Pagett looked inquiry; Orde, with complete recovery of his usual urbanity,
replied: "It's nothing, only the old story, he wants his case to be tried by
an English judge--they all do that--but when he began to hint that the other
side were in improper relations with the native judge I had to shut him up.
Gunga Ram, the man he wanted to make insinuations about, may not be very
bright; but he's as honest as daylight on the bench. But that's just what one
can't get a native to believe."
"Do you really mean to say these people prefer to have their cases tried by
English judges?"
"Why, certainly."
Pagett drew a long breath. "I didn't know that before." At this point a
phaeton entered the compound, and Orde rose with "Confound it, there's old
Rasul Ali Khan come to pay one of his tiresome duty calls. I'm afraid we shall
never get through our little Congress discussion."
Pagett was an almost silent spectator of the grave formalities of a visit paid
by a punctilious old Mahommedan gentleman to an Indian official; and was much
impressed by the distinction of manner and fine appearance of the Mohammedan
landholder. When the exchange of polite banalities came to a pause, he
expressed a wish to learn the courtly visitor's opinion of the National
Congress.
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