"No, Mr. Stephens, I've had such a good time all my life that I really
don't think, when I look back, that I ever had any real cause for
sorrow."

"Well, Miss Sadie, I hope with all my heart that you will be able to say
the same when you are the same age as your aunt. Surely I hear her
calling."

"I wish, Mr. Stephens, you would strike my donkey-boy with your whip if
he hits the donkey again," cried Miss Adams, jogging up on a high,
raw-boned beast. "Hi, dragoman, Mansoor, you tell this boy that I won't
have the animals ill used, and that he ought to be ashamed of himself.
Yes, you little rascal, you ought! He's grinning at me like an
advertisement for a tooth paste. Do you think, Mr. Stephens, that if I
were to knit that black soldier a pair of woollen stockings he would be
allowed to wear them? The poor creature has bandages round his legs."

"Those are his putties, Miss Adams," said Colonel Cochrane, looking
back at her. "We have found in India that they are the best support to
the leg in marching. They are very much better than any stocking."

"Well, you don't say! They remind me mostly of a sick horse. But it's
elegant to have the soldiers with us, though Monsieur Fardet tells me
there's nothing for us to be scared about."

"That is only my opinion, Miss Adams," said the Frenchman hastily.
"It may be that Colonel Cochrane thinks otherwise."

"It is Monsieur Fardet's opinion against that of the officers who have
the responsibility of caring for the safety of the frontier," said the