Come to me ! Now I will pay for a stamp and put it in the post . He rose to go , and as an afterthought asked : ` Who is that angry-faced Sahib who lost the cheroot-case ? ' ` Oh , he is only Creighton Sahib -- a very foolish Sahib , who is a Colonel Sahib without a regiment . ' ` What is his business ? ' ` God knows . He is always buying horses which he can not ride , and asking riddles about the works of God -- such as plants and stones and the customs of people . The dealers call him the father of fools , because he is so easily cheated about a horse . Mahbub Ali says he is madder than most other Sahibs . ' ` Oh ! ' said Kim , and departed . His training had given him some small knowledge of character , and he argued that fools are not given information which leads to calling out eight thousand men besides guns . The Commander-in-Chief of all India does not talk , as Kim had heard him talk , to fools . Nor would Mahbub Ali 's tone have changed , as it did every time he mentioned the Colonel 's name , if the Colonel had been a fool . Consequently -- and this set Kim to skipping -- there was a mystery somewhere , and Mahbub Ali probably spied for the Colonel much as Kim had spied for Mahbub . And , like the horse-dealer , the Colonel evidently respected people who did not show themselves to be too clever . He rejoiced that he had not betrayed his knowledge of the Colonel 's house ; and when , on his return to barracks , he discovered that no cheroot-case had been left behind , he beamed with delight . Here was a man after his own heart -- a tortuous and indirect person playing a hidden game . Well , if he could be a fool , so could Kim . He showed nothing of his mind when Father Victor , for three long mornings , discoursed to him of an entirely new set of Gods and Godlings -- notably of a Goddess called Mary , who , he gathered , was one with Bibi Miriam of Mahbub Ali 's theology .
He XXXXX no emotion when , after the lecture , Father Victor dragged him from shop to shop buying articles of outfit , nor when envious drummer-boys kicked him because he was going to a superior school did he complain , but awaited the play of circumstances with an interested soul .
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