"Let me
introduce my friend, Mr. Pagett, just fresh from home, and anxious to learn
his India. You could tell him something of that more important half of which a
mere man knows so little."
"Perhaps I could if I'd any heart to do it, but I'm in trouble, I've lost a
case, a case that was doing well, through nothing in the world but inattention
on the part of a nurse I had begun to trust. And when I spoke only a small
piece of my mind she collapsed in a whining heap on the floor. It is
hopeless."
The men were silent, for the blue eyes of the lady doctor were dim. Recovering
herself she looked up with a smile, half sad, half humorous, "And I am in a
whining heap, too; but what phase of Indian life are you particularly
interested in, sir?"
"Mr. Pagett intends to study the political aspect of things and the
possibility of bestowing electoral institutions on the people."
"Wouldn't it be as much to the purpose to bestow point-lace collars on them?
They need many things more urgently than votes. Why it's like giving a bread-
pill for a broken leg."
"Er--I don't quite follow," said Pagett, uneasily.
"Well, what's the matter with this country is not in the least political, but
an all round entanglement of physical, social, and moral evils and
corruptions, all more or less due to the unnatural treatment of women.
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