the same moment and he saw me. Quick as thought he raced upstairs,
flung the windows open and began to pull the covers off the bird-
cages; but I came in before the operation could be finished. In the
interests of common morality I thought it best to eject him from the
premises before he had time to frame a lie. About a week after this
I received a petition, signed with his mark, recounting his faithful
services, expressing his surprise and regret at the sudden and
unprovoked manner in which I had dismissed him, and insinuating that
some enemy or rival had poisoned my benevolent mind against him. He
concluded by demanding satisfaction. I wonder what has become of him
since.

I have said that there is a vein of depravity in the dog-boy, but
there must be a compensating vein of worth of some kind, an Ormuzd
which in the end often triumphs over Ahriman. The influences among
which he developes do little for him. At home he is certainly
subject to a certain rugged discipline; his mother throws stones at
him when she is angry, and his father, when he can catch him, gives
him a cudgeling to be remembered. But when he leaves the parental
roof he passes from all this and is left to himself. Some masters
treat him in a parental spirit and chastise him when he deserves it,
and the Boy tyrannizes over him and twists his ear, but on the whole
he grows as a tree grows. And yet how often he matures into a most
respectable and trustworthy man!



THE GHORAWALLA, OR SYCE