It was
immense fun, though the racquets weren't all you might have wished,
and the court had a most disconcerting surface." He laughed heartily
at his recollections, and Travers laughed with him.
"No wonder the men worshiped you," he said, and then saw that the
remark had been a mistake.
"They didn't worship me," was the sharp answer. "That sort of thing is
all rubbish. They respected me, and I respected them--that's all."
"It seems to me a good deal," Travers observed.
"It is a good deal, in one sense," Nicholson returned. "It is the only
condition under which native and European can work in unity."
Nehal Singh and Stafford were walking a little ahead, and Travers
thought he saw the Rajah hesitate as though about to join the
conversation. Almost immediately, however, Nicholson changed the
subject.
"I've had no time to look up my old friends," he said to Travers.
"Perhaps you could tell me something about them. Colonel Carmichael
is, of course, still here. I had a few words with him this afternoon.
Do you know if that little girl, Lois Caruthers, is with him, or has
she gone back to England?"
"No, she is still in Marut."
"That's good. When I was a young lieutenant, she and I were great
pals. Of course she is grown-up now, but I always think of her as my
wild little comrade who led me into the most hairbreadth adventures."
He smiled to himself, and Travers, looking sharply at him, felt that
there was a wealth of memories behind the pleasant grey eyes.
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