and dress, with a red and white sash round his waist, smiled.

"Rumzan not let anyone rob his master."

"Not to any great extent, you know, Rumzan. One doesn't expect more
than that."

"It is just the same here, Miss Hannay, as it is everywhere else,"
said the Doctor; "only in big establishments in England they rob
you of pounds, while here they rob you of annas, which, as I have
explained to you, are two pence halfpennies. The person who undertakes
to put down little peculations enters upon a war in which he is
sure to get the worst of it. He wastes his time, spoils his temper,
makes himself and everyone around him uncomfortable, and after all
he is robbed. Life is too short for it, especially in a climate
like this. Of course, in time you get to understand the language;
if you see anything in the bills that strikes you as showing waste
you can go into the thing, but as a rule you trust entirely to your
butler; if you cannot trust him, get another one. Rumzan has been
with your uncle ten years, so you are fortunate. If the Major
had gone home instead of me, and if you had had an entirely fresh
establishment of servants to look after, the case would have been
different; as it is, you will have no trouble that way."

"Then what are my duties to be, uncle?"

"Your chief duties, my dear, are to look pleasant, which will
evidently be no trouble to you; to amuse me and keep me in a good
temper as far as possible; to keep on as good terms as may be with
the other ladies of the station; and, what will perhaps be the most