Part 13 (1/2)
”I don't care for half-friends, Tom If you expect to be welcome at my house you must come to my parties when I ask you”
”Lady, lady!”
”I mean it”
”Oh, very well I'll come I've protested That absolves me And my hide's thick It takes more than just a snub or two--or three to knockTrotters?”
”Certainly Trotters is my friend too I count on him to do his tricks and help entertain”
”They'll say of you, ma'am, afterward that you don't know better than ask Tripe and his vulgar dog to ht, Tom I don't know better I hope they'll say it to me, that's all”
But Tess discovered when the day calish They simply don't expect an American to kno to behave, and To were accepted and approved of as sincerely as the real A following
The colad to meet Tripe in the circumstances
If the e of appeal engaged in a three-cornered conversation with hiarden party, therefore either of them would speak to the maharajah's drill-ain, that was all
One of the things the commissioner asked Tripe hether he was responsible for the uards--of course not improperly inquisitive about the maharajah's personal affairs but anxious to seem interested in the fellow's daily round, since just then one couldn't avoid him
”In a manner, and after a fashi+on, yes, sir I'ularly and that thelike responsibility Good for a ood So you look after the guard on all the palaces? The Princess Yasht be nervous work They say that young lady is--! Eh, Tripe?”
”I couldn't say, sir My duties don't taketo look innocent! They tell e her!”
”Some folks don't care what they say, sir”
”If she should be in trouble I dare say, now, you'd be the man she'd apply to for help”
”I'd like to think that, sir”
”Might ask you to take a letter for instance, to e walked away He did not care to be ue, even hypothetically, and especially with a member of the lower orders
”I'd do for her what I'd do for a daughter of my own, sir, neither ave you a letter to bring tobarratry, the ten commandments, earthquake and the act of God, sir, yes”
”Without the ”
”You'd do that with a clear conscience, eh?”
Tom Tripe screwed his face up, puffed his cheeks, and struck a very ot no business with a conscience, sir Conscience ht for fear his wife's second cousin hbors”
”Ha-ha! Very profoundly philosophic! I dare wager you've carried her letters at least a dozen tiain Tom Tripe puffed out his cheeks and struck an attitude