The soup was the first thing brought in and the trouble began as soon as it came.  Captain Fraser’s Khansama was an old hand at his business, but somehow he made a mess of things.  He got so nervous about what he himself could not explain that he upset a full plate of soup that he had brought for Mr. Anderson not exactly on his head, but on his left ear.

Well the reader would understand the situation.  There was a plateful of hot soup on Mr. Anderson’s left ear.  The soup should have got cold, because it had waited long for the Captain’s return from the club, but the cook had very prudently warmed it up again and it had become very warm indeed.  Mr. Anderson shouted and the Khansama let go the plate.  It fell on the table in front of Mr. Anderson on its edge and rolled on.  Next to Mr. Anderson was Mrs. Fraser, and there was a glass of iced-water in front of her.  The rolling soup plate upset the glass, and the water and the glass and the plate all came down on Mrs. Fraser’s lap, the iced-water making her wet through and through.  She was putting on a muslin gown.  She had to go and change.  Mrs. Anderson at this point got up and said that they would not spoil the Frasers’ dinner by their presence.  She said that the curse of the Indian Fakir was on them and if they stayed the Frasers would have to go without dinner.  Naturally she anticipated that some further difficulty would arise there when the next dish was brought in.  The Frasers protested loudly but she dragged Mr. Anderson away.  She had forgotten that she had had her lunch and her husband had not.

While going in their motor car from Mr. Fraser’s house to their own they had to pass a bazaar on the way.  In the bazar there was a sweetmeat shop.  Mr. Anderson, whose condition could be better imagined than described asked his chauffeur to stop at the sweetmeat shop.  It was a native shop with a fat native proprietor sitting without any covering upon his body on a low stool.  As soon as he saw Mr. Anderson and his wife he rushed out of his shop with joined palms to enquire what the gentleman wanted.  Mr. Anderson was evidently very popular with the native tradesmen and shop-keepers.

This shop-keeper had special reason to know Mr. Anderson, as it was the latter’s custom to give a dinner to all his native workmen on Her Majesty’s birthday, and this particular sweetmeat vendor used to get the contract for the catering.  The birthday used to be observed in India on the 24th May and it was hardly a fortnight that this man had received a cheque for a pretty large amount from Mr. Anderson, for having supplied Mr. Anderson’s native workmen with sweets.

Naturally he rushed out of his shop in that humble attitude.  But in doing so he upset a whole dishful of sweets, and the big dish with the sweets went into the road-side drain.  All the same the man came up and wanted to know the pleasure of the Saheb.  Mr. Anderson told him that he was very hungry and wanted something to eat.  “Certainly, Huzoor” said the Halwai (Indian Confectioner) and fussily rushed in.  He brought out some native sweets in a “dona” (cup made of leaves) but as misfortune would have it Mr. Anderson could not eat anything.