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Updated: May 19, 2025
Standing beside the Marquis de Mirepoix a man of quiet bearing he was surrounded by a group of the great, among whom Mr. Nash naturally counted himself. The Beau was felicitating himself that the foreigners had not arrived a week earlier, in which case he and Bath would have been detected in a piece of gross ignorance concerning the French nobility making much of de Mirepoix's ex-barber.
He was an ally of Khan Cochut, and had been a chief agent in the late rebellion, as, through having been the rajah's principal secretary, he was fully informed of all that took place at the palace. But though an ally of the ex-barber, he hated him cordially, both on account of his religion or rather his utter want of it and the familiar and somewhat coarse way in which Khan Cochut treated him.
Reginald, warned by his friend, answered very cautiously, and so the ex-barber had to take his departure without being wiser than he came. At the dinner-hour an attendant of the rajah came to summon them. They found the great man seated at table, in a hall furnished in a strangely-mixed Oriental and English fashion.
Then, again, it was just possible not likely, but possible that he might be able to get out of the ex-barber of the Witanbury garrison some interesting and just now valuable information. "What are you going to do now?" he asked. "Have you made any plans yet?" "We are thinking of going to London, and of making a fresh start there. We have friends in Red Lion Square."
The rooms he usually occupied had been stripped of everything of value, and Reginald, who had no great confidence in the ex-barber, could not help suspecting that he had made his escape from the city with all the wealth he could collect, and would probably next be heard of at Calcutta.
The old man's trade had fallen off, because the fashions had changed, wigs were less worn, and hair was not so elaborately dressed. In the country home the old man took charge of all the household affairs, prepared his son's canvases for him, and after the pictures were painted it was the ex-barber who varnished them, so that Turner said, "Father begins and finishes all my pictures."
The crowds in the streets made way for the khan, who was known to be in high favour at court, and was treated accordingly with every mark of respect. The palace, which was at no great distance, was soon reached, when the ex-barber threw his reins with an air of importance to the syce, or groom, in attendance, telling the Englishmen to follow him.
"You two come with me," said the ex-barber, addressing Burnett and Reginald. As he led the way, they emerged into a small garden or courtyard with a fountain playing in the centre, beyond which was seen a pavilion. Crossing the garden, they approached the pavilion. Neither Reginald nor Burnett were prepared for the scene which met their view.
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