"That's very good, Ned; it is you that do all the talking; besides, you
know that you ought to shut yourselves up in the study, and not sit here
where you are sure to be interrupted."

"I have done three hours' steady work this morning with that wretched
Moonshi, Kate; and three hours in this climate is as much as my brain will
stand."

Kate Warrener and her brothers, Ned and Dick, were the children of the
major of the One Hundred and Fifty-first Bengal Native Infantry, the
regiment stationed at Sandynugghur. Rose Hertford, the other young lady,
was their cousin. The three former were born in India, but had each gone
to England at the age of nine for their education, and to save them from
the effects of the climate which English children are seldom able to
endure after that age. Their mother had sailed for England with Dick, the
youngest, but had died soon after she reached home. Dick had a passion for
the sea, and his father's relations having good interest, had obtained for
him a berth as a midshipman in the royal navy, in which rank he had been
serving for upward of a year. His ship being now in Indian waters, a
month's leave had been granted him that he might go up the country to see
his father. The other lad had arrived from England three months before,
with his sister and cousin. Major Warrener had sent for his daughter,
whose education was finished, to take the head of his house, and, as a
companion, had invited Rose Hertford, who was the orphan child of his
sister, to accompany her. Ned, who had been at Westminster till he left
England, was intended for the Indian army. His father thought that it
would be well for him to come out to India with his sister, as he himself
would work with him, and complete his education, to enable him to pass the
necessary examination--then not a very severe one--while he could be at
the same time learning the native languages, which would be of immense