ith very
little trouble.

* * * * *

A further reference to the amenities of Government House at Simla
during the Aucklands' regime is instructive, as showing that it was
not a case of all work and no play:

There are about ninety-six ladies here whose husbands are gone to the
wars, and about twenty-six gentlemen--at least, there will, with good
luck, be about that number. We have a very dancing set of
aides-de-camp just now, and they are utterly desperate at the notion
of our having no balls. I suppose we must begin on one in a fortnight;
but it will be difficult, and there are several young ladies here with
whom some of our gentlemen are much smitten. As they will have no
rivals here, I am horribly afraid the flirtations may become serious,
and then we shall lose some active aides-de-camp, and they will find
themselves on ensign's pay with a wife to keep. However, they _will_
have these balls, so it is not my fault.

* * * * *

After she had left Simla and its round of gaieties, Lola was to have
another meeting with the hospitable Aucklands. This took place in camp
at Kurnaul, "a great ugly cantonment, all barracks and dust and guns
and soldiers." Miss Eden, who was accompanying her brother on a tour
through the district, wrote to her sister in England:

_November 13, 1839._

We were at home in the evening, and it was an immense party;
but, except that pretty Mrs. J, who was at Simla, and who
looked like a star among the others, the women were all
plain.

[Illustration: _Benjamin Lumley. Lessee of Her Majesty's Theatre_]

A couple of days later, she added some further particulars:

We left Kurnaul yesterday morning. Little Mrs. J was so
unhappy at our going that we asked her to come and pass
the day here, and brought her with us. She went from tent to
tent and chattered all day and visited her friend, Mrs. M,
who is with the camp. I gave her a pink silk gown, and it
was altogether a very happy day for her evidently. It ended
in her going back to Kurnaul on my elephant, with E.N. by
her side, and Mr. J sitting behind. She had never been on an
elephant before, and thought it delightful.

She is very pretty, and a good little thing apparently. But
they are very poor, and she is very young and lively, and if
she falls into bad hands, she would laugh herself into