elings and merely remarked that he would not leave
Calcutta till the mortgage was settled. Next morning he insisted on
Hari Babu accompanying him to Gopal's house at Entally. They found the
debtor apparently in high spirits, although he admitted that certain
speculations had turned out badly. When pressed by Sham Babu to repay
the loan, he asked for time, pleading that his whole capital was locked
up. Sham Babu, however, was obdurate, and with his brother-in-law's
help he brought such pressure to bear on Gopal that the latter sulkily
agreed to give him a mortgage on an ancestral estate in the Mufassil
(interior of Bengal). Sham Babu stuck closely to him until the bargain
had been fulfilled, and managed matters so expeditiously that the
mortgage deed was drawn up, executed, and registered in a week. Though
he had now something tangible to rely on in case of accidents still
he was not happy, for Gopal discontinued paying interest on the loan
and he did not dare to press him, lest he should precipitate a crash.

Misfortunes never come singly. Soon after settling this unpleasant
affair, Sham Babu was laid low by fever; and doctor's bills trenched
sadly on his slender resources. Susil, too, the hope of the family,
caught a mysterious disease and was absent from office so long that his
employers were obliged to replace him. For the first time in his life,
the poor old father felt the pinch of want, but he bore up bravely
hoping for better times. When he was able to crawl about again, he
applied to his old employers for work of any kind, but learnt to his
sorrow that they intended winding up the business and were not able
to increase their establishment. Sham Babu scanned the advertisement
columns of the daily paper and answered many offers of employment,
learning, on each occasion, that he was far too old to fill the
coveted post.

One evening he sat in his parlour brooding over the many misfortunes
which encompassed him. A distant connection named Srish Babu came in
and, hearing that his host sorely needed work, said:--

"I am going to start a business in country produce and shall want
several experienced clerks. I must provide for relatives first and
strangers afterwards. Now, would you be inclined to come to me as
manager, on Rs. 75 a month to begin with?"

Sham Babu jumped at the offer, which would restore him to comparative
affluence, and it was agreed that he should enter on his new duties
in three weeks. A month