His five servants saw to it that
all his wants were properly attended to, that no indignity to his high
caste might be offered: as having his food prepared by pariah hands in
the hotel kitchens, foul hands to make his bed. He was thoroughly
religious; the gods of his fathers were his in all their ramifications;
he wore the Brahmin thread about his neck.
He was unique among Indian princes. An Oxford graduate, he
persistently and consistently clung to the elaborate costumes of his
native state. And when he condescended to visit any one, it was
invariably stipulated that he should be permitted to bring along his
habits, his costumes and his retinue. In his suite or apartments he
was the barbarian; in the drawing-room, in the ballroom, in the
dining-room (where he ate nothing), he was the suave, the courteous,
the educated Oriental. He drank no wines, made his own cigarettes, and
never offered his hand to any one, not even to the handsome women who
admired his beautiful skin and his magnificent ropes of pearls.
Some one had entered the bedroom, overpowered the guard, and looted the
bag containing the emeralds.
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