e the dacoity. After recording
the complainant's statement, they endeavoured to secure additional
evidence, but Chandra Babu was so cordially disliked, and the dacoits'
vengeance so dreaded, that not a soul came forward to corroborate
his story. Karim was arrested, with half a dozen accomplices named
by Chandra Babu. They had no difficulty in proving that they were
attending a wedding ceremony five miles away on the night of the
alleged dacoity. So the case was reported to headquarters as false;
and Chandra Babu escaped prosecution for deceiving the police, by
giving a heavy bribe to the Sub-Inspector.

His evil star continued in the ascendant. About a week afterwards,
he discovered a heavy deficit in his cash book, kept by Santi Priya,
which that rascal failed to explain, and next day the trusty manager
did not attend office. Indeed he has never been heard of since. This
new calamity was Chandra Babu's "last straw". He hastened to realise
outstanding debts and left the village, bag and baggage, to the intense
relief of its inhabitants, who celebrated his exit by offering puja
or namaz (Mohammadan prayers) according to the religion they severally
professed.

CHAPTER V

All's Well That End's Well.

Every good Hindu feels bound to get his daughter or sister, as the
case may be, married before she attains puberty. Rich people find
little difficulty in securing suitable matches for their girls; but
Babu Jadunath Basu, widely known as "Jadu Babu," was not blessed with
a large share of this world's goods; and his sister Basumati was close
on her teens. The marriage-broker had certainly suggested more than
one aspirant for her hand, but they were not to Jadu Babu's liking. As
years rolled by, his anxiety deepened into despair. A match was at
length offered which was passably good, although it did not answer
Jadu Babu's expectations. He learnt from private inquiry that the boy
proposed bore a good character, never mixed with doubtful associates,
and had no constitutional defect. Hindu parents are very careful to
ascertain the health of a suitor, and should they suspect any inherited
disease, such as consumption, they reject him remorselessly. It must
not be supposed that such lads are always doomed to celibacy, for
their unsoundness may be hidden or counterbalanced by a substantial
money payment.

Jadu Babu found out that the boy had matriculated at Calcutta and
was attending the second year class at a Metropolitan C