Page:Tales of Bengal (S. B. Banerjea).djvu/165

Rh his mother administering a sharp slap which sent the child off bellowing loudly.

Hiramani remarked, "You ought not to beat him for so trivial a fault".

"That's a terrible boy," explained the mother. "He is up to all manner of tricks, and if he is not checked, he will grow up a regular Badmásh."

"God forbid!" remarked Hiramani; "but has he not been too cruelly used by his uncle? You must have noticed the welts on his naked back. I counted five as broad as my forefinger. How could a grown-up man torture a child like that?"—and she looked meaningly at her hostess.

The mother was evidently impressed by these words. She undertook to speak to Nalini about his treatment of her son. Hiramani was delighted to see that the poison was beginning to work. She went straight from the Basus' house to Debendra Babu and reported her success. He praised her warmly, presented her with a rupee, and offered further instructions.

Hiramani soon became a regular visitor of the Basu ladies. She lost no opportunity of poisoning the mind of Jadu Babu's wife, by retailing Nalini's iniquities. At the outset her insinuations were disregarded; but in time the elder wife fell so completely under Hiramani's influence as to accept her stories as