some such things bearing names which were bound to have weight with
a Department of Public Instruction anywhere. I felt particularly
thankful for this, for I was committed to him if he had not a rag to
show.

The matter was settled in three weeks, during which Armour became
more and more the fashion in Simla. He was given every opportunity
of experiment in the society of which he was about to become a
permanent item. He dined out four or five times a week, and learned
exactly what to talk about. He surprised me one day with a piece of
news of my own department, which was a liberty of a very serious
kind, but I forgave him upon finding that it was not true. He rode
Lamb's weight-carriers, to cross which his short legs were barely
adequate, and apart from this disadvantage he did not ride them
badly. Only one thing marred the completeness of the
transformation--he didn't dismiss the dog. The dog, fundamentally,
was still and ever his companion. It was a suspicious circumstance
if we had known; but we saw in it only a kind heart, and ignored it.

I saw little of Dora Harris at this time. Making no doubt that she
was enjoying her triumph as she deserved, I took the liberty of
supposing that she would hardly wish to share so intimate a source
of satisfaction. I met them both several times at people's houses--
certain things had apparently been taken for granted--but I was only
one of the little circle that wondered how soon it might venture
upon open congratulations. The rest of us knew as much, it seemed,
as Edward Harris did. Lady Pilkey asked him point-blank, and he
said what his daughter found to like in the fellow the Lord only
knew, and he was glad to say that at present he had no announcement
to make. Lady Pilkey told me she thought it very romantic--like