asked for another, which was brought to him secretly. It had a showy
label reading, "Exshaw No. 1 Cognac". Nagendra Babu's conscience
accused him of disobeying the Shástras; but the die was cast. He
could no longer exist without a daily dose of the subtle poison;
and gradually increased it to a tumblerful, forgetting to add water.

His faithful wife did her best to wean him from the fatal habit. She
even ventured to abstract his brandy bottle and dilute its contents. On
being detected, she underwent a personal correction which was not
soon forgotten. The poor creature, indeed, underwent every sort of
humiliation from her worthless husband, which she bore in silence,
hoping that time would bring him to his senses.

Drunken men are proverbially cunning. After brooding long over
his supposed grievances Nagendra matured a scheme of revenge. He
intercepted Rámdá, one afternoon, on his way to visit Samarendra's
widow, and, affecting sincere penitence for the injury he had
endeavoured to work, he invited the unsuspecting Brahman into
his sitting-room. Once inside, he suddenly thrust a brass vessel
into his visitor's hand and dragged him into the yard, shouting
"Thief! thief!" The Lakhimpur bailiff, who was sitting on the
verandah, also laid hands on Rámdá and, with the aid of two up-country
servants, he was dragged to the police station, too bewildered to
resist. On their way thither they met one of Nagendra's neighbours
named Harish Chandra Pál, who stopped them and asked what was the
matter. On learning particulars of the charge, he saw how the land
lay, and resolved to defeat an infamous plot. So waiting till the
little crowd was out of sight, he ran back to Nagendra's house and
whispered to him that the bailiff had sent for more property, in order
that the case against Rámdá might look blacker. Nagendra handed him a