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a woman who lives on a farm, I don t take pigs seriously. But I shall
endeavour to keep in mind the sharp edge of the tusks rather than the comical
twist of the tail.
Nesbit studied his glass, trying to retrieve the conversation s thread before
Holmes had diverted us into sport.  Yes, well, the maharaja of Khanpur. He is
as near to what the Americans might call a  self-made man as an hereditary
ruler can get. You no doubt realise that the hundreds of native states within
India have huge differences. One state has a population of less than two
hundred in under an acre; on the other hand, Kashmir occupies an area larger
than France, while Hyderabad possesses an income greater than most of the
European countries. Some are one step from feudal barbarism, in their society
and their economy, others well on their way to becoming industrial powers;
it s entirely up to each state s prince. The British Resident may suggest and
recommend, but he rarely asserts any authority. It s the price we pay for
their loyalty the princes saved us in the Mutiny. Indeed, one might even say
that they made the Empire possible. They are still essential to British rule,
a guarantee that if the tide turns against us again, we have a bulwark against
the waves. If you will pardon the flight of fancy, he added.
 The princes are, to put it bluntly, above the law of British India. Short of
declaring war or entering into independent diplomatic relations, they are free
to do as they like, to spend their time and their fortunes gambling in Monte
Carlo or hunting tigers or filling their days with dancing girls. Only if they
become too wildly erratic, or too political, do we step in. But their sins
have to be pretty extreme.
I kept my face expressionless, but all in all, it sounded as if British India
had managed to preserve and encourage all that was bad about an hereditary
aristocracy, buying the princes off by averting eyes from their misdemeanors
while heaping them with ritual displays of power the big shooting parties, the
nine- or seventeen- or twenty-one-gun salutes in hopes that they might not
notice their essential impotence.
 A generation ago, Nesbit was saying,  a man in my position might argue that
the British would remain a part of India always; now, only the most
self-deludingburra-sahibwould claim that. This country is set on the road to
independence, a journey we have the responsibility of assisting and guiding.
And as we prepare to step aside, two competitors are jostling to move into the
vacuum of power: the Congress Party, which is largely Hindu, and the Moslem
League. I m sure you are fully aware of the deep and abiding mistrust and
simmering violence that exists between Hindu and Moslem here. The two
religions are essentially incompatible: Moslem views Hindu as a worshipper of
idols, Hindu condemns Moslem as unclean cow-killer. And that isn t even
beginning to touch the other parties, the Communists on the one side and
theswarajists on the other, who hate and mistrust each other. In order to
reach a common ground between the Congress Party and the League, there are
many who believe that the princes will come into their own, as a sort of House
of Lords with real power, providing continuity between a colonial past and a
more democratic future.
 And that is where your maharaja comes in, Mr Holmes. His father died when
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
the boy was small, four or five poison was suspected, but never proved,
although half a dozen servants and two of his wives were put to death over it.
Having had a look at the file, I should say it was more likely to have been
some treatment for the syphilis he picked up in southern France the man had an
unfortunate fondness for the rougher side of life.
 The old man, Jimmy s grandfather, was one of the feudal types, interested
only in harem and toys quite literally: He had one of the most extraordinary
collections of mechanical oddities in the world, and seems to have had some
fairly rum practices behind the walls of his palace. In fact, at the time he [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]