eversed, and
newcomers call in the first place upon residents."

"What a very unpleasant custom, uncle; especially as some of the
residents may not want to know them."

"Well, everyone must know everyone else in a station, my dear, though
they may not wish to be intimate. So, about half past one tomorrow we
will start."

"What, in the heat of the day, uncle?"

"Yes, my dear. That is another of the inscrutable freaks of Indian
fashion. The hours for calling are from about half past twelve to half
past two, just in the hottest hours. I don't pretend to account for it."

"How many ladies are there in the regiment?"

"There is the Colonel's wife, Mrs. Cromarty. She has two grown up red
headed girls," replied the Doctor. "She is a distant relation--a second
cousin--of some Scotch lord or other, and, on the strength of that and
her husband's colonelcy, gives herself prodigious airs. Three of the
captains are married. Mrs. Doolan is a merry little Irish woman. You
will like her. She has two or three children. She is a general favorite
in the regiment.

"Mrs. Rintoul--I suppose she is here still, Major, and unchanged? Ah, I
thought so. She is a washed-out woman, without a spark of energy in her
composition.-' She believes that she is a chronic invalid, and sends
for me on an average once a week. But there is nothing really the matter
with her, if she would but only believe it. Mrs. Roberts--"

"Don't be ill natured, Doctor," the Major broke in. "Mrs. Roberts, my
dear, is a good-looking woman, and a general flirt. I don't think there
is any harm in her whatever. Mrs. Prothero, the Adjutant's wife, has
only been out here eighteen months, and is a pretty little woman, and in
all respects nice.-There is only one other, Mrs. Scarsdale; she came out
six months ago. She is a quiet young woman, with, I should say, plenty
of common sense: I should think you will like her. That completes the
regimental list."

"Well, that is not so very formidable. Anyhow, it is a. comfort that we
shall have no one here today."

"You will have the whole regiment here in a few minutes, Isobel, but
they will be coming to see the Doctor, not you; if it hadn't been that
they knew you were under his charge everyone would have come down to
meet him when he arrived. But if you feel tired, as I am sure you must
be after your journey, there is no reason why you shouldn't go and lie
down quietly for a few hours."

"I will stop here, uncle; it will be