Mr. Esdale, for so
he was called, was generally esteemed a rising man, calm, steady, and
deliberate in forming his opinions. Hartley found it easy to turn the
subject on the Queen of Sheba, by asking whether her Majesty was not
somewhat of an adventuress.
"On my word, I cannot say," answered Esdale, smiling; "we are all upon
the adventure in India, more or less; but I do not see that the Begum
Montreville is more so than the rest."
"Why, that Amazonian dress and manner," said Hartley, "savour a little
of the _picaresca_."
"You must not," said Esdale, "expect a woman who has commanded soldiers,
and may again, to dress and look entirely like an ordinary person. But I
assure you, that even at this time of day, if she wished to marry, she
might easily find a respectable match."
"Why, I heard that she had betrayed her husband's fort to Hyder."
"Ay, that is a specimen of Madras gossip. The fact is, that she defended
the place long after her husband fell, and afterwards surrendered it by
capitulation. Hyder, who piques himself on observing the rules of
justice, would not otherwise have admitted her to such intimacy."
"Yes, I have heard," replied Hartley, "that their intimacy was rather of
the closest."
"Another calumny, if you mean any scandal," answered Esdale. "Hyder is
too zealous a Mahomedan to entertain a Christian mistress; and, besides,
to enjoy the sort of rank which is yielded to a woman in her condition,
she must refrain, in appearance at least, from all correspondence in the
way of gallantry.
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