248 SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY 



This programme was pretty well carried out, but it 

 might be permitted to say here a word or two of the 

 Goanese travelling servant who piloted the travellers 

 on their long and rapid journey. He was selected by 

 Mr. Tata, and having mostly travelled as part of a 

 large suite, he was a little pained to find himself single 

 handed. However, after a few days to readjust his 

 ideas, he became the most devoted retainer, regarding 

 Ramsay as a personage who must never be troubled 

 with any details as to trains and conveyances till the 

 moment came to use them. His " chits " (testimonials) 

 spoke of him as a perfect servant, shikari, sick nurse 

 and, if necessary, medical adviser, and he did not 

 belie them. 



Towards the end of the time when the constant 

 travelling had begun to tell and Mrs. Ramsay had some 

 days' illness, he treated her with great skill and severity. 

 All food sent to her room by an attentive hostess was 

 most gratefully accepted and as promptly burnt, and 

 only slops of his own providing were given to the invalid. 

 The hostess found it out and was much amused, but 

 the results were most satisfactory. When she was 

 restored to ordinary life his vigilance did not relax. 

 In Bombay the servant goes out with his people, and 

 at a dinner party there a fellow guest said to Mrs. 

 Ramsay : " Does your man ever allow you to eat any- 

 thing ? for I notice that whenever you help yourself 

 to anything he takes away your plate before you can 

 touch it." He was most scrupulously honest towards 



