ption of costume may be
commended:

'She was dressed and adorned with scrupulous care; her eyebrows
trimmed of every stray hair that might deform the beauty-arch; the
lids pencilled with lampblack; the palms of her hands and the soles
of her feet stained with henna; not one stray lock encroached on
the straight parting of her glossy hair.

'She wore gold-embroidered trousers of purple satin, loose below
the knee and full over the ankles, and fastened round her waist by
a gold cord with jewelled tassels. A black crape bodice adorned
with spangles and gold edging confined her full bosom, and an open
vest of grey gauze with long, tight sleeves hung loosely over her
waistband. Upon the back of her head was thrown a veiling-sheet of
the fine muslin known as the dew of Dacca. Her feet and hands, arms
and wrists and neck, were adorned with numerous rings, jewels, and
chains, and from her nose was hung a ring of gold wire, on which
was strung a ruby between two grey pearls.'

But Bijli's intrusion into the harem is a grave breach of etiquette;
she is detected, and told to be gone, though the lady bears her no
malice. The incident brings home to her a sense of degradation; she
asks the Nawab to marry her, and her discontent is increased by his
refusal, until at last she escapes secretly from his house. The Nawab
follows, and finds her in a hut on the bank of a flooded river which
has stopped her flight; but after a really pathetic interview she
returns to her free life--and 'thus ended the romance of Bijli the
Dancer.'

In this short story, written with much truth and feeling, the style
and handling rises above the commonplace device of dressing up
European sentimentality in the garb and phraseology of Asia; and we
have, so far as can be judged, a fairly real picture of the inner and
the emotional side of native life in India, sufficiently tinged with
romantic colouring. The fascination which professional dancers often
exercise over natives of the highest rank is a well-known feature of
Indian society; and although the dancer is always a courtesan, yet to
invest her with a capacity for tender and honourable affection is by
no means to overstep the limits of probability. We have noticed this
book because it proves that the study of native manners, and
sympathetic insight into their feelings and character, still survive
among Anglo-Indians, albeit offi