So they deserted the bazaars and markets that morning to witness the
most surprising spectacle of all: the king who was dead was not dead,
but alive!
He appeared before them in his rags. For Ramabai, no mean politician,
wished to impress upon the volatile populace the villainy of Umballa
and the council, to gain wholly, without reservation, the sympathy of
the people, the strongest staff a politician may lean upon. Like a
brave and honest man he had cast from his thoughts all hope of power.
The king might be old, senile, decrepit, but he was none the less the
king. If he had moments of blankness of thought, there were other
moments when the old man was keen enough; and keen enough he was to
realize in these lucid intervals that Ramabai, among all his people,
was loyalest.
So, in the throne room, later, he gave the power to Ramabai to act in
his stead till he had fully recovered from his terrible hardships.
More than this, he declared that Pundita, the wife of Ramabai, should
ultimately rule; for of a truth the principality was lawfully hers. He
would make his will at once, but in order that this should be legal he
would have to destroy the previous will he had given to Colonel Hare,
his friend.
"Forgive me, my friend," he said. "I acted unwisely in your case. But
I was angry with my people for their cowardice."
"Your Majesty," replied the colonel, "the fault lay primarily with me.
I should not have accepted it or returned. I will tell you the truth.
It was the filigree basket of gold and precious stones that brought me
back."
"So? And all for nothing, since the hiding-place I gave you is not the
true one. But of that, more anon. I want this wretch Durga Ram spread
out on an ant hill . . ."
And then, without apparent reason, he began to call for Lakshmi, the
beautiful Lakshmi, the wife of his youth. He ordered preparations for
an elephant fight; rambled, talked as though he were but twenty; his
eyes dim, his lips loose and pendulent. And in this condition he might
live ten or twenty years. Ramabai was sore at heart.
They had to wait two days till his mind cleared again. His first
question upon his return to his mental balance was directed to Kathlyn.
Where was the document he had given to his friend Hare? Kathlyn
explained that Umballa had taken it from her.
"But, Your Majesty," exclaimed the colonel rather impatiently, "what
difference does it make? Your return has nullified that document."
"Not in case of my death. And in Allaha the elder document is always
the legal document, unless it is legally destroyed. It is not well to
antagonize the priests, who hold us firmly to this law. I might make a
will in favor of Pundita, but it would not legally hold in justice if
all previous wills were not legally destroyed. You must find this
document."