Page:Letters from India Vol 1.djvu/275

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LETTERS FROM INDIA.
267

old man on the top of the hill plagued one’s heart out. That brought her into very near connection with us. But, to crown all, she said, ‘I was once at Eastcombe. Dr. West took me to the lodge to be vaccinated from the gardener’s children.’ Can you conceive such a climax of interest? The luck of meeting at the farthest extremity of the globe with a girl who had been vaccinated by our West from Bell’s and ‘the guinea-pig’s’ children. It made her my second cousin on the spot. The little thing herself was in such delight at being able to talk over her English days; for, like all young Indians, she is quite a stranger to her parents, and her whole heart is with ‘grandmamma and my aunt at Blackheath.’ When they came over to dinner Captain —— said he had not seen her in such spirits since she came out; and then everybody began asking her questions, and —— insisted on her recollecting Boritt, which she could not comply with; and, at last, by way of pointing out where he lived, George said, ‘But were you never at Trill’s?’ ‘Oh, Lord Auckland, do you know Trill’s? what a good shop it was, was it not?’ and, as this was almost the first time she had dared to speak to