The baffled suitor reflected on his
miserable position. He had just eleven rupees and two pice left,
which he calculated would last him, with strict economy, for another
fortnight. When they were spent, he would have to return crestfallen
to Kadampur. But could he face the neighbours' sneers, the servants'
contumely--worse than all, his wife's bitter tongue? No, that was
not to be thought of. It were better to plunge into the river whose
turbid waters rolled only a few feet away.
Pulin was roused from this unpleasant train of thought by hearing
his name pronounced. It came from a well-dressed man, who was just
entering Messrs. Kerr & Dunlop's office, welcomed by a salam from the
surly doorkeeper. Pulin was delighted to recognise in the stranger
a certain Kisari Mohan Chatterji, who had taught him English in the
General Assembly's College more than a decade back. In a few words he
told his sad story and learnt that Kisari Babu had taken the same step
as he himself contemplated, with the result that he was now head clerk
in Messrs. Kerr & Dunlop's export department. This news augured well
for his own ambition, but poor Pulin was disgusted on hearing that no
less than three vacancies had occurred in as many weeks, and that all
had been filled by relatives of Babu Debnath Lahiri.
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