One day there was a dinner-party, at the house of Tods' Mamma, and the Legal Member came. Tods was in bed, but he kept awake till he heard the bursts of laughter from the men over the coffee. Then he paddled out in his little red flannel dressing-gown and his night-suit, and took refuge by the side of his father, knowing that he would not be sent back. “See the miseries of having a family!” said Tods' father, giving Tods three prunes, some water in a glass that had been used for claret, and telling him to sit still. Tods sucked the prunes slowly, knowing that he would have to go when they were finished, and sipped the pink water like a man of the world, as he listened to the conversation. Presently, the Legal Member, talking “shop,” to the Head of a Department, mentioned his Bill by its full name--“The Sub-Montane Tracts Ryotwari Revised Enactment.” Tods caught the one native word, and lifting up his small voice said:--“Oh, I know ALL about that! Has it been murramutted yet, Councillor Sahib?” “How much?” said the Legal Member. “Murramutted--mended.--Put theek, you know--made nice to please Ditta Mull!” The Legal Member left his place and moved up next to Tods. “What do you know about Ryotwari, little man?” he said. “I'm not a little man, I'm Tods, and I know ALL about it. Ditta Mull, and Choga Lall, and Amir Nath, and--oh, lakhs of my friends tell me about it in the bazars when I talk to them.” “Oh, they do--do they? What do they say, Tods?” Tods tucked his feet under his red flannel dressing-gown and said:--“I must fink.” The Legal Member waited patiently. Then Tods, with infinite compassion: “You don't speak my talk, do you, Councillor Sahib?” “No; I am sorry to say I do not,” said the Legal Member. “Very well,” said Tods. “I must fink in English.” He spent a minute putting his ideas in order, and began very slowly, translating in his mind from the vernacular to English, as many Anglo-Indian children do. You must remember that the Legal Member helped him on by questions when he halted, for Tods was not equal to the sustained flight of oratory that follows.