‘Pray—’
‘Well, Horace is the soul of honour. Is your ayah in there?’ Mrs. Innes nodded towards the bedroom door. ‘You can not imagine what long ears she has.’
‘I have no ayah. There is only Brookes;’ and as that excellent woman passed through the room with a towel over her arm, Madeline said, ‘You can go now, Brookes, and see about that alpaca. Take the rickshaw; it looks very threatening.’
‘Maid! You ARE a swell! There are only four genuine maids in Simla that I know of—the rest are really nurse-girls. What a comfort she must be! THE luxury of all others that I long for; but alas! army pay, you know. I did once bring a dear thing out with me from Nice—you should have seen Horace’s face.’
‘I couldn’t very well go about quite alone; it would be uncomfortable.’
‘Except that you Americans are so perfectly independent.’
‘On the contrary. If I could order about a servant the way an Englishwoman does—’
‘Say you are not going to tell him! I’ve got such a lot of other calls to make,’ exclaimed Mrs. Innes. ‘Dear Lady Bloomfield won’t understand it if I don’t call today, especially after the baby. What people in that position want with more babies I can not comprehend. Of course you haven’t noticed it, but a baby is such a shock to Simla.’
‘Don’t let me keep you,’ Madeline said, rising.
‘But you haven’t promised. Do promise, Miss Anderson. You gain nothing by telling him, except your revenge; and I should think by this time you would have forgiven me for taking Frederick away from you. He didn’t turn out so well! You can’t still bear me malice over that convict in Sing Sing.’