Page:Works of Tagore from the Modern Review, 1909-24 Segment 1.pdf/18

24 Navendu through the post. There was a letter in it signed "One who knows"—contradicting the above report. "Those who have the pleasure of Babu Navendu Sekhar's personal acquaintance"—the writer went on—"cannot for a moment believe this absurd libel to be true. For him to turn a Congresswalla is as impossible as it is for the leopard to change his spots. He is a man of genuine worth and neither a disappointed candidate for Government employ nor a briefless pleader. He is not one of those who after a brief sojourn in England, return aping our dress and manners, audaciously try to thrust themselves on Anglo-Indian society and finally go back in dejection. So there is absolutely no reason why Babu Navendu Sekhar," &c, &c.

Ah, father Purnendu Sekhar!—What a reputation you had made with the Europeans before you died!

This correspondence also was fit to be paraded before his sister-in-law, for did it not assert that he was no mean, contemptible scallywag—but a man of real worth?

Labanya exclaimed again in feigned surprise—"Which of your friends wrote it now? Oh come—is it the Ticket Collector or the hide merchant or is it the drum-major of the Fort?"

"You ought to send in a contradiction, I think"—said Nilratan.

"Is it necessary?"—said Navendu loftily—"Must I contradict every little thing they choose to say against me?"

Labanya filled the room with a deluge of laughter. Nevendu felt a little disconcerted at this and said—"Why? What's the matter?" She went on laughing, unable to check herself, and her youthful slender form waved to and fro. This torrent of jollity had the effect of overthrowing Navendu completely and he said in pitiable accents—"Do you imagine that I am afraid to contradict it?"

"Oh dear, no"—said Labanya—"I was thinking that you haven't yet ceased trying to save that racecourse of yours, so full of promise. While there is life there is hope, you know."

"That's what I am afraid of, you think, do you? Very well, you shall see"—said Navendu desperately and forthwith sat down to write his contradiction. When he finished, Labanya and Nilratan read it through and said—"It isn't strong enough. We must give it them pretty hot, mustn't we?"—and they kindly undertook to revise the composition. It ran—"When one connected to us by ties of blood turns our enemy he becomes far more dangerous than any outsider can possibly be. To the Government of India, the haughty Anglo-Indians are worse enemies than the Russians or the frontier Pathans themselves—they are the impenetrable barrier, for ever hindering the growth of any bond of friendship between the Government and people of the country. It is the Congress which has opened up the royal road to a better understanding between the rulers and the ruled and these Anglo-Indian papers have planted themselves like thorns across the whole breadth of that road," &c. &c.

Navendu had an inward fear as to the mischief this letter might create but at the same time felt elated at the excellence of its composition which he fondly imagined to be his own. It was duly published and for some days comments, replies and rejoinders went on in various newspapers and the air was full of the trumpet-notes proclaiming the fact of Navendu's having joined the Congress and the amount of his subscription.

Navendu had now grown desperate and talked as though he was a patriot of the most furious type. Labanya laughed inwardly and said to herself—"Well—well—you have to pass through the ordeal of fire yet."

One morning when Navendu, preparatory to his bath, had finished rubbing oil over his chest and was trying various devices to reach the inaccessible portions of his back, the bearer brought in a card inscribed with the name of the District Magistrate himself! Good heavens!—What would he do? He could not possibly go and receive the Magistrate Sahib, in his present oil-besmeared coditioncondition [sic]. He shook and twitched like a koi-fish, ready dressed for the frying pan. He finished his bath in a great hurry, tugged on his clothes somehow and ran breathlessly to the outer apartments. The bearer said that the Sahib had just left after waiting for a long time.—What portion of the sin for concocting this drama of totally false in-