ABSTRACT
'Living in a house which is all Gothic arches, one realises the perfection of the Greeks in architecture,' wrote Sir Harcourt Butler during his first season at Naini Tal. Flowers grew splendidly at Naini Tal, and better than in the compound of Government House, not only in the beds and borders of the garden, but throughout the surrounding forest. Lady Reading had heard that Butler's establishment at Naini Tal was the most luxurious in India, a reputation well borne out by this visit, though her fashionable young secretary, Yvonne FitzRoy, reckoned Simla could teach Naini Tal a thing or two as regards dances. Like most hill stations, Naini Tal was not as healthy as might have been expected. The climate was cool, but also damp; it would rain for days on end, and for days everything would be shrouded in an ocean of mist.
