The Phantom 'Rickshaw : And Other Ghost Stories

Rickett of Kamartha stayed with Polder of Kumaon some fifteen years ago.

He meant tostay two nights, but was knocked down by rheumatic fever, and for six weeks disorganizedPolder's establishment, stopped Polder's work, and nearly died in Polder's bedroom.

Polderbehaves as though he had been placed under eternal obligation by Rickett, and yearly sendsthe little Ricketts a box of presents and toys.

It is the same everywhere. The men who donot take the trouble to conceal from you their opinion that you are an incompetent ass, andthe women who blacken your character and misunderstand your wife's amusements, willwork themselves to the bone in your behalf if you fall sick or into serious trouble.Heatherlegh, the Doctor, kept, in addition to his regular practice, a hospital on his privateaccount-an arrangement of loose boxes for Incurables, his friend called it-but it wasreally a sort of fitting-up shed for craft that had been damaged by stress of weather.

Theweather in India is often sultry, and since the tale of bricks is always a fixed quantity, andthe only liberty allowed is permission to work overtime and get no thanks, menoccasionally break down and become as mixed as the metaphors in this sentence.