Yes, I agree with you, Prothero; the Doctor is as good a fellow as ever stepped. There is no doubt about his talent in his profession; and there are a good many of us who owed our lives to him when we were down with cholera, in that bad attack three years ago. He is good all round; he is just as keen a shikari as he was when he joined the regiment, twenty years ago; he is a good billiard player, and one of the best storytellers I ever came across; but his best point is that he is such a thoroughly good fellowalways ready to do a good turn to anyone, and to help a lame dog over a stile. I could name a dozen men in India who owe their commissions to him. I dont know what the regiment would do without him.
He went home on leave just after I joined, one of the subalterns said. Of course, I know, from all I have heard of him, that he is an awfully good fellow, but from the little I saw of him myself, he seemed always growling and snapping.
There was a general laugh from the others.
Yes, that is his way, Thompson, the Major said; he believes himself to be one of the most cynical and morose of men.
He was married, wasnt he, Major?
Yes, it was a sad business. It was only just after I joined. He is three years senior to me in the regiment. He was appointed to it a month or two after the Colonel joined. Well, as I say, a month or two after I came to it, he went away on leave down to Calcutta, where he was to meet a young lady who had been engaged to him before he left home. They were married, and he brought her up country. Before she had been with us a month we had one of those outbreaks of cholera. It wasnt a very severe one. I think we only lost eight or ten men, and no officer; but the Doctors young wife was attacked, and in three or four hours she was carried off. It regularly broke him down. However, he got over it, as we all do, I suppose; and now I think he is married to the regiment. He could have had staff appointments a score of times, but he has always refused them. His time is up next year, and he could go home on full pay, but I dont suppose he will.
And your niece arrives with him tomorrow, Major, the Adjutant said.
Yes, I am going to try petticoat government, Prothero. I dont know how the experiment will succeed, but I am tired of an empty bungalow, and I have been looking forward for some years to her being old enough to come out and take charge. It is ten years since I was home, and she was a little chit of eight years old at that time.
I think a vote of thanks ought to be passed to you, Major. We have only married ladies in the regiment, and it will wake us up and do us good to have Miss Hannay among us.
There are the Colonels daughters, the Major said, with a smile.
Yes, there are, Major, but they hardly count; they are scarcely conscious of the existence of poor creatures like us; nothing short of a Resident or, at any rate, of a full blown Collector, will find favor in their eyes.
Well, I warn you all fairly, the Major said, that I shall set my face against all sorts of philandering and love making. I am bringing my niece out here as my housekeeper and companion, and not as a prospective wife for any of you youngsters. I hope she will turn out to be as plain as a pikestaff, and then I may have some hopes of keeping her with me for a time. The Doctor, in his letter from Calcutta, says nothing as to what she is like, though he was good enough to remark that she seemed to have a fair share of common sense, and has given him no more trouble on the voyage than was to be expected under the circumstances. And now, lads, it is nearly two oclock, and as there is early parade tomorrow, it is high time for you to be all in your beds. What a blessing it would be if the sun would forget to shine for a bit on this portion of the world, and we could have an Arctic night of seven or eight months with a full moon the whole time!
A few minutes later the messroom was empty, the lights turned out, and the servants wrapped up in their blankets had disposed themselves for sleep in the veranda.
As soon as morning parade was over Major Hannay went back to his bungalow, looked round to see that his bachelor quarters were as bright and tidy as possible, then got into a light suit and went down to the post house. A quarter of an hour later a cloud of dust along the road betokened the approach of the Dak Gharry, and two or three minutes later it dashed up at full gallop amid a loud and continuous cracking of the drivers whip. The wiry little horses were drawn up with a sudden jerk.
The Major opened the door. A little man sprang out and grasped him by the hand.
Glad to see you, Majorthoroughly glad to be back again. Here is your niece; I deliver her safe and sound into your hands. And between them they helped a girl to alight from the vehicle.
I am heartily glad to see you, my dear, the Major said, as he kissed her; though I dont think I should have known you again.
I should think not, uncle, the girl said. In the first place, I was a little girl in short frocks when I saw you last; and in the second place, I am so covered with the dust that you can hardly see what I am like. I think I should have known you; your visit made a great impression upon us, though I can remember now how disappointed we were when you first arrived that you hadnt a red coat and a sword, as we had expected.
Well, we may as well be off at once, Isobel; it is only five minutes walk to the bungalow. My man will see to your luggage being brought up. Come along, Doctor. Of course you will put up with me until you can look round and fix upon quarters. I told Rumzan to bring your things round with my nieces. You have had a very pleasant voyage out, I hope, Isobel? he went on, as they started.
Very pleasant, uncle, though I got rather tired of it at last.
That is generally the wayeveryone is pleasant and agreeable at first, but before they get to the end they take to quarreling like cats and dogs.
We were not quite as bad as that, the girl laughed, but we certainly werent as amiable the last month or so as we were during the first part of the voyage. Still, it was very pleasant all along, and nobody quarreled with me.
Present company are always excepted, the Doctor said. I stood in loco parentis, Major, and the result has been that I shall feel in future more charitable towards mothers of marriageable daughters. Still, I am bound to say that Miss Hannay has given me as little trouble as could be expected.
You frighten me, Doctor; if you found her so onerous only for a voyage, what have I to look forward to?
Well, you cant say that I didnt warn you, Major; when you wrote home and asked me to take charge of your niece on the way out, I told you frankly that my opinion of your good sense was shaken.
Yes, you did express yourself with some strength, the Major laughed; but then one is so accustomed to that, that I did not take it to heart as I might otherwise have done.
That was before you knew me, Dr. Wade, otherwise I should feel very hurt, the girl put in.
Yes, it was, the Doctor said dryly.
Dont mind him, my dear, her uncle said; we all know the Doctor of old. This is my bungalow.
It is pretty, with all these flowers and shrubs round it, she said admiringly.
Yes, we have been doing a good deal of watering the last few weeks, so as to get it to look its best. This is your special attendant; she will take you up to your room. By the time you have had a bath, your boxes will be here. I told them to have a cup of tea ready for you upstairs. Breakfast will be on the table by the time you are ready.
Yes, we have been doing a good deal of watering the last few weeks, so as to get it to look its best. This is your special attendant; she will take you up to your room. By the time you have had a bath, your boxes will be here. I told them to have a cup of tea ready for you upstairs. Breakfast will be on the table by the time you are ready.
Well, old friend, he said to the Doctor, when the girl had gone upstairs, no complications, I hope, on the voyage?
No, I think not, the Doctor said. Of course, there were lots of young puppies on board, and as she was out and out the best looking girl in the ship half of them were dancing attendance upon her all the voyage, but I am bound to say that she acted like a sensible young woman; and though she was pleasant with them all, she didnt get into any flirtation with one more than another. I did my best to look after her, but, of course, that would have been of no good if she had been disposed to go her own way. I fancy about half of them proposed to hernot that she ever said as much to mebut whenever I observed one looking sulky and giving himself airs I could guess pretty well what had happened. These young puppies are all alike, and we are not without experience of the species out here.
Seriously, Major, I think you are to be congratulated. I consider that you ran a tremendous risk in asking a young woman, of whom you knew nothing, to come out to you; still it has turned out well. If she had been a frivolous, giggling thing, like most of them, I had made up my mind to do you a good turn by helping to get her engaged on the voyage, and should have seen her married offhand at Calcutta, and have come up and told you that you were well out of the scrape. As, contrary to my expectations, she turned out to be a sensible young woman, I did my best the other way. It is likely enough you may have her on your hands some little time, for I dont think she is likely to be caught by the first comer. Well, I must go and have my bath; the dust has been awful coming up from Allahabad. That is one advantage, and the only one as far as I can see, that they have got in England. They dont know what dust is there.
When the bell for breakfast rang, and Isobel made her appearance, looking fresh and cool, in a light dress, the Major said, You must take the head of the table, my dear, and assume the reins of government forthwith.
Then I should say, uncle, that if any guidance is required, there will be an upset in a very short time. No, that wont do at all. You must go on just as you were before, and I shall look on and learn. As far as I can see, everything is perfect just as it is. This is a charming room, and I am sure there is no fault to be found with the arrangement of these flowers on the table. As for the cooking, everything looks very nice, and anyhow, if you have not been able to get them to cook to your taste, it is of no use my attempting anything in that way. Besides, I suppose I must learn something of the language before I can attempt to do anything. No, uncle, I will sit in this chair if you like, and make tea and pour it out, but that is the beginning and the end of my assumption of the head of the establishment at present.
Well, Isobel, I hardly expected that you were going to run the establishment just at first; indeed, as far as that goes, ones butler, if he is a good man, has pretty well a free hand. He is generally responsible, and is in fact what we should call at home housekeeperhe and the cook between them arrange everything. I say to him, Three gentlemen are coming to tiffen. He nods and says Atcha, sahib, which means All right, sir, and then I know it will be all right. If I have a fancy for any special thing, of course I say so. Otherwise, I leave it to them, and if the result is not satisfactory, I blow up. Nothing can be more simple.
But how about bills, uncle?
Well, my dear, the butler gives them to me, and I pay them. He has been with me a good many years, and will not let the othersthat is to say, the cook and the syce, the washerman, and so on, cheat me beyond a reasonable amount. Do you, Rumzan?
Rumzan, who was standing behind the Majors chair, in a white turban and dress, with a red and white sash round his waist, smiled.
Rumzan not let anyone rob his master.
Not to any great extent, you know, Rumzan. One doesnt expect more than that.
It is just the same here, Miss Hannay, as it is everywhere else, said the Doctor; only in big establishments in England they rob you of pounds, while here they rob you of annas, which, as I have explained to you, are two pence halfpennies. The person who undertakes to put down little peculations enters upon a war in which he is sure to get the worst of it. He wastes his time, spoils his temper, makes himself and everyone around him uncomfortable, and after all he is robbed. Life is too short for it, especially in a climate like this. Of course, in time you get to understand the language; if you see anything in the bills that strikes you as showing waste you can go into the thing, but as a rule you trust entirely to your butler; if you cannot trust him, get another one. Rumzan has been with your uncle ten years, so you are fortunate. If the Major had gone home instead of me, and if you had had an entirely fresh establishment of servants to look after, the case would have been different; as it is, you will have no trouble that way.
Then what are my duties to be, uncle?
Your chief duties, my dear, are to look pleasant, which will evidently be no trouble to you; to amuse me and keep me in a good temper as far as possible; to keep on as good terms as may be with the other ladies of the station; and, what will perhaps be the most difficult part of your work, to snub and keep in order the young officers of our own and other corps.
Isobel laughed. That doesnt sound a very difficult programme, uncle, except the last item; I have already had a little experience that way, havent I, Doctor? I hope I shall have the benefit of your assistance in the future, as I had aboard the ship.
I will do my best, the Doctor said grimly; but the British subaltern is pretty well impervious to snubs; he belongs to the pachydermatous family of animals; his armor of self conceit renders him invulnerable against the milder forms of raillery. However, I think you can be trusted to hold your own with him, Miss Hannay, without much assistance from the Major or myself. Your real difficulty will lie rather in your struggle against the united female forces of the station.
But why shall I have to struggle with them? Isobel asked, in surprise, while her uncle broke into a laugh.
Dont frighten her, Doctor.
She is not so easily frightened, Major; it is just as well that she should be prepared. Well, my dear Miss Hannay, Indian society has this peculiarity, that the women never grow old. At least, he continued, in reply to the girls look of surprise, they are never conscious of growing old. At home a womans family grows up about her, and are constant reminders that she is becoming a matron. Here the children are sent away when they get four or five years old, and do not appear on the scene again until they are grown up. Then, too, ladies are greatly in the minority, and they are accustomed to be made vastly more of than they are at home, and the consequence is that the amount of envy, hatred, jealousy, and all uncharitableness is appalling.
No, no, Doctor, not as bad as that, the Major remonstrated.
Every bit as bad as that, the Doctor said stoutly. I am not a woman hater, far from it; but I have felt sometimes that if John Company, in its beneficence, would pass a decree absolutely excluding the importation of white women into India it would be an unmixed blessing.