Page:Stories of Bengalee life - Prabhat Kumar Mukerji.pdf/50



ABU Nagendra Nath was on a visit to his father-in-law in Calcutta during the Christmas holidays. He was a Deputy Magistrate in Eastern Bengal and Assam, recently transferred to the sudder station of Faridsing district. When leaving his last station he left his wife and children with his father-in-law, and has now availed himself of the holidays to fetch them to Faridsing.

Calcutta, during the present Christmas, was full of bustle and enthusiasm. The Indian National Congress was to hold its sittings shortly. The Industrial Exhibition had already opened.

Nagendra Babu's father-in-law, a retired Subordinate Judge, lived at Bhowanipur. He had three sons;—the eldest was a vakil of the High Court; the second, an assistant in a Government office; the youngest did not do anything in particular,—he was frequently seen delivering speeches at public meetings.

Nagendra Babu was twenty-seven and has been a Deputy Magistrate for five years. His