Morgan County democrat. (Versailles, Mo.) 1900-1906, 1903-07-17
Il was November when Frewin was

'h'ic "'it INV p'pple III tHe btu-
tor, and the fact that Mrs. Burton,
Roses sister, remained up through
out the winter was an acceptable one
to the new conner.
Not that Frewin tried to convince
himself that he f%requented "The
Deodars" for the pleasure of meet
ing fat Mrs. Burton, who %pcrspircd
even in December. and whose CONVEX
sation was strictly limited to the
wicked ways of the servants, the
shortcomings of her ncighbors, and
the weather. lie owned, alike to him
self and the club, that Miss Rowan
was pretty and rode well. and could
talk of India and its people even if
she were totally ignorant of all
things English, and could not appre-
ciate the difference between an NJ.
y. and II county councillor. So he,
in his heavy way, taught her a little
concerning England. and she, I'M
knowingly, taught him many things
Indian, and society, as known in
Nara, having gone down to CAL
cutta. there were fewer venom tipped
tongues to Wag.
Not that Rose would have cared IL
all AnglO-lndia had risen to forbid
her intercourse with this youthful
civilian, who represented to her the
whole glory of the British empire and
thc perfection of mankind. She
adOrcd with an unrcasoning ndora-
ton which would have been foolish
and superlluous in the heroine of b
penny novelette,.
She was only 90, and life so far
and Nara, with occasional weeks at
Lucknow, and whole fortnight Of
dissipation in Calcutta.
Moreover, she had the nature Of a
! saint rather than a Hirt, and it was
her amazingly angelic temper which
most won Frewin. A man likes that
sort of Grisclda girl-until it pals,
and he wants n change.
So they rode and danced and dined
together throughout the four
months winter. while Mrs. Burton
beamed propricty and conveniently
went to sleep.
There was no definite engagement,
but just mutual understanding which
seems almost sweeter when you are
young and foolish, and the world is
gay-the state which vcrstcht SIGH
Won selbst. as the expressive German
phrase goes.
Frewin wrote home fanciful ac-
counts, in confidence, to his ~favorite
sister Git is a curious fact that most
gritfins do this), and wrote Rose
many chits when he should have been
attending to the service Of govern
ment. The spring wind blew rose
leaves through their small particu-
lar world and made life n glad thing.
March brought back Nazra's sum-
mer population, including sundry of
the heaven born, without whose guild
ing hands the station managed to do
very well during the winter months,
but who were absolutely necessary
to the working of things there when
it began to warm up in the plains.
Old c. s.. men. with many rupees
and few joys, owing to their touchy
livers-or their wives; younger ditto,
to whom Nara meant little work,
much gayety, and many dirtations.
and who voted India "~immense," not
being able to see from their comfort
able place on the top rung that An
glo-India was situated chiefly at the
bottom of the latter, in steaming
plains, where there was small leisure
and less heart for polo and lawn ten
mis-; sick men who had been consider
ately sent up by their firms in or.
der to save giving them six months
to England; men without their wives,
longing for them daily; men with
their wives, wishing them anywhere
but in Nara hourly; pallid, snarly'
were ditto, only more so; objection
able Anglo-Indian children, compared
with whom the American genus is as
an angel-all the miscellaneous, un'
wholesome collection, of varied color
which swarms up to an idyllic hill
station and make it hades.
The Nara crowd included the usua'
limited number of Just out" girls
brought ont by their respective rela
tives as manageable lots. under
which heading came Miss Ethel May
nard. She was the most perfect
specimen possible of the conventional
English %girl-tall, fair, well-dressed
warranted irreproachable in conver
sation and department, with a knowl
edge of all the polite accomplish
ments and no grain of originality
or tenderness in her whole body
the kind of n IN a man marrie'
because she suits his dining table ant