take me up so short about it, for you will see what you will see. There was a Major Low going home in the ‘Repulse,’ who was to take charge of a small parcel, and I inserted in it a worked muslin pelisse for you, feeling certain the amiable Major would make no objection. The pelisse had the merit of being worked on such fine Dacca muslin that I thought it would have a sweet, airy effect on a hot summer’s day at East Combe; and then what nailed me into buying it, was that the owner, who certainly had not as much muslin on him as would have made a sleeve to the pelisse, held it up with an air of great vanity and, after talking an immense deal of Hindustani, looked over his shoulder with an insinuating smile and said, ‘Quite new pattern;’ so then I offered him half what he asked, and he took me at my word. Mind when the ‘Repulse’ comes you keep an eye on her passengers.
We have got on tolerably well with Calcutta hitherto, and I suppose manage the shutting-up of the house better than in the days of our ignorance, for it has really been quite cool, and that is not the fault of the weather. This house is dreadful to-day; I suppose the native servants
