"You are much fairer than they had given me to expect."
"I have been hard at work, for the last two days, in getting rid of the dyes with which I have been coloured, ever since I was an infant."
"Ah! You are not very noticeably darker, now, than other officers in the regiment.
"Now, I will hand you over to the adjutant. You will, of course, mess with us today; and I can then introduce you to your brother officers."
The adjutant was sent for, and soon entered.
"Mr. Lewis," the colonel said, "this is Mr. Lindsay, who was gazetted to us two days ago. He will be very useful to us, if we go up to Poona again--of which there is always a possibility--for he speaks Mahratti like a native, having lived among the people since he was an infant. He is the son of Major Lindsay, who was killed here at the time of the advance on Poona."
"You will be a great acquisition to us," the adjutant said, as he left the tent with Harry. "Most of us speak a little Mahratti; but it will be very useful to have one of us who is perfect, in that way. Of course, you have not got your full kit yet; but you will want a mess jacket and waistcoat. These I can lend you, till you get your own made."
"They are ordered already, and I am to get them in a couple of days. It was so much more important that I should get the undress uniform, to enable me to begin work, that I did not press the tailor quite so much as to the other clothes."
"Are you ready to begin work, at once?"
"The sooner the better," Harry replied.