CHAPTER 2.I.
To understand how we prized him, Dora Harris and I, it is necessary to know Simla.

I suppose people think of that place, if they ever do think of it, as an agreeable retreat in the wilds of the Himalayas where deodars and scandals grow, and where the Viceroy if he likes may take off his decorations and go about in flannels.

I know how useless it would be to try to give a more faithful impression, and I will hold back from the attempt as far as I can.

Besides, my little story is itself an explanation of Simla.

Ingersoll Armour might have appeared almost anywhere else without making social history.