Dear Shizen Ozawa, I have not seen any replies to your questions on The City of Dreadful Night chapters in From Sea to Sea Vol ll, nor to your query about the background of pupils attending the USC, so I hope the answers below may help. Kipling's ambiguity about Mrs D's origins stems from the reply he puts into the mouth of the policeman who answers 'Yes' to the reporter's question 'Isn't that a European woman at that door', only to follow it with a statement that she was a Eurasian. In his subsequent commentary on her behaviour, Kipling's criticism of Mrs D's behaviour is as a white woman but it is difficult to tell whether this was because of her blood or because she was a widow of 'a soldier of the Queen'. I suspect that even if she was truly Eurasian, her appearance was so European that Kipling could not avoid expressing his sense of outrage. As to a 'powder ball', fancy dress balls with an historic theme were extremely popular in English high society in the 1880s. The eighteenth century was a favourite period and lavish costumes were made or hired for each occasion with both men and women wearing powdered wigs, hence a 'powder ball'. You may well find photographs of titled ladies and gentlemen attending such a ball in magazines such as the Illustrated London News. What Kipling means by saying that he met Lucia's ghost at a powder ball is, that he met a girl of Lucia's age at a fancy dress ball wearing eighteenth century clothes such as Lucia might have worn. Lastly, your question as to how many of the pupils at the United Services College in Kipling's day were Anglo-Indian? I take it that you use Anglo-Indian in the sense that it was used at the time, that is English (actually British) living in India. The census of 3 April 1881 lists 129 'scholars' for the USC, including Joseph R. Kipling, aged 15, and gives their place of birth. 65 were born in Great Britain and Ireland, 52 in India, 11 in other countries and one at sea. Almost all the surnames are clearly British apart from one or two of French or German origin. While many of those born in India would have had fathers in the Indian Army, maybe more would have been born to fathers in the British Army stationed in India. These last would have objected to being called Anglo-Indians, so the term should be used with caution. The Census reference in the Family Record Centre, London, is RG11, Piece 2260, Folio 44, Page 11. The school is not identified by name but by the building it occupied, known then as Kingsley College Priory. It is fascinating to look through, as the masters' names are also there, as well as some college servants mentioned in Stalky & Co., such as William Oak and Helena (Lena) Gumbley. The Census is also available on CD Rom from the Church of the Latter Day Saints, but the USC entries have been particularly badly transcribed and a high proportion of names are mis-spelt, incuding Kipling's, which appears as 'KITSLING'. The original writing is poor, but not as bad as that. Yours Sincerely, Roger Ayers Membership Secretary, The Kipling Society, 295 Castle Road, Salisbury, SP3 3SB, England