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 don't 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 don't 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 won't 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, one's
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
housekeeper--he 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 others--
that 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 Major's 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 doesn't 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