The crescent moon following the sun to its setting shone in the luminous grey-green sky. That same moon faintly silvered the big grey dome of St. Paul's where the organ pealed and the choir sang the daily evensong. He calculated the time. It was about the hour for the service to begin. In spirit he was back again kneeling among the quiet worshippers, unnoticed but not despised, repeating the wonderful prayer to "Our Father" that all lips can utter no matter what the creed of the worshipper may be. How long he remained standing at the door he did not know. The smell of the savoury curry reached his nostrils, and appealed to a part of his nature that could not be ignored. There was no doubt but that he was desperately hungry; and the curry was food he had not tasted for some time past. It was one of the pleasures to which he was looking forward on his return home, as the Englishman thinks of the beefsteak. His mother prided herself on the excellence of her chutneys. In the dim light he could see that they had been dealt out with a liberal hand. Suddenly he remembered who had brought the food. It was the despised pariah. With a shudder he turned away as a European might have turned from carrion. He understood why the food had been prepared so carefully. It was not love but a refined cruelty that had prompted the serving up of such a curry. He flung himself into a chair and passed his hand over his eyes. The mud walls, unrelieved by whitewash looked black and murky. The tiled roof was open and without a ceiling. A fusty uncleanly scent of bats and squirrels offended him; and the rough wooden cot with its coarse black blankets was uninviting even to a weary man who longed for repose. His portmanteaux and suit case remained untouched where he had thrown them; he had not the heart to unpack and pull out the various little luxuries which from long use in England were a necessity in his daily routine. There was no dressing-table where brushes, combs, collar and stud boxes could lie; no washstand with spotless towel and pretty crockery to hold his sponge and soap. If he took off his coat, no wardrobe nor chest of drawers was provided for its reception. It must hang over the back of a chair until it was required again. The food, hot and steaming when it was brought, grew cold and less inviting. He could not leave it there all night; it must be moved if only to allow of the door being closed when he slept. Once more he went to the doorway, and this time called softly. Immediately the same man appeared. "Excellency! this slave is here." "Take away the food. It has been defiled by the hand of a sweeper and I cannot eat it." The man obeyed without a word. He returned and fell to the ground before Ananda.