BANKED FIRES

BY E. W. SAVI

AUTHOR OF "THE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW," "SINNERS ALL," ETC.

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies."—Proverbs xxxi., 10.

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1919

Copyright, 1919
BY
E. W. SAVI

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

To
MY SISTER, A. B. B.
IN LOVING APPRECIATION OF HER INTEREST
AND HELP

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.—The Lonely Encampment
CHAPTER II.—Mainly Retrospective
CHAPTER III.—The Civil Surgeon
CHAPTER IV.—A Point of View
CHAPTER V.—What Can't be Cured
CHAPTER VI.—The Leading Lady
CHAPTER VII.—An Anxious Experience
CHAPTER VIII.—The Dinner-Party
CHAPTER IX.—A Moment of Relaxation
CHAPTER X.—The Mission
CHAPTER XI.—A Sunday Observance
CHAPTER XII.—Infatuation
CHAPTER XIII.—Vanished
CHAPTER XIV.—The Indiscretion
CHAPTER XV.—The Aftermath
CHAPTER XVI.—Cornered
CHAPTER XVII.—Breaking Bounds
CHAPTER XVIII.—Secret Joys
CHAPTER XIX.—The Deluge
CHAPTER XX.—The "Ideal"
CHAPTER XXI.—The Real Thing
CHAPTER XXII.—A Desperate Resort
CHAPTER XXIII.—Temporisings
CHAPTER XXIV.—Suspense
CHAPTER XXV.—The Meeting
CHAPTER XXVI.—The Fair
CHAPTER XXVII.—A Difficult Task
CHAPTER XXVIII.—The Atonement
Epilogue: All's Well

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BANKED FIRES

CHAPTER I

THE LONELY ENCAMPMENT

An autumn evening in Bengal was rapidly drawing to a close, with a brief afterglow from a vanished sun to soften the rich hues of the tropical foliage, and garb it fittingly for approaching night. The grass beside the Government tents showed grey in the gathering dusk, while a blue haze of smoke, creeping upward, gently veiled the sheltering trees. But for the modulated chatter of servants, the stillness was eerie. The flat, low-lying fields, having yielded their corn to the harvester, were barren and without sign of life, for the cultivators had departed to their homesteads, and the roving cattle were housed.

Far in the misty distance were the huts of the peasantry grouped together, with their granaries, haystacks, and pens; their