The
other Englishman was also an officer, Major Norwood, who had known
Hannaford long ago. And the third member of the party was the Maharajah
of Indorwana, an extremely troublesome young Indian royalty who was
"seeing Europe" under the guardianship of his reluctant bear leader,
Norwood. Since the pair had landed at Marseilles, three weeks ago,
Norwood had passed scarcely a peaceful moment by night or day. His
authority over his charge was officially absolute; but in practise it
could only be enforced by violence, which the unfortunate officer had
not yet brought himself to exert. If he did not wish the Maharajah (who
was twenty and had never before been out of his native land) to fall
into some new mischief every hour, he was obliged to find for the youth
a ceaseless succession of amusements. Monte Carlo was to have been but
the affair of a day. The Maharajah, however, had decided differently. He
liked the place, and firmly refused to move. The two had now been
staying for a week at the Metropole, and Major Norwood had telegraphed
to the India Office in London for instructions.
The night before, he had been dragged by his charge to three dances at
open-all-night restaurants, where professionals entertained the
audience. The Maharajah had insisted on learning to dance, his
instructress being an attractive Russian girl; then, as the fun grew
furious, he had forgotten his eastern dignity, and pirouetted for a
wager, with a valuable jar containing a palm.
Pages:
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188