Page:Tales of Bengal (S. B. Banerjea).djvu/152

116 Nagendra Babu did not forget the Brahman's presumption and determined to teach him a lesson. So, one day, he sent him a written notice demanding the immediate payment of arrears of rent due for a few bighas (one-third of an acre) of land which Rámdá held on a heritable lease. As luck would have it the crops had failed miserably, and Rámdá was unable to discharge his debts. On receiving a more peremptory demand seven days later, he called on Nagendra Babu, whom he thus addressed:—

"Why, Nagen, what's the matter with you? You are plaguing me to death with notices, yet you must be aware that I can't pay you a pice at present."

"Thakur," replied Nagendra Babu in stern accents, "I will listen to none of your excuses. Do you mean to tell me that you decline to discharge your arrears?"

"I never said that," protested Rámdá; "but you must really wait till the beginning of next year. My cold weather crops are looking well; and"

"No, that won't do at all. If you do not pay up in a week, I will certainly have recourse to the civil court."

"Do so by all means if your sense of religion permits," rejoined Rámdá, leaving the parlour in smothered wrath.

When the week of grace had expired, Nagendra Babu filed a suit in the local Múnsiff's Court against