The Project Gutenberg eBook, Banked Fires, by E. W. (Ethel Winifred) Savi

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Title: Banked Fires

Author: E. W. (Ethel Winifred) Savi

Release Date: February 25, 2010 [eBook #31399]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

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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

I.--The Lonely Encampment

II.--Mainly Retrospective

III.--The Civil Surgeon

IV.--A Point of View

V.--What Can't be Cured

VI.--The Leading Lady

VII.--An Anxious Experience

VIII.--The Dinner-Party

IX.--A Moment of Relaxation

X.--The Mission

XI.--A Sunday Observance

XII.--Infatuation

XIII.--Vanished

XIV.--The Indiscretion

XV.--The Aftermath

XVI.--Cornered

XVII.--Breaking Bounds

XVIII.--Secret Joys

XIX.--The Deluge

XX.--The "Ideal"

XXI.--The Real Thing

XXII.--A Desperate Resort

XXIII.--Temporisings

XXIV.--Suspense

XXV.--The Meeting

XXVI.--The Fair

XXVII.--A Difficult Task

XXVIII.--The Atonement

Epilogue: All's Well

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,