Now Mr. Atkins was a great friend of Mr. Anderson.  They had known each other ever since Mr. Atkins’s arrival in India as a young member of the Civil Service.  That was over 20 years ago.  He had at first been in that district for over 7 years as an Assistant Commissioner and this time he was there for over 3 years as a Deputy Commissioner.  But Mr. Anderson was very hungry.  The story of Mr. Atkins had given him the second shock since the morning.  He, therefore, used language which no gentleman should have done; and with great vehemence threatened to prosecute Mr. Atkins for rash driving, etc.

Mr. Atkins was a very good-natured man.  He knew the temper of Mr. Anderson; but he had never been Anderson so angry before.  He therefore beat a hasty retreat, wondering whether Anderson had not gone mad.  He would not have told anybody what happened in Anderson’s offices if he had known the starving condition of the millionaire, but as it happened he repeated the fine language that Anderson had used, in the club that same evening.  Everybody who heard his story opined at he time that Anderson was clearly off his head.

Mr. Anderson and his wife were expected at the club, but they did not turn up.

When Mr. Atkins went home he got a letter from Anderson in which the latter had apologised for what he had said in the office that afternoon.

In the letter there was a sentence which was rather enigmatic: 

“If you know what I am suffering from, Atkins, you will be sorry for me, not angry with me—­I pray to God you may not suffer such—.”  The letter had evidently been written in great haste and had not been revised.  Mr. Atkins did not quite understand the matter; and he intended to look up Anderson the first thing next morning.  Mr. Atkins thought that Anderson had lost some of his money.  He knew that Anderson never speculated.  Still he might have suffered a heavy loss in one of his contracts.  He telephoned to Mr. Anderson at his house, but was informed by one of the servants that the master had gone out in his motor car at six in the evening and was not back till then.

Now let us see what happened to Mr. Anderson after he had left his office at about four in the afternoon.

He went home and expected some tea, but no tea arrived, though it was six.  The Khansama was in the hospital; the cook was called and he humbly offered the following explanation:  “As soon as Hazoor (Your Honour) came back I ordered the khidmatgar (the cook’s assistant) to put the kettle on the fire. (This is the ordinary duty of the khidmatgar).  There was a bright coal fire in the stove, and the khidmatgar put the kettle upon it.  The kettle should have boiled within five minutes, but it did not; your humble servant went to investigate the cause and found that there was no water in the kettle.  We put in some, but the kettle had in the meantime become nearly red-hot.  As soon as it came into contact with the cold water