After a drive of twenty minutes, they stopped at a hotel.
"It is not like a hotel, Mother," Dick remarked, as they drew up. "It
is more like a gentleman's house, standing in its own park."
"Almost all the European houses are built so, here, Dick, and it is
much more pleasant than when they are packed together."
"Much nicer," Dick agreed. "If each house has a lot of ground like
this, the place must cover a tremendous extent of country."
"It does, Dick; but, as every one keeps horses and carriages, that
does not matter much. Blacktown, as they call the native town, stands
quite apart from the European quarter."
As soon as they were settled in their rooms, which seemed to Dick
singularly bare and unfurnished, mother and son went out for a drive,
in one of the carriages belonging to the hotel. Dick had learned so
much about India from her that, although extremely interested, he was
scarcely surprised at the various scenes that met his eye, or at the
bright and varied costumes of the natives.
Many changes had taken place, during the seventeen years that had
elapsed since Mrs. Holland had left India. The town had increased
greatly in size. All signs of the effects of the siege by the French,
thirty years before, had been long since obliterated.
Pages:
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68