"It was his suggestion we should take you with us." That illustrates perfectly Grim's way of letting out information in driblets.

Evidently he had considered taking me on this trip as long as three days ago.

It was equally news to me that the enormous Sikh, Narayan Singh, had any use for me; I had always supposed that he had accepted me on sufferance for Grim's sake, and that in his heart he scorned me as a tenderfoot.

You can no more dig beneath the subtlety of Sikh politeness than you can overbear his truculence, and it is only by results that you may know your friend and recognize your enemy.
Narayan Singh came in, and he did not permit any such weakness as a smile to escape him.

When great things are being staged it is his peculiar delight to look wooden.