Her own people

by B. M. Croker

"Only pretty good. Hot in the Red Sea and rough off Aden."

Here several passing coolies salaamed to her father, and he acknowledged their greeting with a jerk of his hand.

"What a charming salutation!" she exclaimed; "I like it so much better than our nodding and scraping."

"I'm afraid it's the only thing you will like," he remarked with a sigh. "Our life will be irksome, I'm afraid. We are real Anglo-Indians, and have made our home out here."

"I shall like my home, you may be sure," she declared, "my home and my people. How long is it since you were in England, father?"

"Twenty-eight years."

"Oh! almost a lifetime. How is my mother?"

"As usual."

"And my sisters—what are their names?"

"Blanche, Dominga, and Pussy—her real name is Bellamina. Blanche is married to a young man in the telegraph department. She has a little boy."