Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/500

---

books appropriate to that form, and every year, the kind-hearted Vidyasagar sent him the required books. Thus the boy deceived him continually for five years. A few days after books had been sent on for the last time, the Head Master of the Uttarpara School paid a visit to our hero. In course of conversation, Vidyasagar asked the visitor if he knew a certain boy of the name of __________ reading in the first class and how he fared with his studies. The visitor did not know the boy, and he said that there was no boy of that name either in his first or second class. Vidyasagar said in a humorous tone,—'You are a very good master, I see! The boy has been asking me for books for these five years on the representation of being promoted annually to the next higher class from the fifth to the first, and I have been sending him in the required books regularly to the address of your school, and yet you say, there is no boy of that name in your school. You do not seem to know all the boys.' The Head Master was somewhat abashed, and promised to make enquiries and let him know the result in no time. The next day, the Head Master enquired for the boy in all the classes from the highest down to the lowest, but failed to find him out. At last, it transpired that there was a bookseller of that name close to the school. On pressure being put to the man, he admitted that he had got the books fraudulently and disposed of them. The Head Master lost no time in informing