pt
these things from our child, and Mini at this question must have been
a trifle bewildered. But she would not show it, and with ready tact
replied: "Are you going there?"

Amongst men of the Cabuliwallah's class, however, it is well known that
the words father-in-law's house have a double meaning. It is a euphemism
for jail, the place where we are well cared for, at no expense to
ourselves. In this sense would the sturdy pedlar take my daughter's
question. "Ah," he would say, shaking his fist at an invisible
policeman, "I will thrash my father-in-law!" Hearing this, and picturing
the poor discomfited relative, Mini would go off into peals of laughter,
in which her formidable friend would join.

These were autumn mornings, the very time of year when kings of old
went forth to conquest; and I, never stirring from my little corner in
Calcutta, would let my mind wander over the whole world. At the very
name of another country, my heart would go out to it, and at the sight
of a foreigner in the streets, I would fall to weaving a network of
dreams,--the mountains, the glens, and the forests of his distant home,
with his cottage in its setting, and the free and independent life
of far-away wilds. Perhaps the scenes of travel conjure themselves up
before me, and pass and repass in my imagination all the more vividly,
because I lead such a vegetable existence, that a call to travel would
fall upon me like a thunderbolt. In the presence of this Cabuliwallah,
I was immediately transported to the foot of arid mountain peaks,
with narrow little defiles twisting in and out amongst their towering
heights. I could see the string of camels bearing the merchandise, and
the company of turbaned merchants, carrying some of their queer old
firearms, and some of their spears, journeying downward towards
the plains. I could see--but at some such point Mini's mother would
intervene, imploring me to "beware of that man."

Mini's mother is unfortunately a very timid lady. Whenever she hears a
noise in the street, or sees people coming towards the house, she always
jumps to the conclusion that they are either thieves, or drunkards, or
snakes, or tigers, or malaria or cockroaches, or caterpillars, or an
English sailor. Even after all these years of experience, she is
not able to overcome her terror. So she was full of doubts about the
Cabuliwallah, and used to beg me to keep a watchful eye on him.

I tried to laugh her fear gently away, but t