That will be quite
sufficient. Say nothing about my having been born in India, or that my
father was a native rajah. Some of these officials--and still more,
their wives--are very prejudiced, and consider themselves to be quite
different beings to the natives of the country. I found it so on my
voyage to England.
"At any rate, we don't want our affairs talked about. It will be quite
sufficient for people to know that we are, as I said, going out to
make some inquiries about the truth of this rumour."
"All right, Mother. At any rate, the captain has told you that he will
look after you, and make things comfortable for you, so we need not
care about anything else."
"We certainly need not care, Dick; but it is much more agreeable to
get on nicely with everyone. I was very pleased when Captain Barstow
called yesterday and said that, having heard at the office that the
Mrs. Holland on the passenger list was the widow of his old shipmate,
John Holland, he had come round to see if there was anything that he
could do for her, and he promised to do all in his power to make us
comfortable. Of course, I told him that I did not regard myself as
Captain Holland's widow--that all we knew was that he had got safely
ashore, and had been taken up to Mysore; and, as I had a strong
conviction he was still alive, I was going out to endeavour to
ascertain, from native sources, whether he was still living.
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