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THE WRECK

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nothing he could do was right in your eyes, so you needn't try to impress me with your superior wisdom. Now remember, if there's to be any scheming and plotting you'll have to do it all yourself; you needn't expect any help from me. I don't care for Nalinaksha, and there's an end of it."

As Jogendra and Akshay entered Annada's room together Hemnalini slipped out by the other door.

"She must have looked out of the window and seen us coming up the street," thought Akshay. He smiled and seated himself beside Annada, remarking as he helped himself to a cup of tea, "Nalinaksha's words go to the heart and the reason is that he speaks from the heart."

"He certainly has ability," said Annada Babu.

"Ability!" cried Akshay, "something more than that! Why, he's the saintliest character that walks the earth!"

Although Jogendra was a fellow-conspirator he could not help exclaiming, "For goodness' sake don't talk of saintly characters! Heaven preserve us from your saints!" And yet it was Jogendra who only the day before had lauded to the skies Nalinaksha's nobility of character, and had inveighed against his traducers as malevolent backbiters !

"Come, Jogendra," said his father, "you mustn't say things like that. Personally, I prefer to assume that people who are virtuous to outward appearance are virtuous at heart also. I may be mistaken in my judgement but surely that's better than to be constantly suspecting saintly people in the hope of preserving any reputation for sagacity that I may have.

"Nalinakslia didn't get his subject-matter at second- hand. He derived his material from his own spiritual experience, and I found his message a fresh and in- spiring one. A hypocrite can't produce a genuine ar- ticle. You couldn't tinker up an address like Nalin-

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