kite-flying, and other amusements. At the same time he took to smoking tobacco and charas, as well as to drinking brandy. One day he and his companions were taken up by the police for gambling in a house of ill-fame. They were all convicted and imprisoned, except Mati Lal himself, who got off through the masterly way in which Miyáján Miyá, an old friend of his father, proved an alibi. However, this occurrence put an end to Mati Lal’s English studies, and he at once returned home and soon afterwards happily married.
In the meantime the younger brother Ram Lal grew up, and followed a totally different path under the care of Baradá Babu, an intelligent and cultivated man. He took kindly to his books, behaved well to his father and other relatives, had a courteous demeanour towards all he met, and was in fact a model of all that a boy should be. But, for some reason or other, Baburam and his friends disapproved of this sort of thing, and determined to get rid of Baradá Babu. The natural way to do this was a criminal charge. So, with the assistance of Miyáján Miyá, a serious charge was made against the unoffending Baradá Babu, who would have paid dearly for his folly in neglecting to fee the amlah, if he had not known English and so been able to put the facts clearly before the magistrate. For when the magistrate had heard so much of the evidence as he could listen to without neglecting his cigar, his newspaper and his private chits, the sherishtadar strongly urged a conviction, and nothing but his knowledge of English saved Baradá Babu and gained him an acquittal.
About this time Baburám Babu, who is a Kulin of high family, receives an offer of marriage likely to bring some money into his pocket, and at once closes with the proposal. Though Mati Lal’s mother, a virtuous and affectionate wife, was still living, Baburám married again, and dying soon afterwards, he left two widows, one of them a mere child. Mati Lal now succeeded to the gadi, and celebrated his father’s sraddh in the right fashion. Henceforth, he gave himself up to pleasure, spending money like water on sensual enjoyments of all kinds. His mother remonstrates and receives a blow for her pains, and is obliged to leave the house with her daughter, much to the delight of Mati Lal.
At length, as might have been expected, Mati Lal comes to grief, and is sold up by his creditors. He leaves home, and having arrived in the course of his wanderings at the city of Benares, he fails in with one of the learned pundits of the place, who works his reformation. There, too, he meets his mother and sister and Barada Babu, who make it up with the repentant sinner, return home with him, and live happily ever after.
