Hurree Babu replied that he was no more than an inexpert dabbler in the mysteries ; but at least -- he thanked the Gods therefore -- he knew when he sat in the presence of a master . He himself had been taught by the Sahibs , who do not consider expense , in the lordly halls of Calcutta ; but , as he was ever first to acknowledge , there lay a wisdom behind earthly wisdom -- the high and lonely lore of meditation . Kim looked on with envy . The Hurree Babu of his knowledge -- oily , effusive , and nervous -- was gone ; gone , too , was the brazen drug-vendor of overnight . There remained -- polished , polite , attentive -- a sober , learned son of experience and adversity , gathering wisdom from the lama 's lips . The old lady confided to Kim that these rare levels were beyond her . She liked charms with plenty of ink that one could wash off in water , swallow , and be done with . Else what was the use of the Gods ? She liked men and women , and she spoke of them -- of kinglets she had known in the past ; of her own youth and beauty ; of the depredations of leopards and the eccentricities of love Asiatic ; of the incidence of taxation , rack-renting , funeral ceremonies , her son-in-law -LRB- this by allusion , easy to be followed -RRB- , the care of the young , and the age 's lack of decency . And Kim , as interested in the life of this world as she soon to leave it , squatted with his feet under the hem of his robe , drinking all in , while the lama demolished one after another every theory of body-curing put forward by Hurree Babu . At noon the Babu strapped up his brass-bound drug-box , took his patent-leather shoes of ceremony in one hand , a gay blue-and-white umbrella in the other , and set off northwards to the Doon , where , he said , he was in demand among the lesser kings of those parts . ` We will go in the cool of the evening , chela , ' said the lama . ` That doctor , learned in physic and courtesy , affirms that the people among these lower hills are devout , generous , and much in need of a teacher . In a very short time -- so says the hakim -- we come to cool air and the smell of pines . ' ` Ye go to the Hills ? And by Kulu road ? Oh , thrice happy ! ' shrilled the old lady . ` But that I am a little pressed with the care of the homestead I would take palanquin ... but that would be shameless , and my reputation would be cracked . Ho !
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Asiatic Calcutta Doon Gods Ho Kim hakim overnight palanquin rack-renting