The Essential Writings of Rudyard Kipling (Illustrated Edition). Редьярд Киплинг

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СКАЧАТЬ seat of government. Go!'

      She put forth a detaining, despairing hand, but he was gone.

      Kate returned to the little Maharaj Kunwar, who had been allowed to lighten his convalescence by bringing down from the palace a number of his toys and pets. She sat down by the side of the bed, and cried for a long time silently.

      'What is it, Miss Kate?' asked the Prince, after he had watched her for some minutes, wondering. 'Indeed, I am quite well now, so there is nothing to cry for. When I go back to the palace I will tell my father all that you have done for me, and he will give you a village. We Rajputs do not forget.'

      'It's not that, Lalji,' she said, stooping over him, drying her tear-stained eyes.

      'Then my father will give you two villages. No one must cry when I am getting well, for I am a king's son. Where is Moti? I want him to sit upon a chair.'

      Kate rose obediently, and began to call for the Maharaj Kunwar's latest pet--a little grey monkey, with a gold collar, who wandered at liberty through the house and garden, and at night did his best to win a place for himself by the young Prince's side. He answered the call from the boughs of a tree in the garden, where he was arguing with the wild parrots, and entered the room, crooning softly in the monkey tongue.

      'Come here, little Hanuman,' said the Prince, raising one hand. The monkey bounded to his side. 'I have heard of a king,' said the Prince, playing with his golden collar, 'who spent three lakhs in marrying two monkeys. Moti, wouldst thou like a wife? No, no--a gold collar is enough for thee. We will spend our three lakhs in marrying Miss Kate to Tarvin Sahib, when we get well, and thou shalt dance at the wedding.' He was speaking in the vernacular, but Kate understood too well the coupling of her name with Tarvin's.

      'Don't, Lalji, don't!'

      'Why not, Kate? Why, even I am married.'

      'Yes, Yes. But it is different. Kate would rather you didn't, Lalji.'

      'Very well,' answered the Maharaj, with a pout. 'Now I am only a little child. When I am well I will be a king again, and no one can refuse my gifts. Listen. Those are my father's trumpets. He is coming to see me.'

      A bugle call sounded in the distance. There was a clattering of horses' feet, and a little later the Maharajah's carriage and escort thundered up to the door of the missionary's house. Kate looked anxiously to see if the noise irritated her young charge; but his eyes brightened, his nostrils quivered, and he whispered, as his hand tightened on the hilt of the sword always by his side--

      'That is very good! My father has brought all his sowars.'

      Before Kate could rise, Mr. Estes had ushered the Maharajah into the room, which was dwarfed by his bulk and by the bravery of his presence. He had been assisting at a review of his bodyguard, and came therefore in his full uniform as commander-in-chief of the army of the State, which was no mean affair. The Maharaj Kunwar ran his eyes delightedly up and down the august figure of his father, beginning with the polished gold-spurred jack-boots, and ascending to the snowy-white doeskin breeches, the tunic blazing with gold, and the diamonds of the Order of the Star of India, ending with the saffron turban and its nodding emerald aigrette. The King drew off his gauntlets and shook hands cordially with Kate. After an orgy it was noticeable that his Highness became more civilised.

      'And is the child well?' he asked. 'They told me that it was a little fever, and I, too, have had some fever.'

      'The Prince's trouble was much worse than that, I am afraid, Maharajah Sahib,' said Kate.

      'Ah, little one,' said the King, bending over his son very tenderly, and speaking in the vernacular, 'this is the fault of eating too much.'

      'Nay, father, I did not eat, and I am quite well.'

      Kate stood at the head of the bed stroking the boy's hair.

      'How many troops paraded this morning.'

      'Both squadrons, my General,' answered the father, his eye lighting with pride. 'Thou art all a Rajput, my son.'

      'And my escort--where were they?'

      'With Pertab Singh's troop. They led the charge at the end of the fight.'

      'By the Sacred Horse,' said the Maharaj Kunwar, 'they shall lead in true fight one day. Shall they not, my father? Thou on the right flank, and I on the left.'

      'Even so. But to do these things, a prince must not be ill, and he must learn many things.'

      'I know,' returned the Prince reflectively. 'My father, I have lain here some nights, thinking. Am I a little child?' He looked at Kate a minute, and whispered, 'I would speak to my father. Let no one come in.'

      Kate left the room quickly, with a backward smile at the boy, and the King seated himself by the bed.

      'No, I am not a little child,' said the Prince.

      'In five years I shall be a man, and many men will obey me. But how shall I know the right or the wrong in giving an order?'

      'It is necessary to learn many things,' repeated the Maharajah vaguely.

      'Yes, I have thought of that lying here in the dark,' said the Prince. 'And it is in my mind that these things are not all learned within the walls of the palace, or from women. My father, let me go away to learn how to be a prince!'

      'But whither wouldst thou go? Surely my kingdom is thy home, beloved.'

      'I know, I know,' returned the boy. 'And I will come back again, but do not let me be a laughing-stock to the other princes. At the wedding the Rawut of Bunnaul mocked me because my school-books were not as many as his.' And he is only the son of an ennobled lord. He is without ancestry. But he has been up and down Rajputana as far as Delhi and Agra, ay, and Abu; and he is in the upper class of the Princes' School at Ajmir. Father, all the sons of the kings go there. They do not play with the women; they ride with men. And the air and the water are good at Ajmir. And I should like to go!'

      The face of the Maharajah grew troubled, for the boy was very dear to him.

      'But an evil might befall thee, Lalji. Think again.'

      'I have thought,' responded the Prince. 'What evil can come to me under the charge of the Englishmen there? The Rawut of Bunnaul told me that I should have my own rooms, my own servants, and my own stables, like the other princes--and that I should be much considered there.'

      'Yes,' said the King soothingly. 'We be children of the sun--thou and I, my Prince.'

      'Then it concerns me to be as learned and as strong and as valiant as the best of my race. Father, I am sick of running about the rooms of the women, of listening to my mother, and to the singing of the dance girls; and they are always pressing their kisses on me. Let me go to Ajmir. Let me go to the Princes' School. And in a year, even in a year--so says the Rawut of Bunnaul--I shall be fit to lead my escort, as a King should lead them. Is it a promise, my father?'

      'When thou art well,' answered the Maharajah, 'we will speak of it again--not as a father to a child, but as a man to a man.'

      The Maharaj Kunwar's eyes grew bright with pleasure. 'That is good,' he said--'as a man to a man.'

      The Maharajah СКАЧАТЬ