“He is, khodabund,” said the servant, and ascended to announce me. Upon my entering, and making my bow,
“Ha! how are ye, sir; how are ye, sir?” said the old veteran, extending his hand to me at full length, as he reclined in his easy chair; “glad to see you again. Well, sir, and how did you lave my son? But I’ve heerd of all your prosadings.”
Mrs. Capsicum congratulated me on my continued healthy appearance, and condescended to present me with the “tip of her honourable little finger.”
I looked around for the dear widow, but she was not there. My pulse sunk below zero with painful misgivings; ideas of death, matrimony, or some other misfortune, flashed on my mind: it is the nature of some men always to fancy things fifty times better or worse than they are, to which category I belong. I ventured to ask the general after the health of his daughter, and was greatly relieved by his reply:
“Oh, she’s well, sure—she’s well; but you’ll see her here immediately to spake for herself.”
Some time before dinner was announced, a carriage drove up to the house; it contained Mrs. Delaval, who had been absent the whole day in Calcutta. She soon entered the apartment; it was late in the evening, the light dim and uncertain, and I seated in a recess near the window.
“Well, Cordalia, my dear, have you seen all your friends and executed all your commissions?”
Mrs. Delaval kissed her father, and answered in the affirmative, adding, “the Coppletons have taken their passage home in the Derbyshire; young Scapegrace, of the civil service, is to be married to Letitia Flirtwell to-morrow, and Colonel Oddfish sends his bhote bhote salaam to you, and hopes to see you soon in town.”
After some more gossip of this nature, the general directed the attention of his charming daughter to me, as “a particular friend of hers,” and I had the satisfaction of seeing a blush of pleasure and surprise upon her features at recognizing me.
The reader may readily conceive all that passed immediately after this and at dinner, and that I had to recount the adventures of the last six weeks, to fight over again the battle of Junglesoor, and to rekill all the hogs.