father as if seconding the request, that the good-natured commissioner agreed to stop for a few minutes, and the little party entered the bungalow.

A qualm of doubt shot across Yorke's mind as to the state in which the bungalow might be, and lest the table-attendant might appear clothed in the dirty calico drawers and scull-cap which formed his ordinary costume while preparing breakfast for the establishment; but that worthy having espied the carriage and outriders from the little shed on the borders of the garden which did duty for kitchen, donned his tunic, waist-belt, and turban of white with a quick appreciation of the position, and came running up to make his salaam; fortunately, too, the joint valet of the establishment had already dusted and arranged the sitting-room. It was a simple apartment enough, and might have been taken for the type of many similar ones to be found scattered over India. A room about twenty feet square, with whitewashed walls, and a whitewashed ceiling-cloth concealing the thatched roof, entered from the little verandah by a door in the middle of one side. This verandah, supported on wooden posts, was equipped with a pair of cane-backed lolling-chairs with projections for resting the legs upon. A door on the opposite side opened into a similar verandah, where three earthen jars suspended one above the other in a bamboo frame did duty as a water-filter; sundry empty boxes of beer and soda-water were piled against the wall; while a bull-terrier, the property of Mr. Spragge, was nursing in a basket a family of puppies. A talking mina in a cage, and a rat-trap, completed the adornments of this veranda. In the centre of the sitting-room was a camp-table, whereon was set out the breakfast-equipage on a passably white cloth. In one corner stood Spragge's writing-table, also susceptible of being folded up and carried on a camel, and therefore not furnished with drawers; failing which, Mr. Spragge's correspondence and business papers were distributed on the top, for the most part muster-rolls, company-returns, and tradesmen's bills, mixed up with a loose cheroot or two and some discarded quill-pen slumps. Another camp-table sacred to Yorke's affairs presented a more orderly arrangement. For ornament the walls were decorated with a couple of boar-spears placed crosswise, a couple of fowling-pieces with cleaning rods and appurtenances, and a modest assortment of hunting-whips and walking-canes. There were also a couple of coloured engravings, each representing a female figure with low dress held on by no particular fastening, and kept up in apparent defiance of the laws of gravity, spotless bare feet, and simpering face, entitled respectively Spring and Summer: works of art purchased by Mr. Spragge at an auction, and accepted by him as representing the most refined type of female beauty, but now somewhat spotted and discoloured by the damp of successive rainy seasons. There was also the punkah, which had remained hanging during the cold season, and now drooped more at one end than the other by reason of partial decay of the suspending ropes. A hanging book-shelf completed the inventory. The open doors right and left, communicating with the owners' respective bedrooms, showed that the rest of the bungalow was furnished in the same simple fashion. Each room contained a camp-bed, a chair, a chest of drawers, the top of which garnished with spurs did duty for a dressing-table, and a couple of bullock trunks, with a row of boots and shoes arrayed against the wall. Add an absence of curtains, save some of rushes before the glass doors to keep out the flies and sparrows, and a bright Indian sun reflected within, and the abode, if unadorned and simple, was light and cheerful.

"You see here another phase of Indian life," said Yorke, while the order for tea — given not without a qualm lest the establishment should prove unable to produce a third tea-cup — was in course of execution; "all is not splendour and luxury, you see."

"A soldier's habits ought to be simple," said Miss Cunningham, looking round the room; "and in these days of luxury and self-indulgence, don't you think it is simplicity which is to be admired rather than furniture and knickknacks?" And as she asked the question with her earnest voice, Yorke felt that henceforth the life of a faqueer should be his highest ideal. "But I see you have the best of furniture," she continued, pointing with her parasol to the little book-case; and then going nearer to it, added, "all for use too — Napier, Jomini, Cæsar, Arrian 