Subodh said—"Kindly take these and let me have in return your old chapkan and shamla, if you don't mind."
The veteran pleader began to see light. He burst out laughing and said—"Bravo Subodh, a fine idea this, to be sure."
"Thanks very much"—said Subodh.—"You see, the position is this. I am going to try my luck in a town where I am a perfect stranger. That alone is damaging enough. Added to this, if the clients were to see me clad in a new chapkan and shamla they would at once discover that I am only a raw recruit. Who do you think would come near me then?"
The vakil was much amused and said—"Quite right, Subodh, you are perfectly right. Let me assure you that you would rise in your profession—and that, quickly. We want such acute men at the bar—we really do."
Subodh returned home in high spirits with an old chapkan and shamla in his bag. With a view to further conceal his youthfulness, he next went to a Kaviraj and bought a phial of medicated oil for applying to his forelocks and turning the hair grey. But in a moment of weakness he confided the secret to his wife. The next day he heard that the cat had knocked the bottle down from the table where it stood and all the contents were spilt on the floor.
