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146 as they were before; and at the top she placed the presents, together with the banknote which she had brought for him.

The next day the boy was nowhere to be found. The villagers had not seen him; the police could discover no trace of him. Said Sharat: “ Now, as a matter of curiosity, let us have a look at his box.” But Kiran was obstinate in her refusal to allow that to be done.

She had the box brought up to her own room; and taking out the inkstand alone, she threw it into the river.

The whole family went home. In a day the garden became desolate. And only that starving mongrel of Nilkanta’s remained prowling along the river-bank, whining and whining as if its heart would break.

favourite. A certain number of words such as honour, colour, favour, ardour, fervour have come into English through the French from the Latin. There is a constant tendency to-day in modern English to leave out the letter “ u ” and spell color, favor, etc. But this movement has not yet gained much ground in England.

wiseacres. This form originally comes from the Dutch. The ending “ acres ” is a corruption of the Dutch “ seggen ” which is the same as the English to say. The word is equivalent to “ wise-sayers.”

deign. This is a word which comes through the French