ere thrown
in. The _mantra_ (charm) was in Sanskrit, the doctor who knew a little
of the language had taken great pains to compose it the night before and
even then it was not grammatically quite correct.

At last the party returned, but not on foot. The journey back was
performed in the carriages that had followed the patient and his doctor.
From that day the practice was followed regularly. The patient's health
began to improve and he began to regain his power of digestion fast. In
a month he was all right; but he never discontinued the practice of
going to the well and throwing in a basketful of flowers with his own
hands. He had also learnt the _mantra_ (the mystic charm) by heart; but
the doctor had sworn him to secrecy and he told it to nobody. Shoes with
felt sole were soon procured from England (it being 40 years before any
Indian Rope Sole Shoe Factory came into existence) and thus the
inconvenience of walking this distance bare-footed was easily obviated.

After a month's further stay the doctor came away from Agra having
earned a fabulous fee, and he always received occasional letters and
presents from his patient who never discontinued the practice of
visiting the well till his death about 17 years later.

"The three-mile walk is all that he requires" said the doctor to his
friends (among whom evidently my grand-father was one) on his return
from Agra, "and since he has got used to it now he won't discontinue
even if he comes to know of the deception I have practised on him--and I
have cured his indigestion after all."

The patient, of course, never discovered the fraud. He never gave the
matter his serious consideration. His friends, who were as ignorant and
prejudiced as he himself was, believed in the _ghost_ as much as he did
himself. The medical practitioners of Agra who probably were in the
Doctor's secret never told him anything--and if they had told him
anything they would probably have heard language from _Our patient_
that could not well be described as quite parliamentary, for they had
all tried to cure him and failed.

This series of stories will prove how much "imagination" works upon the
external organs of a human being.

If a person goes about with the idea that there is a ghost somewhere
about he will probably see the ghost in everything.

But has it ever struck the reader that sometimes horses and dogs do not
quite enjoy going to a place which is reputed to be haunted?

In a village