and live in tolerable comfort. Observing that Rámdá was a frequent
visitor, Nagendra Babu hinted to his sister-in-law that, if she cared
for her reputation, she would not be so thick with him. She flared
up instantly. "I will talk to any of my friends I please," said she,
"and you shan't poke your nose into my affairs!"

"Very well," replied Nagendra angrily, "but you may rely on my making
it hot for that old scoundrel shortly!"

This threat was of course repeated to Rámdá, who merely laughed. As
far as he was concerned Nagendra might act as he pleased.

A few days afterwards the bailiff of Nagendra Babu's estate, known
as Lakhimpur, called on Rámdá with a verbal request that he should
surrender his ancestral tenure and, meeting with a curt refusal,
left the house threatening all sorts of evil consequences. Next
day, indeed, Rámdá received a notice from Nagendra Babu, calling
on him to show cause against the cancellation of his lease on the
ground that, by mismanaging the land, he had rendered it unfit for
cultivation. Rámdá called some of his neighbours together, to whom
he exhibited the document. They expressed the greatest indignation
and assured him that they would spend their last rupee in defending
his interests. Rámdá gave them a heartfelt blessing and promised a
divine reward for their sympathy.

Calling on Samarendra's widow the same day, he was distressed to
find that she had received a similar notice, which aimed at robbing
her of a small estate, on the ground that it had been surrendered
by her husband in part payment of his debt to Nagendra Babu. She
knew nothing of any such arrangement and assured Rámdá that, if the