“The prince, however, continued to load me with presents. One day he sent me a very unexpected object, which excited a passionate admiration in Châli. It was merely one of those cardboard boxes covered with shells stuck on outside. In France it would have been worth forty cents, at the most. But there it was a jewel beyond price, and no doubt was the first that had found its way into the kingdom. I put it on a table and left it there, wondering at the value which was set upon this trumpery article out of a bazaar.
“But Châli never got tired of looking at it, of admiring it ecstatically. From time to time she would say to me, ‘May I touch it?’ And when I had given her permission she raised the lid, closed it again with the greatest precaution, touched the shells very gently, and the contact seemed to give her real physical pleasure.
“However, I had finished my scientific work, and it was time for me to return. I was a long time in making up my mind, held by my tenderness for my little friend, but at last I was obliged to fix the day of my departure.
“The prince got up fresh hunting excursions and fresh wrestling matches, and after a fortnight of these pleasures I declared that I could stay no longer, and he gave me my liberty.
“My farewell from Châli was heartrending. She wept, lying beside me, with her head on my breast, shaken with sobs. I did not know how to console her; my kisses were no good.
“All at once an idea struck me, and getting up I went and got the shell-box, and putting it into her hands, I said, ‘That is for you; it is yours.’
“Then I saw her smile at first. Her whole face was lighted up with internal joy, with that profound joy which comes when impossible dreams are suddenly realized, and she embraced me ardently.
“All the same, she wept bitterly when I bade her a last farewell.
“I gave fatherly kisses and cakes to all the rest of my wives, and then I left for home.
“Two years had passed when the chance of my duties again called me to Bombay. Because I knew the country and the language well, I was left there to undertake another mission, by a sequence of unforeseen circumstances.
“I finished what I had to do as quickly as possible, and as I had a considerable amount of spare time on my hands I determined to go and see my friend Rajah Maddan and my dear little Châli once more, though I expected to find her much changed.
“The rajah received me with every demonstration of pleasure, and hardly left me for a moment during the first day of my visit. At night, however, when I was alone, I sent for Haribadada, and after several misleading questions I said to him:
“ ‘Do you know what has become of little Châli, whom the rajah gave me?’
“He immediately assumed a sad and troubled look, and said, in evident embarrassment:
“ ‘We had better not speak of her.’
“ ‘Why? She was a dear little woman.’
“ ‘She turned out badly, sir.’
“ ‘What—Châli? Where is she? What has become of her?’
“ ‘I mean to say that she came to a bad end.’
“ ‘A bad end! Is she dead?’
“ ‘Yes. She committed a very dreadful action.’
“I was very much distressed. I felt my heart beat; my breast was oppressed with grief, and I insisted on knowing what she had done and what had happened to her.
“The man became more and more embarrassed, and murmured: ‘You had better not ask about it.’
“ ‘But I want to know.’
“ ‘She stole—’
“ ‘Who—Châli? What did she steal?’
“ ‘Something that belonged to you.’
“ ‘To me? What do you mean?’
“ ‘The day you left she stole that little box which the prince had given you; it was found in her hands.’
“ ‘What box are you talking about?’
“ ‘The box covered with shells.’
“ ‘But I gave it to her.’
“The Hindu looked at me with stupefaction, and then replied: ‘Well, she declared with the most sacred oaths that you had given it to her, but nobody could believe that you could have given a king’s present to a slave, and so the rajah had her punished.’
“ ‘How was she punished? What was done to her?’
“ ‘She was tied up in a sack and thrown into the lake from this window, from the window of the room in which we are, where she had committed the theft.’
“I felt the most terrible grief that I ever experienced, and made a sign to Haribadad to go away so that he might not see my tears. I spent the night on the gallery which looked on to the lake, on the gallery where I had so often held the poor child on my knees, and pictured to myself her pretty little body lying decomposed in a sack in the dark waters beneath me.
“The next day I left again, in spite of the rajah’s entreaties and evident vexation; and I now still feel as if I had never loved any woman but Châli.”
A northerly gale was blowing, sweeping across the sky vast wintry clouds, black and heavy, which in their passage flung furious showers of rain upon the earth.
The raging sea roared and shook the coast, hurling shorewards great slow-moving, frothing waves, which were shattered with the noise of a cannon. They came on quite quietly, one after another, mountain-high; at each squall they flung in the air
