“Of course Premi needs nourishment,” said Alicia; “but it is hard to know what to give her, especially as the hurt on her hand makes her unable to cook for herself. We all know that for invalids doctors always prescribe beef-tea, so I was determined that Premi should have it. With no small trouble I procured some beef from Chuanwál; I boiled it myself, for I could not trust Mangal to cook it—he always fails in the soup.”
“Heroic Alicia!” exclaimed Robin; “did you really stand fire in such weather as this?”
“Cooking certainly was no pleasure,” replied Alicia; “but I managed to do something, for I was so anxious to give my poor cousin what might help to make her well soon. I thought that she would enjoy anything prepared by my hands.”
“And the result?” asked Robin smiling, for he guessed what it was likely to have been.
“The poor foolish thing rejected my beef-tea almost with horror, as if I had been offering her boiled toads or snakes, or something equally disgusting. Premi clenched her teeth tightly, turned away her head, and would not touch nor even look at my soup.”
“You must remember, sister dear, that poor Premi has been brought up from childhood to regard beef-eating with utter disgust. She is now free from Hindu slavery, but the chains of its superstition are hanging on her still. We must have patience, dear Alicia, and try to remove them so gently that we shall not gall the poor wrists that have worn them so long.”
“Another difficulty is about dress,” said Alicia. “Premi—Miranda—came clad in little better than rags, blood-stained, too, from her terrible beating. I felt that Miranda should dress like an English lady, as she really is one by birth. I made the effort of rummaging through one of my big boxes—everything now is an effort—and selected a parcel of clothes. I thought that Miranda Macfinnis would look so nice in one of my neat-fitting costumes.”
Robin playfully inquired how Miranda Macfinnis had appreciated the costume.
“Not at all,” replied Alicia, smiling notwithstanding her disappointment. “Miranda made not the slightest attempt to help me to perform her toilet, though she offered no actual resistance. I had to dress her as I would have dressed a large doll. I held the sleeve ready, but the passive arm had to be guided into its place. I had to put every little hook into its corresponding eye, and after all my trouble saw that the clothes sat ill on one who had never donned a tight-fitting garment before. However, I was glad that a tiresome task had been accomplished, and led Premi—I mean Miranda—in front of my mirror to let her see the effect.”
“What did she think of her own reflection?”