Page:Stories of Bengalee life - Prabhat Kumar Mukerji.pdf/74

62 himself was a staunch Swadeshi and held shares worth two hundred rupees in the Swadeshi Stores in question.

The Khansama of the Dak Bungalow was next examined. He deposed that the tea-planter had thrown a biscuit-tin at the head of his servant who fell down on a heap of rubbish and sustained injuries. He was positive that when the servant returned from the bazar he had no injuries on his person at all. In cross-examination he admitted that the pleader Babus were his occasional customers, ordering roast fowl and cutlets to be cooked, and that the servants of these Babus came to fetch the things away after nightfall. That was a source of some profit to him.

The case then closed and the arguments were heard. It was ordered that the judgment would be delivered that day week.

In the meantime the Deputy Babu was seen paying two or three calls to the District Magistrate at his kothi. People began to whisper to each other that these visits presaged evil.

On the day the judgment was due, Nagendra Babu's ejlash room was crowded to suffocation. A large number of school boys had attended. There were others also, eager to know the result.