Thus with sport and work more fascinating than sport Wargrave found the months slipping by.  From Raymond he learned that Violet had returned to Rohar before she wrote herself.  When she did she seemed to be in a brighter and more affectionate, as well as calmer, mood than she had been before her visit to Poona.  But gradually her letters became less and less frequent; and Frank began to wonder—­with a little sense of guilty, shamed hope—­if she were beginning to forget him.

Christmas came; and with its coming Ranga Duar woke again to life.  Besides the Bensons and Carter, who now brought his wife, Mrs. Dermot’s brother—­a subaltern in an Indian cavalry regiment—­and five planters, old friends of his from the district in which he had once been a planter himself, came to spend Christmas in the small station.  Major Hunt’s bungalow and the Mess took in the overflow from the Political Officer’s house.

Brian and Eileen had the gayest, happiest time of their little lives.  Presents were heaped on them.  Muriel and Frank initiated them into all the delights of their first Christmas tree, and Burke introduced them to a real Punch and Judy Show.  On Christmas Day Badshah, his neck encircled with a garland of flowers procured from the Plains, was led up solemnly by his seldom-seen mahout to present Colonel Dermot with a gilded lime and receive in return a present of silver rupees which passed into the possession of the said mahout.  Then he was fed with dainties by the children; and Eileen insisted on being tossed aloft by the curving trunk, to the detriment of her starched party frock.

The weather was appropriate to the season, cold and bright, and although no snow fell so low down, it froze at night, so that the Europeans could indulge in the luxury—­in India—­of gathering around blazing wood fires after dinner.

All, young and old, thoroughly enjoyed this almost English-like Christmas—­all except one.  Burke’s attentions to Muriel became more marked and more full of meaning than they had ever been before; and it was patent that he intended to put his fate to the touch during this visit of hers.  He did so without success, it seemed; for before she left there was an evident sense of constraint between them and they tried to avoid sitting beside each other or being left alone together, even for a moment.  Shortly after the departure of the visitors Burke contrived to effect an exchange to another station, to the regret of all in the little outpost, and he was replaced by a young Scots surgeon, named Macdonald, his opposite in every way.

CHAPTER XI

TRAGEDY

The annual Durbar for the reception of the Bhutan Envoy and the payment of the subsidy had come and gone again.  The Deb Zimpun, who had not been accompanied by the Chinese Amban on this occasion, had departed; and of the few European visitors only Muriel Benson remained.  Colonel Dermot had been called away to Simla, to confer with officials of the Foreign Department on matters of frontier policy.  Major Hunt was ill with fever, leaving Wargrave, who was still nominally attached to the Military Police, in command of the detachment.