"
It was some days before Annie Mansfield left her room. For the first
two she had been completely prostrated. After that, she rapidly gained
strength; but Mrs. Holland thought it best to insist upon her
remaining perfectly quiet, until she had quite recovered. Either she
or the ranee were constantly with her, so that when, at the end of a
week, she made her first appearance at the breakfast table, she was
already at home with three of the party.
Before long her shyness completely wore off, and she seemed to have
become really a member of the family. Mrs. Holland had altered two of
her own dresses to fit her, but she preferred, for a time, to dress in
Indian costume, to which she was accustomed; and which was, indeed,
much better suited to the climate than the more closely-fitting
European dress. Mrs. Holland, however, bargained that she should, of
an evening, wear the frocks she had made for her.
"You must get accustomed to them, my dear, so that when you find your
own people, you will not be stiff and awkward; as you certainly will
be, when you dress in English fashion for the first time."
The day after his arrival, Dick had written to the military secretary
of the governor of Madras, with whom he was well acquainted, to tell
him that, having gone up in disguise to Seringapatam, to endeavour to
ascertain the fate of his father, he had discovered a young English
girl, detained as a slave in Tippoo's harem, and that he had enabled
her to effect her escape, and had placed her in the charge of his
mother.
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