that the house is mortgaged? Do they suppose that the creditor will throw his money into the Ganges? Well, I am only acting upon his wish; let them go away at once, or shall I have to put them out by the scuff of the neck?'" The two women trembled all over with fright when they heard this. The house was soon full of the noise made by the men who were breaking in the front door: a crowd of people too had collected in the street. Bancharam was ostentatiously ordering the men to hammer at the door, and was gesticulating and saying: "No one can possibly prevent me from taking possession: I am not a child that I can be easily trifled with: it is the order of the Court: I will force an entry into the house: is a gentleman who has advanced money on the house to be called a thief? What wrong is being done? Let the members of the family depart at once." A great crowd had now collected, and some of the people were very angry, and exclaimed: "Ho, Bancharam! No baser wretch exists on earth than you: by your counsel you have ruined this house altogether. You have had heaps of money out of this family by your long-continued malpractices, and now you are turning the household adrift: why the very sight of your face would render it necessary to perform the Chandrayan penance: no place will be found for you even in hell." Bancharam paid no heed to their remarks; and when he had at last burst in the door, he rushed into the house, with the sergeant of police, and went into the zenana.
Just at that moment, Matilall's wife and his stepmother, taking hold of the hands of the old woman, and wiping the tears from their eyes, as they exclaimed, "Oh, Lord God, protect these poor helpless women!" went out of the house by the back door. Matilall's wife then said, "Friends, we are women of good family: we are utterly
