"Consequences" is the title of a short story by
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
, first published in the ''
Civil and Military Gazette
''The Civil and Military Gazette'' was a daily English-language newspaper founded in 1872 in British India. It was published from Lahore, Simla and Karachi, some times simultaneously, until its closure in 1963.[Plain Tales from the Hills
''Plain Tales from the Hills'' (published 1888) is the first collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling. Out of its 40 stories, "eight-and-twenty", according to Kipling's ''Preface'', were initially published in the '' Civil and Military Ga ...]
'' (1888), and in subsequent editions of that collection.
The story is an illustration of the power of
Mrs Hauksbee. (It is Kipling's third story about her in book form.) Tarrion, a "clever and amusing" young officer in an unfashionable regiment, longs for a permanent appointment in
Simla
Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, th ...
. There he has the good fortune to do Mrs Hauksbee a favour (by forging a date on her invitation, so that she can attend the more prestigious Ball, rather than the smaller "dance" to which she has been sent an invitation by the Governor's
A.-D.-C. with whom she has quarrelled). So she owes Tarrion a favour, and asks what she can do. He admits that "I haven't a square inch of interest here in Simla" - but says that he wants a permanent post in that most desirable
Hill Station. She agrees to help him.
Now by chance (an ill-written address, and a stupid
orderly
In healthcare, an orderly (also known as a ward assistant, nurse assistant or healthcare assistant) is a hospital attendant whose job consists of assisting medical and nursing staff with various nursing and medical interventions. The highest ro ...
) she comes into possession of some official papers. These she reads with Tarrion, and he uses them to persuade "the biggest and strongest man that the Government owned" to give him a permanent post. It is not particularly well-paid, but it is finally granted because the
Viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...
has an obsession with 'Diplomatic secrecy', and believes that "a boy so well supplied with information would be worth" promoting.
At the end, Tarrion thinks "'If Mrs Hauksbee were twenty years younger, and I her husband, I should be Viceroy of India in fifteen years.'" Mrs Hauksbee thinks "'What fools men are!'"
:All quotations in this article have been taken from the ''Uniform Edition'' of ''Plain Tales from the Hills'' published by Macmillan & Co., Limited in London in 1899. The text is that of the third edition (1890), and the author of the article has used his own copy of the 1923 reprint. Further comment, including thes
page-by-page notesare on the Kipling Society's website.
{{Rudyard Kipling
1886 short stories
Short stories by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling stories about India
Works originally published in the Civil and Military Gazette