I told him I had passed for one, and he opened his eyes and said did I speak the language, and would I say something in it. So without thinking I said the first words that came into my head: ‘Hamare ghali ana, achha din,’ which is what the harlots chant at passers-by, and means ‘Good day, come into our street’. He seemed very interested, but the man beside him stiffened and stared hard at me. ‘What does it mean, Mr Flashman?’ says the Queen. ‘It is a Hindu greeting, marm,’ says the Duke, and my guts turned over as I recalled that he had served in India.
