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away from the stately Zemindari Mansion, and situated in a secluded part of the town, was Gokul Das's humble residence. He went thence to the Zemindari House every morning after an early meal, and passed the whole day there, superintending the business of the estate. Late in the evening, and sometimes after the lamps had been lighted in the Bazaar, the weary worker returned home on foot, as he went to office. He affected extreme humility, and only a few retainers, secretly armed, attended him on his way to the office and back. And thus the man who issued orders to every agent and received information from every spy, and who was the virtual master of the vast estates of Birnagar and Debipur, lived in a humble mud house thatched with rice straw and surrounded by a common fence.

There was a brick-built room in the outer courtyard, where Gokul Das received visitors, and occasionally held consultations on the affairs of the estate. Behind the courtyard were the inner apartments, a large hut serving as bedroom, two or three smaller huts, and a humble shed for cooking, all so arranged as to enclose the inner quadrangle. And behind this quadrangle again lay some waste land with a few fruit trees, but mostly covered with jungle. This was, and still is, the type of Hindu houses, both among the rich and among the poor, in towns as well as in