She put it aside now and chatted gayly
with the Hunters and those who came up to the carriage, but it came
back to her as she sat in her room before going to bed.
Up till now she had not heard a remark since she had been in Cawnpore
that might not have been spoken had the cantonments there been the
whole of India, except that persons at other stations were mentioned.
The vast, seething native population were no more alluded to than
if they were a world apart. Bathurst's words had for the first time
brought home to her the reality of their existence, and that around
this little group of English men and women lay a vast population,
with their joys and sorrows and sufferings.
At breakfast she surprised Mrs. Hunter by asking a variety of
questions as to native customs. "I suppose you have often been in
the Zenanas, Mrs. Hunter?"
"Not often, my dear. I have been in some of them, and very depressing
it is to see how childish and ignorant the women are."
"Can nothing be done for them, Mrs. Hunter?"
"Very little. In time I suppose there will be schools for girls, but
you see they marry so young that it is difficult to get at them."
"How young do they marry?"
"They are betrothed, although it has all the force of a marriage,
as infants, and a girl can be a widow at two or three years old;
and so, poor little thing, she remains to the end of her life in
a position little better than that of a servant in her husband's
family.
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