Kashima is bound on all sides by the rock-tipped circle of the Dosehri hills.
In Spring, it is ablaze with roses; in Summer, the roses die and the hot winds
blow from the hills; in Autumn, the white mists from the hills cover the place
as with water; and in Winter the frosts nip everything young and tender to
earth-level. There is but one view in Kashima--a stretch of perfectly flat
pasture and plough-land, running up to the grey-blue scrub of the Dosehri
hills.
There are no amusements, except snipe and tiger shooting; but the tigers have
been long since hunted from their lairs in the rock-caves, and the snipe only
come once a year. Narkarra--one hundred and forty-three miles by road--is the
nearest station to Kashima. But Kashima never goes to Narkarra, where there
are at least twelve English people. It stays within the circle of the Dosehri
hills.
All Kashima acquits Mrs. Vansuythen of any intention to do harm; but all
Kashima knows that she, and she alone, brought about their pain.
Boulte, the Engineer, Mrs. Boulte, and Captain Kurrell know this. They are the
English population of Kashima, if we except Major Vansuythen, who is of no
importance whatever, and Mrs. Vansuythen, who is the most important of all.
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