ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 7 



A friend of mine was in want of something, and called 

 to the ' boy,' 1 who would seldom be out of hearing — nor 

 was he to-day. She called several times without receiving 

 a reply, but heard him talking to himself, and this is what he 

 was murmuring, in his own dialect, of course : ' I hear your 

 goose- voice calling, I shall go when I like ! ' She told me 

 that she felt furious, and also much like laughing outright, 

 but that would never have done. Her husband, close by 

 in his office, had also heard and noticed ; his short, sharp 

 summons for ' Boy ! ' was scarcely uttered when it was 

 followed on the instant by ' Yes, Sar ! ' Then came : 

 1 Why didn't you answer the mistress when she called three 

 times ? You answered me, the master, immediately.' 

 Came the trembling, yet candid reply : 

 ' Missus plenty talkee only, Master beatee,' which, how- 

 ever, was quite untrue of that master. Evidently to know 

 the vernacular in our fashion was not an unmixed advantage. 

 In my first enthusiasm with the novelty of Indian house- 

 keeping, I kept careful watch on the daily expenditure. 

 The plan was, as my earlier counsellors (not the later and 

 better advised ones) taught me, to give the cook a certain 

 sum for table purchases, and he would render his account 

 every morning. 



Though careful not to find needless fault, it seemed to 

 me that sixpennyworth of salt — that is to say several 

 pounds — was a good deal to be used in a general way, daily, 

 so I mentioned it. I was told that salt was very dear, 

 but the cook admitted that that was certainly too much for 

 one day's consumption ; he would make the person who 

 wasted it (for, of course, that was somebody else) smart 

 heavily for not looking after our interests, as did he, who 

 had the buying of things. After this, twopennyworth each 

 day seemed enough for us, but several new items came into 

 the list. I knew the meaning of most words of everyday 



1 Indoor servant, derived from bhoy, bearer. 



