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c/o The Chartered Bank, Australia and China Bombay. July 9th 1925
From Capt J.B. Molony I.M.
Dear Sir,
I put my name at the top of this as I feel quite sure that you could not read my signature, and, failing to red it, might think it was a fake. I write to ask you to clear up something that has been worrying me ever since reading The Three Hostages. Sandy, I write from memory not having the book by me, was very quick in picking up an obscure quotation, but, he made a dangerous mistake in calling on Allah what disguised as a Guru. You may remember that Kim made a similar mistake when under thee emotions, and was told off for it by Hurree Chunder. Not being quite sure about it, I referred the whole question about Kharama to my Brahmin I.C. who is a Sanscrit scholar and also a reader of Dickens. He would not allow the last "a" but one to have an accent, but said that Kharama would do very well as a pet name for a child, if pronounced quite short: Kharma both a's like the u in "but". When he grew up to a man he would have to be called Kharam, both a'sagain short". Again a Guru is a Hindu teacher not necessarily a Yogi. E.H.A. in Behind the Bungalow, again I write from memory, gives Guru as the Hindu equivalent of the Mahoedan Munshi. His name and his title both make Kharama a Hindu. Sandy's error, if it was Sandy's might very well have given the whole show away to his very acute enemy. Can you Sir reassure me that the sllp was not detected? Seriously though I wish to give you thanks for the many very happy hours your books have given me, hours so pleasant that I dare to hope you will forgive me, a stranger, for writing to you in this way
