CHAPTER XXVII.
On Leave.
The last Durbar: the Amîr’s remark: a wedding present. Adieux. The journey down. An awful day: “difficult hot:” the walk. Played out. The stream and the wall. Triumph: exhaustion. The work of the locusts. Unwelcome guests: a rejected plan. The breeding establishment: a study in colour. A want of tact. An illegal march. Simla. The despatch. Dinners and dances. The study of character: an education. The Armenian in London. The “hub” of the universe: return to India.
On the last day in May I went to the Durbar, for I thought that surely now I had finished all there was to do before I started. His Highness received me most kindly.
I said that in my life I had filled other appointments, but that His Highness’s kindness to me had exceeded all that I had met with before. He said:—
“Why should I not treat you kindly? You are a ‘Friend of my Heart.’ I say this not to give you pleasure, but because I mean it.”
I replied that I felt the honour he did me deeply, for I was his servant and he a King. He said:—
“I have seen many men: high and low; rich and poor; men of noble descent, and men of obscure birth; but I call no man a friend of my heart till I have watched his deeds. I judge a man by his deeds, and not by his words, and again I address you as a Friend of my Heart.”
His Highness desired me to take eight months’ leave; my pay was to continue during my absence, and, in addition, he gave me as a wedding present an order upon his Agent with the Government in India for a considerable sum of money.
The Armenian, who was to accompany me, received written instructions relating to the commissions the Amîr wished executed in London. During his absence his salary would be paid to his wife in Kabul.
Adieux.