24 SAMBHALPUR, HARDA, DELHI, PETERHOF 



country-house. There is a ball-room, a billiard- 

 room, a dining-room where I could dine forty-two 

 people, and a very large double drawing-room. 

 Some of the rooms are panelled, regardless of cost, 

 with Indian walnut, and the furniture is, or was, 

 the best that money can buy. On the other hand, 

 nearly every fireplace smokes and not a door or 

 window closes properly. But that is indeed India 

 all over. I think the recent outlay on this house 

 is indefensible, and personally, as Finance Minister, 

 I should never have agreed to it. It used to be 

 the Viceregal Lodge, and was inhabited by Lord 

 Lytton, Lord Ripon, Lord Dufferin, and Lord 

 Lansdowne. I must say that it is a very attrac- 

 tive house, and the terraced garden, which is of 

 quite good size, with beautiful creepers and very 

 nice trees, is not only a great attraction but an 

 enormous comfort to me. I am training the wild 

 monkeys to come and feed in the garden, much to 

 my gardener's despair. They certainly are very 

 destructive. The jackals come in at night, and 

 the birds are beginning to get quite tame. As you 

 know, I love to have living things about the place. 

 The number of offers I have had from the gentler 

 sex to come and stay in Peterhof and run the 

 house for me would astonish you. But I have 

 already acquired the reputation of being a cross- 

 grained old bachelor, a reputation which I shall do 

 my best to keep up. 



I found heavy arrears of work, which, however, 

 I hope to get through before H.E. the Viceroy 

 arrives on the ist, as I want to have a clear desk 

 before the new work begins. I do not mind the 

 work, but what I really dread is the social hard 



