elait_; but no one was deceived when patronising his
shop in spite of risks of ptomaine. However, a dinner cooked by Kareem
Majid was an achievement more worthy of a Goanese than a Mohammedan, and
none who dined at the Brights' was ever the worse.

"My dear," Mrs. Bright had been heard to observe in earlier days, "were
it not for Honor and the necessity to cultivate the acquaintance of
one's own child, I should never leave India. How I miss that treasure,
Kareem! He has been with us since we were married, and there never was a
more useful servant. Whether in camp or in my own bungalow, it is just
the same; he rises to every emergency and cooks like a French _chef_. At
a pinch he'll valet my husband. He has even in an emergency fastened the
hooks of my blouse at the back; and when Honor was a child, played with
her when she had the measles and kept her from crying herself into a
fit. When other servants ran away from the cholera, he stayed and did
everything but sweep the floors! And when any one is sick, I have never
known the equal of his 'chicken jugs'! He is so self-reliant, too. I
have only to say, 'Kareem, six guests for dinner tonight. Don't ask for
orders--do just as you please, only don't mention the subject of food as
you value your life!' And he will _salaam_ and say, '_Jo hukum_,' after
which I have no responsibility whatever; dinner up to time, everything
cooked to perfection, and when you think of what an Indian cook-house
is, really, you are overcome with admiration. Can you fancy an English
cook consenting to turn out dinners under like conditions? You get
notice in a day! And who thinks of sparing Indian servants? As many
courses as you like, with a wash-up like a small mountain, which the
_masalchi_ disposes of behind the pantry door on a yard or two of bamboo
matting, with an earthen _gumla_, a kettle of boiling water, and an
unthinkable swab! An English maid would have hysterics."

To make existence possible to the residents of Muktiarbad, there was the
great, straggling bazaar on the outskirts of the Station ready to supply
the necessaries of life. An enlightened confidence in the rule of the
sahibs and in their honour and justice was a tradition with the local
population whose trust in the _Sarcar_ was unbounded; for sedition had
not yet poisoned the minds of the peace-loving, contented agriculturists
and shopkeepers who were as conservative as they were simple. It was
only in outlying villages that