CHAPTER XXIX.
THE HILL CAMP.
And hope to joy is little less in joy Than hope enjoyed----
Maud soon lost sight of her troubled spirits in Felicia's society. Herdoubts about her happiness in married life were forgotten in the midstof pleasures which pleased Sutton no less than herself. Her devotion toFelicia was a sentiment which her husband thoroughly understood andcordially approved.
'I used to be finely jealous of her, Jem, I can tell you, in old days,'Maud would say to him, 'and to think you liked her twenty times betterthan some one else; and indeed I am not sure that I am not jealous now;only I am so much in love with her myself that I do not feel it.'
'Jealous!' Sutton would plead. 'Felicia is like a sister to me. It wasshe, I believe, who first hit out the brilliant idea of our beingmarried.'
'Was it?' said Maud blushing. 'I fancied that happy thought had been myown. Well, Jem, if you never flirt with any one but her I will forgiveyou, because in my opinion she is an angel.'
The pleasant visit ended. Sutton had to go off to his camp, a tiny hillstation some three thousand feet above the sea, and therefore, as itsenemies declared, combining all the drawbacks of hill and plain. Herethey were to stay till June, when Sutton was to have his leave and totake his bride up to Elysium for the rest of the summer. Even thisprospect had not enabled Maud to bear the parting from her friend withequanimity. 'I wish--I wish,' she had said, wistfully, with the tears inher eyes--'what do I wish? If only, dear Felicia, I could never go awayfrom you!' Felicia bade her farewell with an aching heart, and some darkmisgivings. They were not to meet at Elysium, for this year she haddetermined to establish her children in their little mountain abode atthe 'Gully' and to divide her time between them and her husband till hecould come up and join them. Then they had resolved to take a littlemarch into the interior, where Felicia might get some new sketches andenlarge her stock of ferns; while Vernon might have a few days'shooting, unharassed by a pursuing train of official cares andcorrespondence.
The Hill Camp proved a fearful place; worse, far worse, than anythingon the march. It was only to be endured till June, happily, but still itlooked terrific. The long lines of huts; the horrible little abodeswhich were honoured by the title of Officers' Quarters; the gaunt,hideous, treeless hills; the valleys blazing and withered, the dry,blistering scene uncheered by a single streamlet; the dusty plateau,where the soldiers were eternally marching, galloping, cannonading--allthe outer world seemed dull, parched, repulsive. There was no other ladyin the camp but one, the surgeon's wife, large and dark and hot, and, asMaud felt, horribly realising one's ideas of an ogress. This lady usedto come and see her, and sit gossiping and questioning and telling longstories, and shaking a great bird of paradise feather in her head, tillshe made Maud's life a burthen to her. Then, after about three of thesevisitations, which Maud imagined that she had endured with angelicsweetness, the lady, for some inscrutable cause, took offence, and whennext they met out of doors flung up her head, brandished the bird ofparadise feather in the most menacing and defiant manner, and hadevidently proclaimed a social war of an altogether implacable order.
'O Jem! what _have_ I done?' said Maud with a shudder, as she passed.
'Something unforgivable evidently,' said Sutton; 'we must make peace atonce, because Surgeon Crummins could poison us all, if he pleased, nexttime we happen to be poorly and to fall into his hands. Let us have themto dinner.'
So the irascible lady and the surgeon had to be asked to dinner; anddull and stiff and wearisome the dinner proved, and Maud's heart sankwithin her at the thought that these were to be her companions, and thisthe sort of life upon which she was embarked. She loved her husband, butwhat a price her love had cost her!
Flashes of brightness, however, break in upon the dreariest lot, and onecheering feature of this period was the arrival of a most interestingbox from England, containing a highly important supplement to Maud'soriginal _trousseau_. To take an array of pretty garments for a march oftwo months in the jungle had been out of the question, so that Feliciahad determined that all Maud's dresses for the coming summer should notarrive till the time approached when they would be of use. In May,accordingly, there came two splendid cases, whose appearance announcedthe importance of their contents. Jem professed himself quite as excitedas Maud and set to work at once with chisel and hammer to disinter thetreasures. There is something very delightful in such unpackings--farfrom home--the very air within seems English; the silver-paper has acharming familiar look; each package as it comes out and is revealedexcites a pleasing pang of excitement. And then these boxes were minesof treasures. There were lovely ball-dresses, lying fresh, unruffled,ethereal as when they left the artist's hand; and a new habit, whichmade Maud feel how shabby hers had grown in her long tour; and a mostcharming morning dress, looped up into all sorts of fantastic costumes,which her prophetic soul told her would look very effective on the lawnat Government House; and there were hats and bonnets and flowers for thehair, culled surely by some fairy hand; and amongst the other treasureswas a fine pearl necklace, which old Mrs. Sutton had guarded for many ayear for this especial end, and had at last had reset, and now sent,with all sorts of fond wishes and blessings, to her dear son's bride.
Sutton insisted on Maud's trying everything on; and Maud, nothing loth,obeyed.
'Let us send across for Mrs. Crummins,' suggested her husband, 'if thiswill not appease her she is a fury.'
Accordingly Maud wrote a little note in great excitement:--'Dear Mrs.Crummins, _would_ you like to see my new dresses, which have justarrived?' Mrs. Crummins _would_ like it, of all things, and came acrossin about two minutes, under a big umbrella, bird of paradise and all,and was quite as much pleased as Maud, and plunged with her at once intomysteries of detail in which Sutton's male mind was incapable ofsympathising. She heaved great sighs of wonder, delight, andsatisfaction as each new treasure came to light, and ended by losing herheart and kissing Maud quite affectionately in her enthusiasm. 'Indeedthey are very pretty, and so are you, my dear, and, as the surgeon says,quite a refreshing sight for weary eyes.'
So Maud, who was ever ready for a proclamation of amity, signed peace atonce, and before the week was out she and her new friend were on termsof the utmost confidence, and had arranged the bird of paradise in thevery latest fashion, as shown in Maud's own hats, so that it reallylooked lovely.
The result, however, of all this was, that Maud anticipated Elysium withgreater glee than ever. A pearl necklace, a beautiful satin dress, aParis fan with lovely Watteau ladies gliding all about it--well, it wassomething to go from day to day and look at these treasures, but themoment for fruition had not arrived. They would have been quite thrownaway on Sutton's troopers and mule-men, amid the horses and the dust.Maud's grey habit, plaid dress and broad pith hat, was the only costumethat would not have been ridiculous for the camp. No, the hour for realenjoyment had not arrived, and patience, as Maud had frequently occasionto observe, is a virtue easy to preach but hard to practise, when thepresent is dull and the expected future a blaze of pleasure.
Then other things had occurred to intensify her anticipation ofenjoyment at Elysium and her wish to go there. Mrs. Vereker had writtenher a letter which set her heart beating. 'The Governor-General and I,'that excellent lady wrote, 'have both arrived, and so the Season may besaid to have begun. Our friends of the Twentieth are here in force andare going to do wonders in the way of entertainment: everybody says itis to be _dazzling_. General Beau is here, as adoring as ever. The truthis, my rose bonnet is rather adorable, so, at least, _mes amis_ informme. By the way, that naughty Mr. Desvoeux goes on as absurdly as everabout "some one," and declares quite seriously that he isbroken-hearted.'
'Silly fellow!' said Maud, and yet it rather pleased her.
'Can you dance a minuet?' the letter went on. 'We are all havinglessons. There is to be one at Government House. General Beau's shrugsand shakes over it are delicious. Everybody declares that I do it toperfection--but e
verybody won't say so when "somebody" arrives andcarries all before her. So you see, my dear, I make hay while the sunshines, and am not a bit jealous; but come and eclipse me as soon as youplease, for I, too, rather love you.'
Two hot, dusty, weary months had still to pass. Over that dull intervalMaud's imagination travelled, each day with lighter steps, to a paradiseof excitement and delight.