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Speaker 1: If you see her face by Bithia Merry Croaker. I

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heard a voice across the press of one who called

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in vain barrack room ballads. Daniel Gregson, Esquire b s C.

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Political agent to the Rajah of Unamore, a child of

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seven years of age, and Percy Goring, his junior assistant,

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were traveling from their own state to attend the Great

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Deli d'urbar. Mister Gregson was a civilian of twenty five years,

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standing short of neck, short of stature, and short of temper.

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His red face, pale prominent eyes, and fierce bushy brows

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had gained for him the nickname of the Prawn, but

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he was also known as a marvelously clever financier, ambitious,

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shrewd and prompt in action, and by those who were

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under him he was less loved than feared. Yongring was

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just twenty six, and much more eager to discuss good

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shooting or a good dance than the assessment of land,

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the opium trade, or even acting allowances. The pair journeyed

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with due ceremony on the native state line, and in

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the little Rajah's own guilt and royal carriage, he was

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laid up in the palace with chicken pock, and had

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wept sorely because he had been unable to accompany his guide,

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philosopher and friend to the Grand Tamasha, to wear his

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new velvet coat and all his jewels, and to hear

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the guns that would thunder in his honor. Child as

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he was, he was already keenly sensitive, respecting his salute. Meanwhile,

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the agent and his subordinate got on capitally without him,

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traveling at the leisure of ten miles an hour that

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fine November afternoon, surrounded with tiffin baskets, cigarettes, ice boxes,

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and other luxurious accompaniments. About four o'clock the train came

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to a sudden standstill. There was no station to account

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for this, merely a country road, a white gate, and

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a mud hut. The halt resolved itself into a full stop.

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Mister Gregson thrust his red face out of the window

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and angrily inquired the reason of the delay. Beg your pardon, sir,

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said the Eurasian Guard. There has been a break on

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the line, bridge gone and we can't get forward. Nohow.

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Mister Gregson glanced out on the prospect, the dusty cactus hedge,

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the white telegraph posts, the expanse of brownish grass, black

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goats and jungle. Any village, any dock bungalow, demanded the

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political agent, who might have known better than to ask.

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I'm afraid not your honor. If your honor will wait here,

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we will send a messenger to the next station on

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foot and tell them to telegraph for another train from

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the junction. This will arrive at the other side of

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the break and take you on about twelve o'clock to morrow.

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And meanwhile we are to sit here, cried mister Gregson, indignantly,

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a pretty state of affairs. I'll send a memo to

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the railway engineer that will astonish him, he said, turning

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to Goring. It's four now, and we shall be here

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till twelve o'clock to morrow. If we don't mind, we

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shall be late for the d'urbar, and I shall have

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to wire unavoidably absent. I wonder if there is any

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sport to be had, said Goring, descending from the carriage

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and stretching his long legs. Any shooting any black buck

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looking at the guard into progatively. Ah, that reminds me,

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exclaimed mister Gregson. The Raja has a hunting box somewhere

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in these parts, Cory, we can go there for the night. Yes,

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your honor, assented a listener with profound respect. But it

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is for koats from here, a cutcher road and a

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very poor part of the state. I vote we stop here,

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said Goring. We can shoot a bit and come back

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and dine and sleep in the train. We shall be

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all right and jolly twice as comfortable as in some

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tumble down old summer house. I shall go to Corey

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at any rate, rejoined his superior officer, who resented opposition.

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The place is kept up, and I've never seen it.

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This will be a capital opportunity to inspect it. But

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it's four coasts away. And how are we to get

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our baggage and bedding and grub over Coolly's, was the

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laconic rejoiner. There get them ready to start at once

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to his head servant with an imperious wave of his hand.

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There is no way of transport, for your majesty, said

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his obsequious bearer, with a deep'salarm. No ponies, not even

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an echo, unless the protector of the poor would stoop

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to a country cart, which same is a long, rude,

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open basket between two round wooden wheels drawn by a

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pair of bullocks. I really think it is hardly worth

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while to move, urged Goring, as he cast a greedy

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eye in the direction of a promising snipe jeal. It

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will be an awful fag And you know you hate walking.

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You can please yourself and stay here, said mister Gregson

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with immense dignity, who, if he hated walking, liked his

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own way, as the whole suite, not to mention, the

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commissariat were bound to accompany him going was compelled to submit.

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He dared not run, counter to his arbitrary companion, who,

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rejecting with scorn the lowly vehicle that had been suggested,

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set out for Cory on foot, whither a long string

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of coolies had already preceded him. The sandy country road

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wound over a barren, melancholy looking tract, diversified with scanty

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pasture and marshy patches or jeals, pools of water, tall

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reeds and brown grasses. It was dotted with droves of

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lean cattle, paddy birds, milk, white herons and cranes, especially

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the tall serious family, who danced to one another in

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a stately not to say solemn fashion, truly a bleak,

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desolate looking region, and save one or two miserable huts

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and some thorn bushes, there was no sign of tree

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or human habitation. At last they came in sight of

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a wretched village, the once prosperous hanger on of the

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now deserted hunting palace, that showed its delicate stone pinnacles

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behind a high wall. Apparently it stood in an enclosure

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of vast extent, an enclosure that must have cost lacks

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of rupees. Two sahibs were naturally an extraordinary sight in

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this out of the way district. The fame and name

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of mister Gregson, a borough BurrH Sahib, had been spread

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before him by the coolies. Therefore, beggars and petitioners swarmed

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eagerly round this great and all powerful personage. Mister Gregson

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liked to feel his own importance at a d'urbar or

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an official dinner, but it was quite another matter to

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have it thrust upon him by a gang of clamoring paupers,

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the maimed, the halt, the blind, crying out against taxation,

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imploring alms and mercy. He was a hard man with

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a quick, impatient temper. An aged blind beldum got in

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his way, and he struck her savagely with his stick.

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She shrank back with a sharp cry, and Goring, who

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was ever known as a sahib with a soft heart,

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spoke to her and gave her a rupee, a real rupee.

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It was years since she had felt one. Although she

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is blind, Sahib, beware of her, said an officious youth

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with his hair in a top knot. She has the

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evil eye, peace dog, she screamed. Then to Goring, I

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am a lone old woman. My kindred are dead. I

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have lived too long. I remember the former days, rich days,

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but bad days. Sahib, if you would be wise, go

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not to the palace Connor. Goring was moving on when

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the hag hastily clutched him by the sleeve and added

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in a rasping whisper, if you see her face, you die.

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She is mad, he said to himself, as he hastened

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to join mister Gregson, who had arrived at the great

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iron studded Gates in a state of crimson fury. You

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say we have land, true, shouted a haggard, wild eyed riot.

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But what is land without crops. What is a remission

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of five percent to wretches like us? It is but

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as a caraway seed in a camel's mouth. The wild

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beasts take our cattle and destroy our grain, and yet

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we must work and pay you and starve. Would that

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the rajah was a man grown, Would that you were dead?

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Mister Gregson hurried inside and banged the great gate violently

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in the face of the fortunate crowd. It is a

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very poor district, and much too heavily assessed, said Goring

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to himself. There is not even a pony in the place.

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The very bunya is in rags. The deer eat the

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crops such as they are. Since the deer are preserved

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and there is no one now to shoot them, it

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is abominable. The palace was a pretty light stone building,

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two stories in height, with a tower at either end

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and a double verandah all the way round. In front

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of it. A large space was paved with blocks of

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white marble which ran the whole length of the building,

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and it was surrounded by the most exquisite gardens, kept

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up in perfect order, doubtless by the taxes wrung from

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the wretched creatures outside its gates. A garden that was

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never entered by its proprietor, or enjoyed by any one

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from year's end to year's end, save the Malley's children

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and the monkeys. The monkeys ate the fruit, The roses

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and lilies bloomed unseen, The fountains dripped unheeded. It was

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a paradise for the doves and squirrels, like a garden

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in a fairy tale. The Chonkider and head Malley, he

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was a rich man, received their great guest with every

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expression of humble delight. Dinner was prepared with much bustle

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in the hall of audience, whilst mister Gregson and his

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junior explored. There were long, shady walks paved with white marble,

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immense bushes of heliotrope and myrtle, delicate palms, fine mango trees,

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peach trees and orange trees. It was truly an oasis

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in the desert when one contrasted it with the bear desolate,

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barren country that lay outside its walls. I shall bring

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the little chap here, said mister Gregson, pompous. We will

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have a camp here at Christmas. And then he strolled

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back to the palace and made an excellent dinner of

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roast turkey and asparagus and champagne. After this repast, he

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got out his despatch box and his cigarette case and

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set about writing an official whilst. Goring took a chair

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and adjourned to the marble pavement outside the palace. It

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was an exquisite night. A low moon was peering over

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the wall. The air was heavy with the scent of

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syringa and orange blossoms. There was not a sound, not

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a voice to be heard, not a soul in sight

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save mister Gregson, who illuminated by two wax candles, bent

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eagerly over his pen as he sat in the open

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hall of audience. Goring, as he smoked, thought of many

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things of the hawk famished villagers, of the splendid shooting

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that was going to waste, of the grand bag he

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could make and would make at Christmas. Then he began

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sleepily to recall some stories half told stories about this

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very place, tales of hideous atrocities and crimes that had

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been done here in the days of the Tiger Raja,

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the present ruler's grandfather. He was gradually dozing off when

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he was aroused by the sounds of distant tom toms

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playing with extravagant spirit. The drumming came slowly nearer and nearer.

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It actually seemed to be in the garden, louder and louder,

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with a whispered murmuring and low applause, and as it

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were the footsteps of a great multitude. But there was

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nothing whatever to be seen, and it was as light

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as day. He moved uneasily in his chair and gazed by.

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Behind him, now nothing to be seen but his senior

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steadily covering sheets of fool's cap. He turned his head

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and was aware of an unexpected sight, as startling as

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it was uncanny, two twinkling, little brown feet dancing before

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him on the marble pavement, exquisite feet that seemed scarcely

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to touch the ground, and that kept perfect time to

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the inspiriting sounds of the tom toms. They were decked

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with massive golden anklets, which tinkled as they moved, and

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above them waved a few inches of the heavy yellow,

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gold embroidered skirt of the dancing girl. No more was visible.

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Round and round to the fairy feet flitted in a

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very poetry of motion. Faster and faster played the tom Toms,

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such dancing, such nimble feet. It had never been young

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Goring's lot to behold? Yes, but where was the rest

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of the body. As he gazed in half stupefied amazement,

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he suddenly recalled the old tag's warning with an unpleasant thrill.

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If you see her face, you die. At this instant

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there was a scraping sound of the pushing back of

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a chair, of slow footsteps on the marble, of a

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loud cry, and a heavy fall. Goring jumped up and

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beheld mister Gregson, lying prone on his face. He rushed

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to his assistance and raised him with considerable difficulty. His

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eyes were fixed with an expression of unutterable horror. He

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gave one or two shuddering gasps, His head drooped forward

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on his breast, and he expired. Goring looked round apprehensively.

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The feet had disappeared, for Tom Toms had ceased. He

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shouted for help, and immediately a vast crowd of dismays

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made retainers assembled around him, and Babel ensued The borough

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sahid dead, well, well, it was ever an evil place.

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Ah bah ah bah. It was the notch girl, without doubt.

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They further informed Goring that the old Rajah had once

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tortured a dancing girl on that very spot and inhumanly

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disfigured her face more than one had seen her since,

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and perished Thus. That morning, at sunrise, the dead body

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of mister Gregson was placed in a Native cart similar

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to the one he had so scornfully rejected, and taken

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by slow stages to the nearest station and back to

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the city, accompanied by Goring. The doctors, European and Native,

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declared with one consent that mister Gregson had died in

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a fit an apoplect ex seizure. Goring, wise man said

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nothing end of if you see her face By Bithia

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Marry Croaker