266 MOONLIGHT GARDENS 



building with its cool fountain court and airy 

 terraced roof ; the pavilions and class-rooms 

 built against the high enclosing garden walls ; 

 the swimming pool and the swings ; the cypress 

 walks, the squares of flowers and fruit trees, the 

 plots laid out in grass for games, the whole 

 combining to unite the best of Indian and English 

 common-sense and art with the pleasant freedom 

 of complete security. And the reality ? It 

 was a large, solid, red-brick building of the 

 British public institute order, with praiseworthy 

 " Indian " trimmings by way of decoration, but 

 with little Indian feeling ; low walls, a gravel 

 sweep, a dry, bare-looking garden, the whole 

 surrounded with hideous matting screens for 

 was not this a school for purdah girls ? 



