“Is it? Wait till you try.”
“Oh, you mean a hundred and twenty.”
“I do. You will not be so ready to use a lot of words when one will do, after you’ve been here a while.”
“I suppose it does make you languid.”
“Yes, and you can’t get a thing done by the lazy hounds you have for servants. The more you keep, the less there is done. I had to thrash my new syce this morning to bring him to his senses.”
“Yes, I heard you,” I said. “Are you allowed to knock people about like that?”
He opened his eyes, and then squeezed them up again, as he stared at me wonderingly.
“Allowed? Who’s to prevent it?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m new to the place.”
Just then the native servant brought in two glasses of some cool-looking drink, and handed them to his master.