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THE WRECK ;

that had been given him; but that did not disturb Umesh in the slightest. As he said himself, "If I could keep accounts correctly I shouldn't be here at all, I'd be bailiff of an estate, shouldn't I, grandpapa?"

Then Chakrabartti would put in a word. "Adjourn the case till after breakfast, Ramesh Babu; you'll be able to deliver a sound judgement then. For the moment I can't resist taking the boy's side. Umesh, my lad, the art of acquisition is no easy one and it's not many people that can practise it. Many try but few succeed. I know how to appraise talent when I find it, Ramesh Babu. This isn't the season for beans and I don't think there are many boys who would man- age to get you some so early in the morning in a strange place. Any one is capable of suspecting, sir; it's only one in a thousand who can acquire!"

Ramesh. "Now this isn't right, Uncle; you shouldn't take his side."

Chakrabartti. "He hasn't many talents and if we allow this one to run to waste for lack of encourage- ment we'll regret it before we leave this steamer. Look here, Umesh, I'll want some nim leaves to-morrow — the higher up the tree the better they are. I need something like that, my dear. They call me a physician — well, blow the physic, I'm wasting time ! Mind and wash the greens well, Umesh."

The more Ramesh suspected and scolded Umesh the closer was the boy drawn to Kamala. With the ad- herence of Chakrabartti Kamala's party became inde- pendent of Ramesh. Ramesh and his scruples were left out in the cold while Chakrabartti, Umesh, and Kamala worked and played together with mutual sym- pathy as the cement of their alliance. Chakrabartti, since his arrival, had infected Ramesh with some of the fervour of his devotion to Kamala, yet Ramesh could not go the length of enrolling himself among

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