



Produced by Al Haines










[Illustration: Cover art]





THE OUTCASTE


BY

F. E. PENNY


AUTHOR OF

"THE SANYASI," "THE RAJAH," "THE MALABAR MAGICIAN," ETC.



SPECIAL EDITION

For sale only in India and the British Colonies




LONDON

CHATTO & WINDUS

1912




[_The Portrait on the Cover is reproduced from a Miniature by G. I.
Penny_]




_All rights reserved_




DEDICATED

TO THE

STUDENTS OF HINDU THEOLOGY AND ETHICS

WHOSE WRITINGS

HAVE ASSISTED ME TO TELL

THIS STORY




_The scene is laid in the Native State of Chirakul._


CHIRAPORE ... Chief Town of Chirakul.

ANANDA..... A Convert to Christianity.

BOPAUL..... Friend of Ananda, and of the same Caste.

COOMARA .... Married to Bopaul's Sister.

DR. WENASTON.. Principal of the Maharajah's College at Chirapore.

EOLA WENASTON . His Sister.

PROFESSOR TWYFORD

MRS. HULVER .. Housekeeper to Dr. Wenaston.

DORAMA..... Ananda's Wife.

PANTULU .... His Father.

GUNGA ..... His Mother.

SOOBA ..... His Uncle.

MAYITA..... Coomara's Widow.




THE OUTCASTE




CHAPTER I

The aviation ground was thronged with spectators.  Eyes were turned
skywards and men held their breath.  Women uttered ejaculations, drawn
unconsciously from them in their intense excitement.  The wind blew
gustily with an upward sweep that sent dead leaves and fragments of
paper into the air.  A furious blast heralding the coming storm seized
one of the aviators as he was in the act of turning.  It seemed to
shake him with a living enmity.  Under the violent motion the tips of
the delicate wings of his machine snapped.  He recognised the
seriousness of the accident; and the breathless multitude watched his
efforts to avoid impending catastrophe.  As well might the dying bird,
winged by the October sportsman, try to sustain its arrested flight.
The machine ceased its horizontal movement, folded its broken planes
about its struggling guide, and dropped almost vertically to the ground.

Some, fascinated by the horror of it all, stared at the falling wreck.
Others withdrew their gaze, but could not shut their ears to the thud
and crash in which the earthly life of a human being came to an abrupt
end.

The hush was followed by a murmur as emotion found expression in speech
and exclamation.  Many of the women shed tears; some screamed; a few
fainted.  Ten minutes later there was a general stir as the sightseers,
sick at heart, began to depart.

Eola Wenaston beckoned to her brother, who stood at a little distance
talking to a couple of men.  He approached the motor car into which she
had just stepped.  Before she could speak he hastened to reassure her,
anticipating the question that was on the lips of all.

"It's all right; the man is not dead.  Of course he has had a shock,
falling from such a height, and the machine is smashed to atoms.  You
need not be nervous----"

"I'm not nervous.  It was a horrid sight, but I'm not troubled with
nerves.  The man must be dead after such a fall."

"Well, no one can say how----"

She interrupted him with a touch of impatience born of anxiety.

"Would you mind going home by train?  Mrs. Greenford is thoroughly
unhinged.  She is in that tent over there crying her heart out, and she
ought to be taken away at once."

"She doesn't know him, does she?"

"Yes, slightly.  It appears that he dined with her and her husband last
night."

"What do you wish to do?"

"Drive her home at once; but it leaves you to go by rail.  You won't
mind giving her your seat in the motor?"

She did not doubt for a moment that he would object.  The car was a new
purchase made by Wenaston on his arrival in England on furlough.  He
intended to take it back to India on his return to his work.

"Not a bit," he replied readily.

"I can't ask Miss Stuart to give up her place in the car."

"Of course not; I'll join Ananda and his friends.  They are travelling
up by the special leaving in about an hour's time."

"You need not journey in their company.  Now-a-days, when our blood is
curdled by assassinations----"

He interrupted her.

"They are