"X" caught his eye. The writer
thanked him profusely for his donation, and declared that the increase
of strength the Congress had acquired by having such a man within its
fold, was inestimable.

Alas, father Purnendu Sekhar! Was it to increase the strength of the
Congress, that you brought this wretch into the world?

Put the cloud of misfortune had its silver lining. That he was not a
mere cypher was clear from the fact that the Anglo-Indian community on
the one side and the Congress on the other were each waiting patiently,
eager to hook him, and land him on their own side. So Nabendu, beaming
with pleasure took the paper to his sister-in-law, and showed her the
letter. Looking as though she knew nothing about it, Labanya exclaimed
in surprise: "Oh, what a pity! Everything has come out! Who bore you
such ill-will? Oh, how cruel of him, how wicked of him!"

Nabendu laughed out, saying: "Now--now--don't call him names, Labanya. I
forgive him with all my heart, and bless him too."

A couple of days after this, an anti-Congress Anglo-Indian paper reached
Nabendu through the post. There was a letter in it, signed "One who
knows," and contradicting the above report. "Those who have the pleasure
of Babu Nabendu Sekhar's personal acquaintance," the writer went on,
"cannot for a moment believe this absurd libel to be true. For him to
turn a Congresswalla is as impossible as it is for the leopard to change
his spots. He is a man of genuine worth, and neither a disappointed
candidate for Government employ nor a briefless barrister. He is not one
of those who, after a brief sojourn in England, return aping our dress
and manners, audaciously try to thrust themselves on Anglo-Indian
society, and finally go back in dejection. So there is absolutely no
reason why Balm Nabendu Sekhar," etc., etc.

Ah, father Purnendu Sekhar! What a reputation you had made with the
Europeans before you died!

This letter also was paraded before his sister-in-law, for did it not
assert that he was no mean, contemptible scallywag, but a man of real
worth?

Labanya exclaimed again in feigned surprise: "Which of your friends
wrote it now? Oh, come--is it the Ticket Collector, or the hide
merchant, or is it the drum-major of the Fort?"

"You ought to send in a contradiction, I think," said Nilratan.

"Is it necessary?" said Nabendu loftily. "Must I contradict every little
thing they choose to say against me?"

Labanya filled the room with a de