Page:Letters from India Vol 1.djvu/268

 some chessmen for, and even a present for , who nursed him when he was ill.

Gorge, after all, did not go to Dwarkanauth’s party, which was a pity, though I regret it less because if he goes to one party he must go to more; and getting up before six, as he does, it would be bad for him; and he is so well and looking so well now, that any change would be for the worse. We went in great state—three carriages and the aides-de-camp in their gorgeous uniforms, which they have only worn twice since we came; and we sent on fourteen of our own servants, because, as you will at once perceive, it would have been quite beneath us to allow the servants of a native to give us any tea; and we might have been bit by a mad mosquito if we had not taken our own chowry-men, as nobody else can have any when the Governor-General’s are there. Moreover, the servants care about fireworks, if they care for anything. I have seldom seen a handsomer fête. It was very much like one of Lord Hertford’s fêtes—beautiful fireworks; and then all the French actors and singers sat in one room, and dancing in another, and the