"
"And your niece arrives with him tomorrow, Major," the Adjutant
said.
"Yes, I am going to try petticoat government, Prothero. I don't
know how the experiment will succeed, but I am tired of an empty
bungalow, and I have been looking forward for some years to her
being old enough to come out and take charge. It is ten years since
I was home, and she was a little chit of eight years old at that
time."
"I think a vote of thanks ought to be passed to you, Major. We have
only married ladies in the regiment, and it will wake us up and do
us good to have Miss Hannay among us."
"There are the Colonel's daughters," the Major said, with a smile.
"Yes, there are, Major, but they hardly count; they are scarcely
conscious of the existence of poor creatures like us; nothing short
of a Resident or, at any rate, of a full blown Collector, will find
favor in their eyes."
"Well, I warn you all fairly," the Major said, "that I shall set
my face against all sorts of philandering and love making. I am
bringing my niece out here as my housekeeper and companion, and not
as a prospective wife for any of you youngsters. I hope she will
turn out to be as plain as a pikestaff, and then I may have some
hopes of keeping her with me for a time. The Doctor, in his letter
from Calcutta, says nothing as to what she is like, though he was
good enough to remark that she seemed to have a fair share of common
sense, and has given him no more trouble on the voyage than was to
be expected under the circumstances.
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