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blood. I can mention the names of the companions who move on the Chausar board with as much ease and grace as in public places—but I must not wound susceptibilities unnecessarily.
Betrothals in the highest circles of the Hyderabad nobility are very much talked of—and the talk finds expression in a paragraph in a recent issue of the Mahboob-al-kuloof, a local Urdu paper. And these promise to be very interesting as in the first place the "parties" are of very tender ages the most important of them being not over 2 years of age, and in the second place the means employed to bring about them are not common place. An influential man seems to have been engaged to act the part of the ordinary female mushaṭa (go-between) to negotiate terms between the families concerned—and he is to be paid a big fee a portion of which, I am told, has already changed hands.
I wrote to you in my last about the rumour charging a high official with having received bribes to the extent of about Rs. 55,000 from the Begums of the Salar Jung family. This affair since assumed serious proportions—and a Commission has been appointed to inquire into the charge.
