Page:Letters from India Vol 1.djvu/276

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268
LETTERS FROM INDIA.

George, it made us all laugh; but there was something cheering in the sound of Trill. Wright said the other day, with a deep sigh, ‘To be sure what a different place this would be if we had but Trill’s shop within reach.’ I have nothing more to say about the ——s visit, and perhaps you cannot understand the intense interest with which one knocks one’s head against a familiar post in a strange land. I do not mean to call you a post, poor dear sister; but you catch the idea of the simile; and if ever you happen to be 15,000 miles from Eastcombe, you will see the value of the individual who sees and knows the terrace walk and the lodge, &c. Even Dandy Mrs. —— knew by sight, which I have mentioned to Chance, who tucks himself under his bearer’s blanket and does not care.

I had great amusement on Sunday in watching Chance’s embarkation from Barrackpore. There was a boat going down to Calcutta, in which his man chose to set off; and at low water it is very difficult to go from the Ghaut to the boat, there is such an expanse of mud and water. Chance and his man were plodding over a very slippery plank, and had just