Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/194

 use his discretion on account of extreme external pressure by men who spy him in turn, has no other go but to seek information from the maid-servant, the washerman, the scavenger, the betel-leaf vendor, the ghariwalla and others of wonderfullest understanding and based upon the information so traced build his castles in the air on a foundation of half and full lies. During times of great happenings when, for instance, a Viceroy or a Secretary of State visits the country, the brood of spies spontaneously grows and most obnoxiously chatters about your sorroundings. You may be admitted to an audience with the greatest worthy in the British Empire. Even a Local Government which smells danger in a lily may permit you to such an audience but still your guarding brood must not in the least be weakened. It strides across the road in curious costume and with more curious gait; it peeps into your window and peers at your writing table where friends from afar might have gathered; it whispers into your servant's ear, into your neighbour's ear, into your landlord's ear; it sometimes scares your visitor, it sometimes angers him; it haunts you like a useless burden always putting you in