Fanny had talked to him and tried to amuse him after dinner; as it was still too hot to go out, she invited him to come into the drawing-room, and listen to a pretty story she would read to him out of a book.
After she had read a little time, her grandmamma invited her to sit by her side, that she might go on with some work that she was teaching her to do.
“Come with me, Norman,” said Fanny, jumping up immediately, “granny will let you sit near me on a footstool, and if you hold the book, I can tell you some of the stories by merely looking at the pictures.”
Norman, who liked having stories told to him, made no objection, and sat down quietly on a footstool near Fanny.
“I think Norman, you should now tell Fanny something about India,” said Mrs Leslie, after Fanny had told him several stories.
“It’s a finer country than this, and people do as they are told, that’s one thing I know about it,” observed Norman. “A very good thing too,” said Mrs Leslie, “I always like little boys and girls to do as they are told.”
“But big people do as they are told, our kitmutgars and chaprassey ran off as quick as lightning to do anything I told them, and if not I kicked them.”
“I hope that you will not do so to any one in England, my dear,” said Mrs Leslie.
“I am sorry to say that Norman did sometimes attempt to do as he tells you,” observed Mrs Vallery. “The people he speaks of were our servants. A kitmutgar is a man who waits at table, and a chaprassey is another servant, whose duty it is to run on messages, to attend on ladies when they go out, and to perform the general duties of a footman, though he does not wait at table. You must know, Fanny, in India each person has especial duties, and he considers it degrading to perform any others.
“A groom is called a syce, but he will not cut the grass for his own horse, and requires another man to do so. The head servant, who performs the duty of butler, and purchases all the food for the family, is called a rhansaman.