Her people, Lona said, would never permit her to marry outside her own station in life, besides which there was another ground upon which we might be equally sure of their opposition.They had already chosen for her and she was betrothed to Rama Ragobah.It is of this man that I have chiefly to speak.By birth he was of the same Vaisya caste as Lona.Early in life his lot had fallen among fakirs and he had acquired all their secrets.This did not satisfy his ambitions, for he wished to be numbered among the rishis or adepts, and subjected himself to the most horrible asceticism to qualify himself for adeptship.His indifference to physical pain was truly marvellous.He had rolled his naked body to the Ganges over hundreds of miles of burning sands! He had held his hands clinched until the nails had worn through the palm and out at the back of the hand.He had at one time maintained for weeks a slow fire upon the top of his head, keeping the skin burned to the skull.
When he came wooing Lona, his rigid asceticism had much relaxed, but he would still seek to amuse her by driving knives into his body until she would sicken at the blood, a condition of affairs which, she said, afforded him great enjoyment.Ragobah was a man of gigantic build and immense physical strength.His features were heavy and forbidding.You are familiar with pictures of Nana Sahib.
If I had not known this fiend to have died while beset in a swamp, I should have mistaken Ragobah for him.It was to such a being that Lona was betrothed in spite of the loathing her parents knew she felt for him.She told me all this one night at our accustomed tryst on Malabar Hill.We had chosen to meet here on account of the beauty of the place and the seclusion it offered.There, on bright moonlit nights, with the sea and the city below me, the "Tower of Silence" in the Parsees' burial plot ablaze with reflected glory, the majestic banyan over me rustling gently in the soft sea breeze, while Lona nestled close beside me, - the exquisite perfume of the luxuriant garden less welcome than the delicious fragrance of her breath, - hours fraught with years of bliss would pass as if but pulse-beats.In the world of love the heart is the only true timepiece.On one or two occasions Lona had thought she had been followed when coming to meet me, and she began to conceive a strange dislike for a little cavelike recess in the rocks just back of the tree by which we sat.I tried on one occasion to reassure her by telling her it was so shallow that, with the moonlight streaming into it, I could see clear to the back wall, and arose to enter it to convince her there was no one there, but she clung to me in terror, saying: "Don't go! Don't leave me! I was foolish to mention it.I cannot account for my fear, - and yet, do you know,"she continued in a low, frightened tone, "there is a shaft at the back of the cave that has, they say, no bottom, but goes down, - down, - down, - hundreds of feet to the sea?" It is useless, as you know only too well, to strive to reason down a presentiment, and so, instead, I sought to make use of her fear in the accomplishment of my dearest wish."Why need we," I urged, "come here; why longer continue these clandestine meetings? Let us be brave, darling, in our loves.Your people have chosen another husband for you, - my people another wife for me; but we are both quite able to choose for ourselves.We have done so, and it is our most sacred duty to adhere to and consummate that choice.Let us, I beseech you, do so without further delay.Dearest, meet me here to-morrow night prepared for a journey.We will take the late train for Matheron Station, where I have friends who can be trusted.We will be married immediately upon our arrival, and can communicate by post with our respective families, remaining away from them until they are glad to welcome us with open arms."She raised some few objections to my plan and expressed some misgivings, but she loved me and I was able to reason away the one and kiss away the other, and with our souls upon our lips we parted for the night.The last thing I had said to her, - Iremember it as if it all happened yesterday, - was: "Think of it, dear heart, there will be no more such partings between us after to-night!" and she had replied by silently nestling closer to me and twining her arms about my neck.And so we parted on that never-to-be-forgotten night more than a score of years ago.
The twenty-four hours intervening between this parting and our next meeting may be passed over in silence, as nothing occurred during that time at all essential to the purpose this narrative subserves.The longed-for time came at last and, with a depth of happiness I had never known before - a peace passing all understanding - I set out for Malabar Hill.The night was perfect and the moonlight so bright I could distinctly see the air-roots of our trysting tree when more than a quarter of a mile away.Ithought at the time how this tree, with its crown of luxuriant foliage and its writhing roots, might well pass for some gigantic Medusa-head with its streaming serpent-hair.As I neared the tree Lona stepped from behind it and awaited my approach.She was even more impatient than I, I thought, and my heart beat more wildly than ever."Sweet saint, have I kept you waiting?" I asked, as I came within speaking distance of her.She stood motionless against the tree and apparently did not hear me.I waited till Iwas within ten feet of her and repeated the question, but, although she fixed her unfathomable eyes full upon mine, she made no reply, and gave no evidence of having heard me.I stood as if petrified.
A nameless dread was settling upon me, paralysing my faculties.
She had always before sprung forward at sight of me and thrown herself with a bewitching little pirouette into my arms, now she stood coldly aloof, silent and motionless, on this, our wedding night! I waited for some word of explanation, but none came.The suspense became unbearable - I could endure it no longer!
