Talbot Mundy

“ Then Ommony took tea on the veranda, under the guns of Strange’s arrogant contempt.
“That stuff’s the undoing of the English!” Strange volunteered. “They sip tea like old women even in the Bank of England. It’s the symbol of England’s decadence.”
“You think we’ve fallen far yet?” Ommony asked him.
Strange snorted.
“You’re succumbing to the same degeneracy you’ve imposed on conquered peoples—just as Rome did. That raja’s a case for you. Intelligent in a superficial way, like a monkey. I don’t doubt his ancestors were men, who could seize, administer and keep; they’d nous enough to rule. ”

“ So Jeff recovered his good-humor, and when bed-time came he followed Strange into his room and sat there for an hour, while Ommony, remaining with his pipe on the veranda, caught fragments of a violent debate, in between the pauses of his own conversation with two men, who wore no clothes, and did not trespass on to the veranda, but spoke like dark goblins from the shadow beyond the flower-bed.
“You’re a natural-born employee! You can’t see things on a big scale!” ”

“ Diana whimpered as Ommony fingered the loose skin above her powerful shoulders.
“Bullet undoubtedly,” said Jeff.
“Might be a thirty-two. Did you notice a weapon of that bore this afternoon?”
“The raja’s gold-plated toy!”
“Exactly!” Nobody else near this forest owns a thirty-two. That rascally raja suspected her of carrying a message; Diana’s notorious, ain’t you, old lady! And he’s a good shot with a pistol, —— his eyes!” ”