Page:An American Girl in India.djvu/196

 'Then there is Mrs. Hicks.' Berengaria paused. It was one of those pauses much more effective than words. One knew that Mrs. Hicks had been weighed in the balance and found wanting. 'I never say anything nasty of anybody if I can help it,' went on Berengaria slowly, as if she were delivering judgment, 'but I can't say anything good of Mrs. Hicks, and as I shall not take you to call upon her it doesn't matter. She is known as the "Rudest Woman in Asia".' Even Berengaria evidently couldn't resist that last little hit. The 'Rudest Woman in Asia!' Of course, I was immediately seized with a desire to meet her. Anyone with sufficient character to acquire such a high sounding, sweeping title as that must be worth meeting. 'We will call on Mrs. Binks,' Berengaria decided. 'I think she really would be quite a nice woman but for Mrs. Hicks. Mrs. Hicks will not leave her alone, and I believe she takes a malicious pleasure in rubbing her up the wrong way.' 'Are they both quite young?' I asked. I always like to know the ages of people I am being told about. It helps you to form such a much better conception of what they are like. I don't see how you can take an interest in a person until you know whether he is young, middle-aged, or old. 'Nobody is old in India,' Berengaria's reply made me feel that I had asked a question that no decent person would ever have asked. 'And we never admit we are middle-aged. So, of course, they must be quite young.'