"No, down nearer the plains—some believe there are great reefs and old workings swallowed up in the jungle. Learned people say that Herodotus wrote of how the Indians paid Darius tribute in gold; also that Malabar is Ophir! You know we are not far from there."
"I've just come up from the coast,—and there's no sign of gold—that I am prepared to swear."
"Dr. Hicks believes in the reefs, and he is a very shrewd little man. There you see the family. Mrs. Hicks has money; they say she was a publican's widow; he doctors us all gratis, has a son in a Bank in Madras, and the two girls, Fanny and Jessie. Jessie was extremely pretty at sixteen; then suddenly her nose began to grow! We were afraid it would never stop, but become a real proboscis—only for this feature, Jessie is a beauty. She would look lovely in a Yashmak—her eyes are so fine. Their mother is such an anxiety to those girls."
"It's usually the other way on!"
"Or rather it was—domestic affairs are upside down in these days. The girls cannot control their parent's free and easy manners, her love for bright colours, and dancing, and a good coarse story—a man's story! Do look at her now, leaping up and down like a great india-rubber ball! Isn't it depressing to watch such misdirected energy?"
After a moment's pause, she resumed: "There are two or three of the Meaches here. Their old tyrant usually keeps them at home, toiling for him, that he may gobble up all manner of delicacies, and live on the fat of this land! I'm speaking of Major Meach, who owns a large family, a small estate, and is our champion vampire; bleeds his descendants white, and terrorizes over them all, from his chair in the verandah—he always makes me think of a sick tiger."
"Your neighbours don't seem to be very attractive," remarked Mayne dryly.
"I am beginning with the least interesting—keeping some as a bonne bouche. Nancy, is what you see; refreshingly young, plastic, and impulsive. The Meach sisters are remarkably pretty; their poor mother is a dear martyred saint. The Pollards—those fair-haired boys and the pink girl—are nice young people, but unfortunately a good way off. Mrs. Pollard has a tongue! she cannot be too far! Fairplains is central and here we all meet. India provides its own amusements. How Captain Calvert is enjoying himself with Nancy! Her saucy answers delight him; he has a ridiculous fancy for very young girls, and—parle du diable—here he comes!"
"Hullo, Mayne," he said, mopping his face as he lounged up, "I believe we have met before—on board ship, eh?"
"Yes, the Medina, coming out last September."