A week passed during which Pantulu's family settled back into the ordinary routine. Sooba was gratified by the performance of the widowing ceremonies; he felt to a certain degree revenged upon his unfortunate nephew. The adulation received from the visitors did something to restore his wounded vanity; but the disrespect shown by Dr. Wenaston's housekeeper was not yet atoned for; and his vindictiveness in that direction continued to smoulder. A second letter arrived from Gunga asking for news of Ananda. It contained a message that amounted to a parental order. Gunga desired her son to come to her at once. She suggested that by this time the popular feeling against him in the town would have subsided; and it would be quite safe for him to travel in the bullock coach which had taken her and her husband to their new home. She went into further detail about the proposed journey, and asked that some personal property should be forwarded by the conveyance that brought her son. Sooba read the letter aloud to his wife in his perplexity. "It means that my brother is worse and he wants to make one more appeal to his son," he commented. "You will have to tell him that Ananda is dead." "I shall do nothing of the kind--at present. It is strange that the well refuses to give up the body." "Not at all, husband. The gods have permitted the demon of the well to do its worst. Perhaps one day his bones may be brought to light; but we shall never see his body again." "As far as we are all concerned it would be a good thing if he were never seen again. It would solve the difficulty of funeral ceremonies," remarked Sooba complacently. "Does our sister say nothing about Dorama?" "Nothing at all." "If she knew she would ask for the jewels. You have them all safe?" "Perfectly safe." "Why not replace them in the family chest?" she asked, a touch of anxiety in her voice. "Because I choose to keep them myself." She was silent in spite of her uneasiness. She was aware that Sooba had not only taken possession of the jewels, but had also appropriated some of the money recently paid in by the middle-men who purchased the produce of Pantulu's estate. They brought rupee notes and took Sooba's receipt without a suspicion of anything wrong. Sooba himself saw no harm in his action. He was a little premature; but as it would all be his at no distant time there was nothing dishonest about it. "What answer shall you send?" "I shall say that we gave Ananda the punishment commanded by the swami, taking care not to be too severe." "It was very severe all the same. Sometimes I think that he may have crawled away into the jungle and died there." "Chah! woman! you babble like a fool!" retorted Sooba with irritation. "We are speaking now of what is to be said to our sister. In return for our leniency--for not having given him the full measure prescribed by the holy one----" "The men said that it was more than----"