“I really have not formed any plans—possibly all the winter.”
“And Miss——,” looking at me interrogatively. “Surely not your daughter?”
“No, my step-daughter—Miss Hayes.”
“It’s a terrible dull place for young people, especially if they are accustomed to India,” smiling at me blandly.
“I have never been in India since I was two months old,” I replied with precipitation.
“But you were?” she observed, turning to Emma. “And army—of course?” in a confidential key.
“No. My husband had an appointment at the court of the Rajah of Jam-Jam-More. He was his medical adviser.”
“Ah, I understand”—in a patronizing key—“a native doctor!”
“Oh no!” bursting into a merry laugh; “doctor to a native prince.”