Page:Letters from India Vol 1.djvu/120

 to turn them out of the army, and that is seldom necessary.

There was a thunderstorm in the evening, which cooled the air very much, and the part here is always nice.

Calcutta, Monday, March 21. Got up at 5.30, and we were all packed up and on board the ‘Soonamookie’ at 6.30. Had coffee, and a nice cool voyage up. George always goes down in the cabin with Mr. Colvin on these occasions and gets through a great deal of writing, and we do not think ourselves bound to be pleasant at these odd hours, but take our books and read. We are two hours going up against tide, and an hour and a half with it. It is all very well managed; our whole household is with us so entirely that our rooms at Calcutta are locked up when we come away and yet, ten minutes after we arrive at Government House, everything is in its place. A hot breakfast (more like a dinner) for eighteen people is on the table, and the servants are as quiet and composed as ever—the immense number of them would only make a confusion in England, but here everyone takes charge of