ng desires her to be
accepted as a charming woman. His procedure, on a high and delicate
plane, is precisely the procedure to which we are accustomed on a low
and obvious plane in the majority of popular novels where the hero has
to be accepted for a man of brilliant genius. We have to take the
author's word for it. The author who tells us that his hero is a
genius usually requires us to believe it without further proof. He
does not show us a page of the hero's music or the hero's poetry, but
we must believe that it is very fine, even though the hero loves Pietro
Mascagni and worships Martin Tupper. Similarly Mr Kipling, presenting
us with Mrs Hawksbee, nowhere affords us direct evidence that she is a
charming woman. He assumes it, gets everyone else in the story to
assume it, and expects his readers to assume it--his cunning as a
writer being of so remarkable a quality that there are very few of the
Simla tales in which the reader is not prepared to assume it for the
sake of the story.

Mrs Hawksbee is typical of the majority of Mr Kipling's studies in
social comedy. His success in this kind is remarkable, but it is
barren. Mr Kipling realised this himself quite early, for he quite
soon abandoned Simla. There are some sixteen stories in _Plain Tales
from the Hills_ into which the Simla motive is threaded. In the books
immediately following, published in 1888 and 1889, Simla is not wholly
abandoned, but the proportion of Simla stories is less. _The Phantom
Rickshaw_ (1889) is the last story which can fairly be brought within
the list, and this story can only be included by straining its point to
vanishing. Of all the groups of stories in _Plain Tales from the
Hills_ the Simla group, though it was largest, promised least for the
future.

III

THE SAHIB

There is another group of Indian tales, a group which deals with the
governance of India--with the men who are spent in the Imperial
Service. The peculiar charm and merit of these tales is best
considered as a special case of Mr Kipling's delight in the world's
work--a subject which claims a chapter to itself. But apart from this,
Mr Kipling's Anglo-Indian tales--his presentation of the work of the
Indian Empire, of the Anglo-Indian soldier and civilian--have an
unfortunate interest of their own. They are mainly responsible for a
misconception which has dogged Mr Kipling through all his career. This
misconception consists in regarding Mr Kiplin