upon the takias and leaned against the wall which in the case of the
particular room in our house was covered with some kind of yellow paint
which did not come off on the clothes.

Sometimes a _takia_ would burst and the cotton stuffing inside would
come out; and then the old servant (his status is that of an English
butler, his duty to prepare the hookah for the master) would give us a
chase with a _lathi_ (stick) and the offender would run away, and not
return until all incriminating evidence had been removed and the old
servant's wrath had subsided.

Well, when Uncle used to come I slept in the "Baithak" and my wife slept
somewhere in the zenana, I never inquired where.

On this particular occasion Uncle missed the train by which he usually
came. It was the month of October and he should have arrived at 8 P.M.
My bed had been made in the Baithak. But the 8 P.M. train came and
stopped and passed on and Uncle did not turn up.

So we thought he had been detained for the night. It was the Durgapooja
season and some presents for the children at home had to be purchased
and, we thought, that was what was detaining him. And so at about 10
P.M. we all retired to bed. The bed that had been made for me in the
"Baithak" remained there for Uncle in case he turned up by the 11 P.M.
train. As a matter of fact we did not expect him till the next morning.

But as misfortune would have it Uncle did arrive by the 11 o'clock
train.

All the house-hold had retired, and though the old servant suggested