AN IRRAWADI OUTCAST.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume X, Issue 16, 22 April 1893, Page 371

AN IRRAWADI OUTCAST.

SHORT STORY. HOME men are like certain varieties of trees — they will break rather than bend if strained to excess. Of this type was the Rev. Janies Baynton, 8.A., the latest, most gifted, and most zealous member of the Oxford Mission in India. Not that he was in any sense an ascetic. A more wholesouled, cheery specimen of muscular Christianity it would be difficult to find. He had an independent income of £l5O per annum, and was thus able to satisfy his simple cultured tastes without trenching upon the barely adequate stipend attached to his post. But he was an earnest youngster, filled with the poetic enthusiasm of the ‘ home of lost causes and impossible beliefs.’ The only people he knew intimately were bis widowed mother, a high-principled tutor, and a few college friends, so he had an intense belief in the latent excellence of human nature, especially feminine human nature. This was the origin of all the trouble. Others, of tougher moi al fibre, would have emerged from the rapids battered and bruised, but still serviceable ; he came forth a hopeless wreck. He arrived in Calcutta in the cold weather of 1871, and at once plunged into the work of rescue among the submerged nine-tenths of the European elements of that city. At first sight the task of redeeming the lower strata of English and Eurasian society might well seem impossible, but that was not the Rev. James Baynton’s way of looking

at things. So he laboured hard for eighteen months with really marvellous success consideiing the muddy quality of the water in which he caught his fish. On the second Sunday after bis advent to Naini Tai be was able to preach in the station church, and made a most powerful appeal on behalf of a fund inaugurated by the bishop for the purpose of building mission-houses in the lower parts of Calcutta. When he returned to the Lake Hotel he was accosted by a benevolent-looking old gentleman who said, * I listened to you just now with great interest and desire to make you a donation for the Mission Fund of R 5.10,000, which sum I chanced to withdraw from the bank yester. day. Under ordinary circumstances I should prefer to remain unknown in connection with the gift, but as I feel that my contribution may serve to set the ball rolling, you can make such use of my name as you think fit.’ The Rev. James Baynton received the card and money of Mr William Smith-Brown with great glee, and forthwith wrote letters to the bishop and the leading papers announcing the gift. At dinner, when he proclaimed the glad tidings, everyone congratulated him, but, as the majority of the boarders were stoney-broke subalterns, there was no addition to the subscription list. Mrs Fitzroy-Frear was particularly charmed with this noble response to his impassioned appeal. * The tears came into my eyes,’ she said, ‘ when you spoke of the heavenly light which those mission-rooms will cast on the dark places of the metropolis. The fate of the poor white in India, without the aid of men such as you, mustindeed be sad.’

Mrs Fitzroy-Frear was young, very good-looking, and a widow, so that the Rev. James was much touched by her sympathetic words. A few men present elevated their eyebrows when they heard her, some of the ladies, none of whom seemed to know her, looked astonished, and one old major nearly whistled in bis amazement. The money was duly lodged in the bank, and as he intended to remit it to the proper authorities in due course he placed it to his own account, which was unusually small owing to heavy payments caused by his sickness, new clothing and unexpected travelling expenses. The post is slow and not always sure in India, and his letter never reached the bishop. Nearly a month passed in the idyllic life of the hills—riding, boating, playing lawn-tennis, and picnics, in each and all of which pastimes he was ever at the beck and call of Mrs Fitzroy-Frear. After the first few days he knew he was hopelessly in love with her, but such was the depth of his adoration that he did not dare to confess it. Matters were in this state when the station plunged into the excitement of the autumn race meeting. Mrs Fitzroy-Frear was much in evidence in the enclosure, but for once she was not attended by the padri, as he had conscientious scruples regarding even passive patronage of horse-racing. The lady was, however, closely looked after by a sporting ex-captain, who was now trainer and general factotum for an Anglicised Maharajah. The degree of intimacy which existed between the widow ami * Captain ’ Stokes evoked some comment ; but of this the Rev. James Baynton remained in blissful ignorance. Before dinner, on the evening of the third day's racing, the temporarily neglected lover went for a stroll round the lake, and when he reached a lonely elevate*! spot called the

* Smuggler's Rock,’ to his delight he discovered Mrs Fitz-roy-Frear seated near its summit. The widow was startled on hearing him approach, and he was amazed to see her in tears. ‘My dear Mrs I'rear,’ he said, ‘what has happened? You cannot tell how grieved I am to iind you in distress. Can I, may I, help you V And he bent over her, tenderly laying his hand, which trembled slightly, in spite of his great power of self control, on her shoulder. So he had not seen, then, or he would have guessed. At once a fiendish thought entered this woman’s soul, for she, too, loved. ‘ Oh,’ she sobbed, ‘you are very good, and you have been so kind to me, but it is beyond your power to help me, even if I dared to ask you,’ turning her beautiful tear-stained face to him.

The anguish of her eyes unlocked his tongue. He knelt beside her and whispered : ‘ Alice, my darling, you must have felt that I loved you long before I had the inspiration of this moment to tell you. Say you will be my wife, con fide your trouble to me, and I will share it or take the whole burthen, for I have perfect trust in you.’ His concluding words seemed to momentarily unnerve her, but after a slight pause, broken only by her sobs, she told him in broken sentences how since her husband’s death she had been dependent upon an annuity which was not large enough to meet her expenditure. So she bad got into financial difficulties, and two creditors, a native banker and her dressmaker, had taken proceedings against her, with the result that she would be arrested in a few days if the money were not paid. It would require Rs. 10,000 to satisfy the Court, and such a sum was absolutely unobtainable, so how could he talk of love to her at this moment 1 The young cleric was a man of resource.. The difficulty

could be easily surmounted. He had in his possession that very amount, given him, as she would remember, by Mr Smith-Browne for the mission-houses. He would give her this money in the morning, and enable her to meet her creditors’ claims in full, whilst he would at once instruct his agents to realise the larger portion of the stock whence he derived his private income in order to replace the bequest. The proceeding was, perhaps, not strictly lawful from one point of view ; but ethically it was entirely defensible, as a great evil would be averted and no one injured in the slightest degree. To his mind the only question of any moment was whether she would be content to share his lessened revenue as his wife. For answer she kissed him with a feverish vehemence that surprised and delighted him. Shortly before midnight ‘ Captain ' Stokes strolled out of the whist-room at the club to play a game at billiards, with the nonchalant air of a man thoroughly satisfied with himself and the world.

‘That chap has gone a mucker, I am told,’said young Hawthorne, of the Bengal Lancers, to the thiee men who were playing with him. •He lost over ten thousand dibs to the bookies and at the lotteries. Wonder whether he’ll pay up or slide ?’ ‘Your inquisitive bump will get you into troublesome day, he-haw,' said an artilleiy major. ‘lt may interest you to learn that a few minutes ago I heard Stokes asking the secretary to oblige him with his account eaily to-morrow as he wishes to settle up before leaving for Umballa.’ Hawthorne did not like nicknames, so he replied, snappishly : ‘ However that may be, 1 think someone ought to give

the pttdri the straight tip about Mrs Frear. Baynton is a thorough good chap, and it’s a shame to see him made a fool of. Why, he might even otter to marry her.’ ‘ A fellah should nevah interfeah with another fellah's affairs,’ said a young philosopher of eighteen who had just joined the rifles, and the subject dropped. Next morning the clergyman drew out the money and learned with some degree of annoyance that, even bycabling from Bombay, it would be nearly a fortnight before the proceeds of his stock could be placed to his account in India. The delay was unavoidable, and this slight co.trc temps in no wise diminished his joy at being able to hand the requisite funds to Mrs Fitzroy-Frear shortly after breakfast. She was nervously inclined to cry when he entered her sitting-room, but she thanked him so prettily, and looked so gracefully sby about her monetary difficulties, that he felt her to be doubly dear to him in her distress, and he did not think it strange when she told him she would be so busy that she could not see him again all day. . The following morning he received two letters. The first was from the bishop s secretary at Calcutta ; it read :

Dear Sir,—His lordship was very much surprised and grieved to see in the public press a statement that you had received R 5.10,000 from Mr Smith-Browne as a donation towards the Mission House Fund. His lordship thinks that ho ought to have been personally informed of such an important occurrence, especially as he learns from Mr Smith-Browne that the money was paid to you at Naini Tai more than a month ago. Kindly remit the amount in full by return post, as it will enable the committee to proceed with the preparation of plans, etc. Yours truly, E. Jones.’ The other note bore the Bareilly postmark, and was in a handwriting unknown to him. Its contents were brief and to the point: —

J)EAii Sir,—By the time this letter reaches you 1 will have the honour of marrying, by special licence, a lady well-known to you, Mrs Fitzroy-Frear. Were it not for the loan you so generously prof erred to her I would now be in a very serious tinan vial predicament, and we both tender our heartful thanks to you. The money shall be repaid as soon as fortune favours me to that extent. - Yours very gratefully, Philip Stokes. Captain.

Thus it was that the Rev. Janies Baynton became a fool for ever and a thief for fourteen days.

Not long since the English deputy commissioner of a wild district in Burmali, oh the muddy shores of the irrawadi, the great water-way of Further India, was amazed to hear that a European, who had taken unto himself a Burmese wife, dwelt on the river bank at a short distance from his (the deputy commissioner’s) temporary encampment. He rode over to the locality indicated, and at last found the hut in the midst of a cultivated patch and surrounded by heaps of broken bottles which bore the labels of most of the best known exporters of brandy, whisky, and beer. A little naked urchin was playing in front of the house, and to him the Sahib addressed an inquiry in Burmese. ‘ Pater mens in domo est. Ecce, venit,’ replied the lad. I'he commissioner thought someone must have hit him so hard with a brick that his brain was dulled, and the (lain would follow shortly. Before he could recover, a tall unkempt man came to the door and said, • Who sent you here? <Io away, and leave me in peace. I wish to have nothing to say to you. ’ Then the Sahib understood, and silently turned his horse's head, whilst a Burmese woman in the dark interior

of the hut sangjoyfully to her. baby. Some Sahibs married Burmese girls ami deserted them after a year or so; but hers was faithful, and would remain. <

Louis Trace.