Page:Stories of Bengalee life - Prabhat Kumar Mukerji.pdf/24

12 "It doesn't matter, Jagat. I am going to do something which will certainly have the effect of bringing me to the prominent notice of Mr. Fuller. That will go a long way towards the attainment of my desire."

Jagat Babu looked very grave. After a moment's reflection he said—"Don't be a lunatic. The whole country has determined not a welcome him; will you alone do it? Like a traitor to your country, will you act against the wishes of our political leaders, from motives of self-interest?"

Subodh replied—"Jagat, you are talking like a school-boy. Here I am, rotting away for four years at Dinajshahi, selling my wife's jewels to buy my bread; have the 'political leaders' ever enquired of me, whether there was anything in my house for to-morrow's dinner? Do you know, I cannot afford to buy a sufficient supply of milk for my little ones—only the youngest born has a seer of milk every day and my wife feeds the others with a kind of porridge made of boiled sooji mixed with sugar. No house-maid stays long, for they are never paid their wages regularly. My wife's hands are getting tough and bony by doing constant house-work. If I get an opportunity of doing something for myself, why shouldn't I? If I can obtain a Government Pleadership by humouring this new Assam Government a little, where is