was a glass of
iced-water in front of her. The rolling soup plate upset the glass, and
the water and the glass and the plate all came down on Mrs. Fraser's
lap, the iced-water making her wet through and through. She was putting
on a muslin gown. She had to go and change. Mrs. Anderson at this point
got up and said that they would not spoil the Frasers' dinner by their
presence. She said that the curse of the Indian Fakir was on them and if
they stayed the Frasers would have to go without dinner. Naturally she
anticipated that some further difficulty would arise there when the next
dish was brought in. The Frasers protested loudly but she dragged Mr.
Anderson away. She had forgotten that she had had her lunch and her
husband had not.

While going in their motor car from Mr. Fraser's house to their own they
had to pass a bazaar on the way. In the bazar there was a sweetmeat
shop. Mr. Anderson, whose condition could be better imagined than
described asked his chauffeur to stop at the sweetmeat shop. It was a
native shop with a fat native proprietor sitting without any covering
upon his body on a low stool. As soon as he saw Mr. Anderson and his
wife he rushed out of his shop with joined palms to enquire what the
gentleman wanted. Mr. Anderson was evidently very popular with the
native tradesmen and shop-keepers.

This shop-keeper had special reason to know Mr. Anderson, as it was the
latter's custom to give a dinner to all his native workmen on Her
Majesty's birthday, and this particular sweetmeat vendor used to get the
contract for the catering. The birthday used to be observed in India on
the 24th May and it was hardly a fortnight that this man had received a
cheque for a pretty large amount from Mr. Anderson, for having supplied
Mr. Anderson's native workmen with sweets.

Naturally he rushed out of his shop in that humble attitude. But in
doing so he upset a whole dishful of sweets, and the big dish with the
sweets went into the road-side drain. All the same the man came up and
wanted to know the pleasure of the Saheb. Mr. Anderson told him that he
was very hungry and wanted something to eat. "Certainly, Huzoor" said
the Halwai (Indian Confectioner) and fussily rushed in. He brought out
some native sweets in a "_dona_" (cup made of leaves) but as misfortune
would have it Mr. Anderson could not eat anything.

There was any amount of petroleum in the sweets. How it got in there was
a mystery. Mr. Anderson asked his c