wives, now that their husbands are on the march back from Cabul, ventured out, and got through one evening without any prejudice to their characters."11
Are regimental ladies in India nowadays expected to keep in seclusion while their husbands are on active service? I think not. "Monday, 16th September.
"We are going to a ball to-night, which the married gentlemen give us; and instead of being at the only public room, which is a bro-
ken, tumble-down place, it is to be at the C.'s [the Craigies'?], who very good-naturedly give up their house for it." [Pg 28]
"Wednesday, 18th September.
"The ball went off with the greatest success: transparencies of the taking of Ghaznee, 'Auckland' in all directions, arches and ve-randahs made up of flowers; a whist table for his lordship, which is always a great relief at these balls; and every individual at Simla was there. There was a supper room for us, made up of velvet and gold hangings belonging to the Durbar, and a standing supper all night for the company in general, at which one very fat lady was detected in eating five suppers.... It was kept up till five, and altogether succeeded."
"Friday, 27th September.
"We had our fancy fair on Wednesday, which went off with great eclat, and was really a very amusing day, and, moreover, produced
6,500 rupees, which, for a very small society, is an immense sum. X. and L. and a Captain C. were disguised as gipsies, and the most villainous-looking set possible; and they came on to the fair, and sang an excellent song about our poor old Colonel and a little hill fort that he has been taking; but after the siege was over, he found no enemy in it, otherwise, it was a gallant action.
"We had provided luncheon at a large booth with the sign of the 'Marquess of Granby.' L. E. was old Weller, and so disguised I could not guess him; X. was Sam Weller; K., Jingle; and Captain C., Mrs. Weller; Captain Z., merely a waiter, with one or two other gentlemen; but they all acted very well up to their characters, and the luncheon was very good fun.... The afternoon ended with rac-es--a regular racing-stand, and a very tolerable course for the hills; all the gentlemen in satin jackets and jockey caps, and a weighing stand--in short, everything got up regularly. Everybody likes these out-of-door amusements at this time of year, and it is a marvel
to me how well X. and K. and L. E. contrive to make all their plots and[Pg 29] disguises go on. I suppose in a very small society it is easier than it would be in England, and they have all the assistance of servants to any amount, who do all they are told, and merely think the 'sahib log' are mad."
"Tuesday, 15th October.
"The Sikhs are here. Our ball for them last night went off very well. The chiefs were in splendid gold dresses, and certainly very gentleman-like men. They sat bolt upright on their chairs, with their feet dangling, and I dare say suffered agonies from cramp. C. said we saw them amazingly divided between the necessity of listening to George [Lord Auckland], and their native feelings of not seeming surprised, and their curiosity at men and women dancing together. I think that they learned at least two figures of the qua-drilles by heart, for I saw Gholab Singh, the commander of the Goorcherras, who has been with Europeans before, expounding the dancing to the others."
Lola's month at Simla had now expired, but she probably postponed her departure to witness the reception of these chiefs. Having been reconciled with her mother--partly, it seems, through the kindly intervention of the Governor-General's sister, and partly, as she afterwards declared, through her stepfather--she returned with her husband to his cantonment. Here she was fortunate again to attract the attention of the viceregal party.
Miss Eden writes from Karnal, under date 13th November 1839:--
"We had the same display of troops on arriving, except that a bright yellow General N. has taken his[Pg 30] liver complaint home, and a pale primrose General D., who has been renovating some years at Bath, has come out to take his place. We were at home in the evening, and it was an immense party, but except that pretty Mrs. James who was at Simla, and who looked like a star among the others, the women were all plain.
12
"I don't wonder if a tolerable-looking girl comes up the country that she is persecuted with proposals.... That Mrs. ---- we always called the little corpse is still at Karnal. She came and sat herself down by me, upon which Mr. K., with great presence of mind, offered me his arm, and said to George that he was taking me away from that corpse. 'You are quite right,' said George. 'It would be very dangerous sitting on the same sofa; we don't know what she died of.'"
"Sunday, 17th November.
"We left Karnal yesterday morning. Little Mrs. James was so unhappy at our going that we asked her to come and pass the day here, and brought her with us. She went from tent to tent, and chattered all day, and visited her friend Mrs. ----, who is with the camp.
I gave her a pink silk gown, and it was altogether a very happy day for her evidently. It ended in her going back to Karnal on my elephant, with E. N. by her side and Mr. James sitting behind, and she had never been on an elephant before, and thought it delightful. She is very pretty, and a good little thing, apparently, but they are very poor, and she is very young and lively, and if she falls into bad hands she would soon laugh herself into foolish scrapes. At present the husband and wife are very fond of each other, but a girl who marries at fifteen hardly knows what she likes."
[Pg 31]
V
RIVEN BONDS
Miss Eden's misgivings were warranted by the events. "Husband and wife are very fond of each other"--that was, doubtless, true, but Lola's lips would have curled had she read the passage in after years. Abandoned by the departure of the viceregal party once more to the slender social resources of Karnal, the young wife, I conjecture, fretted and moped. The glitter of the Court made the boredom of the cantonment all the more oppressive. The year after the Simla festivities Karnal had another distinguished visitor, the famous Dost Mohammed Khan, Amir of Kabul, but as during his six months' stay he was kept a close prisoner in the fort, his presence could not have sensibly relieved the monotony. Lieutenant James's subsequent readiness to divorce his wife proves that he had no very strong attachment to her, and gives some colour to her allegations against him. Of course, it is safe to conclude that both were in the wrong, or, more truthfully, had made a mistake. So long, however, as people regard marriage more as a contract than
a relation, each party will be anxious to throw the responsibility for the rupture upon the other. As the husband had the opportunity of stating his case in the law courts, it is only fair that[Pg 32] the wife should be allowed to plead hers here. Her version of the circumstances which brought about the breach is as follows:--
"She was taken to visit a Mrs. Lomer--a pretty woman, who was about thirty-three years of age, and was a great admirer of Captain [sic] James. [His bright waistcoats and bright teeth were not without their effect, we see.] Her husband was a blind fool enough; and though Captain James's little wife, Lola, was not quite a fool, it is likely enough that she did not care enough about him to keep a look-out upon what was going on between himself and Mrs. Lomer. So she used to be peacefully sleeping every morning when the Captain [read Lieutenant] and Mrs. Lomer were off for a sociable ride on horseback. In this way things went on for a long time, when one morning Captain James and Mrs. Lomer did not get back to breakfast, and so the little Mrs. James and Mr. Lomer breakfasted alone, wondering what had become of the morning riders.
"But all doubts were soon cleared up by the fact fully coming to light that they had really eloped to Neilghery Hills. Poor Lomer stormed, and raved, and tore himself to pieces, not having the courage to attack any one else. And little Lola wondered, cried a little,
