Page:The Spoilt Child.djvu/154

 and they let their patients die in their houses. We ought not to dismiss the kabiraj altogether: on the contrary, let the kabiraj and the doctor each take up a special feature of the case."

"We can take that matter into consideration afterwards" Beni Babu said, "go now, Barada Babu, and fetch a doctor."

Barada Babu started off for Calcutta at once, without taking either his bath or his food, though they all remonstrated: "Sir, you have the whole day before you, take a mouthful of food before you start." He only replied: "If I stop to do that there will be delay, and all my trouble may go for nought."

Baburam Babu, as he lay on his bed, kept asking where Matilall was, but it was hard to get a glimpse of even the top tuft of his hair: he was always out on picnics with his boon companions, and paid no heed to his father's illness. Beni Babu observing this conduct sent a servant out to Matilall in the garden, but he only sent back some feigned excuse; he had a very bad headache, and would come home later on. As the fever left Baburam Babu about two o'clock in the afternoon, his pulse became exceedingly weak: the kabiraj examining it, said: "The master must be removed from the house at once. He is a man of long experience, an old man, and a man highly respected; and we ought certainly to ensure that his end be a happy one." On hearing this the whole household broke out into loud lamentations, and all his kinsmen and neighbours assisted in carrying him into the great hall of the house. Just then Barada Babu arrived with the English doctor. The latter, observing the state of his pulse, remarked. "You have called me in at the last moment: how can a doctor possibly be of any use if you only summon him just before taking a patient to the Ganges[30]?" With these words he departed.