The mare and her groom were waiting on the Mall, and it was only when I got on her back that the consciousness visited me of something forgotten. It was my mission--to propose to take Armour, if he were ‘possible,’ to call upon the Harrises. Oh, well, he was possible enough; I supposed he possessed a coat, though he hadn’t been wearing it; and I could arrange it by letter. Meanwhile, as was only fair, I turned the mare in the direction of the drawing-room where I had reason to believe that Miss Dora Harris was quenching her impatience in tea. Chapter 2.IV. The very next morning I met Armour on my way to the office. He was ambling along on the leanest and most ill-groomed of bazaar ponies, and he wore a bowler. In Simla sun hats are admissible, straw hats are presentable, and soft felt hats are superior, but you must not wear a bowler. I might almost say that if one’s glance falls upon a bowler, one hardly looks further; the expectation of finding an acquaintance under it is so vain. In this instance, I did look further, fortunately, though in doing so I was compelled to notice that the bowler was not lifted in answer to my salutation. Of no importance in itself, of course, but betraying in Armour a certain lack of observation. I felt the Departmental Head crumble in me, however, as I recognized him, and I pulled the mare up in a manner which she plainly resented. It was my opportunity to do cautiously and delicately what I had omitted the afternoon before; but my recollection is that I was very clumsy. I said something about the dust, and he said something about the glare, and then I could think of nothing better than to ask him if he wouldn’t like to meet a few Simla people. ‘Oh, I know lots of people, thanks,’ he said. ‘It’s kind of you to think of it, all the same, but I’ve got any amount of friends here.’ I thought of Mr. Rosario, and stood, or sat confounded. The mare fidgeted; I knocked a beast of a fly off her, and so gained time. ‘This is my second season up here, you know.’ ‘Your second season!’ I exclaimed. ‘Where on earth have you been hiding?’ ‘Well, I didn’t exhibit last year, you see. I’d heard it was a kind of a toy show, so I thought I wouldn’t. I think now that was foolish. But I got to know quite a number of families.’ ‘But I am sure there are numbers that you haven’t met,’ I urged,’ or I should have heard of it.’ He glanced at me with a slight flush. ‘If you mean society people,’ he said, ‘I don’t care about that kind of thing, Mr. Philips. I’m not adapted to it, and I don’t want to be. If any one offered to introduce me to the Viceroy, I would ask to be excused.’ ‘Oh, the Viceroy,’ I responded, disrespectfully, ‘is neither here nor there. But there are some people, friends of my own, who would like very much to meet you.’