'The whole caboodle,' replied Jack Raymond tolerantly. 'You see there were kings in Nushapore----'
'I know that, of course!' she interrupted impatiently, 'but do they still claim?'
'Great Moses! Claim? Nushapore is a vox clamavi, chiefly to mutiny pensions which, being mortgaged up to the hilt, are of no use to any one but the usurers. But they will generally lend the bankrupts enough for the entrance-fee to the races, so of course they come here in crowds.'
'Why?' asked the girl, feeling herself a mere mark of interrogation.
'It's a change from betting on cocks and kites. Besides, there's the position.'
'What position?' she asked, with a prayer for patience.
He laughed easily. 'All races are equal on a course, Miss Drummond; and a racecourse is, practically, the only place where the native meets us on equal terms. Look! there's the biggest brute in Asia elbowing Mrs. Member-of-the-Board Collins at the totalisator! If he tried it on elsewhere, some one would kick him, and quite right too.'
Lesley's disdain became active, though she told herself the remark was only to be expected from 'that type of man.'
'May I ask why?' she said superbly.
'Because it is contrary to his own estimate of the proprieties, and it is impossible to be virtuous on another person's decalogue, isn't it?' he replied coolly; then, ere she had time to reply, went on: 'There are a lot of chaps want kicking in this crowd, I can tell you. For instance, do you see that man buttonholing the Rightful Heir?'