WHAT UNCLE SAW.


This story need not have been written. It is too sad and too mysterious,
but since reference has been made to it in this book, it is only right
that readers should know this sad account.

* * * * *

Uncle was a very strong and powerful man and used to boast a good deal
of his strength. He was employed in a Government Office in Calcutta. He
used to come to his village home during the holidays. He was a widower
with one or two children, who stayed with his brother's family in the
village.

Uncle has had no bed-room of his own since his wife's death. Whenever he
paid us a visit one of us used to place his bed-room at uncle's
disposal. It is a custom in Bengal to sleep with one's wife and children
in the same bed-room. So whenever Uncle turned up I used to give my
bed-room to him as I was the only person without children. On such
occasions I slept in one of the "Baithaks" (drawing-rooms). A Baithak is
a drawing-room and guest-room combined.

In rich Bengal families of the orthodox style the "Baithak" or "Baithak
khana" is a very large room generally devoid of all furniture, having a
thick rich carpet on the floor with a clean sheet upon it and big
_takias_ (pillows) all around the wall. The elderly people would sit on
the ground and lean against the _takias_; while we, the younger lot, sat