Some people, on account of his strange decision during the last political riots to take refuge with his family and most valuable possessions in the Daulatpur fort, called him a 'traitor.' But everyone was afraid of him, and, even those who did not respect him, humbly joined their hands to greet him as 'Rai Bahadur Sahib' whenever he passed by with his rickety tonga and the flea-bitten horse driven by his son. He vaguely saw through their attitude of feigned flattery and would have gone away to live outside the city in one of his three bungalows if these had not brought in good rents from the Englishmen who lived in them. And Lady Todar Mal, being illiterate and not well-versed in European modes of living, would have found it rather un- congenial to reside among English people in the civil lines and would have missed the opportunities for gossip and an occasional fight with the women of the gully that the city house afforded. Several times during recent years Sir Todar and Lady Mal had contemplated exile in order to escape from the smoke of the pickle factory. But the men and women of the neighbourhood, forgetting all about Sir Todar Mal's betrayals, 'had put their humble heads on his respected fect' and, 'glorying in his izzat with the angrezi sarkar,' 106 begged him not to withdraw the shadow of his protection. So Sir Todar Mal decided to stay and die, as he had lived, among his brethren. Truc, he had sought to make his stay in the old house more comfortable by asking the landlords of the neighbouring house, the Dutt brothers, to turn the factory wallahs out. But the Dutt brothers saw no reason. why they should forego the rent of an otherwise useless out-house. Sir Todar Mal had bullied the successive owners of the factory. Now that had ended in a brawl. The possi- bility of building a chimney had never occurred to him, or, for that matter, to anyone else. He would write and complain to the Public Health Officer, Dr. Edward Marjoribanks, his friend and colleague on the Municipal Committee. He wrote: To Dr. Edward Marjoribanks, Esq., M.A., D.P.H., L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S. and F. (Oxon). From Rai Bahadur, Sir Todar Mal. B.A., L.L.B., K.C.I.F., Advocate High Court of Punjab, Retired Public Prosecutor, Daulatpur. Honoured Sir, . The omission on my part to render you a tribute of the heart's best regard and esteem due from man to man in the shape of occasional epistles is, I have always felt, a wrong and such as I can hardly plead any cause to mitigate the enormity of. I am therefore greatly ashamed to present myself before you through the medium of this communica- tion, Nevertheless, let me carry to you my cordial assurance that your name is indelibly impressed on the tablet of my memory as my greatest friend both inside and outside the Municipal Committee. Now I have to request the honour of your visit to the 'Cat Killer's Lane,' which is full of smoke on account of the burning of stone coal in the pickle factory next door to my house. I shall be greatly honoured if you do so, because shortly after dawn on the 26th ultimo, my son, who told off the proprietors of the pickle factory about creating smoke in 107. their blast furnaces, was attacked by one Ganpat. And, though Mr. Ram Nath, my gallant son, turned the tip of Ganpat's nose down, he received hurt himself, his face and limbs are stiff, cold and blue and his fingers contracted into hard fists. My services to the Government are well-known to you. I gave twenty thousand rupees to His Excellency the Viceroy's War fund, in recognition of which I have received the splendid title of knighthood. I hope that by bearing in mind the services I have rendered to the benign Empire, you will come and rid me of the affliction of this smoke, which is a constant cause of worry, remorse and sorrow to me and mine. With my wife's modest salaams to Mrs. Marjoribanks, I am your most faithful servant and ever grateful memor- ialist, Todar Mal. Unfortunately the Health Officer ignored this letter. When Dr. Marjoribanks neither answered the letter nor visited the gulley, Sir Todar Mal was angry. He waited anxiously for a general meeting of the Municipal Commit- tee which was to take place ci. the first of September. On the morning of that day he rode out early, by the side of his groom, in a gig which he kept besides his tonga for use on ceremonial occasions. He went first for an airing in the city gardens and then to attend the meeting of the Municipal Committee which was to take place in the Town Hall. In his eagerness not to be late he arrived an hour too early for the meeting. The heat of the September sun and the fury of the grievance which he nourished in his breast made him sweat. And he walked up and down the corridor of the Town Hall in a towering rage, punctuated by fits of asthma. At last the hour of ten struck on the bronze gong of the Town Hall, and he entered the Committee room. He was the first member to be there. For half an hour he was the only member to be there. 108 For an hour he was the only member to be there. Then a peon came in to brush the chairs and tables. Half an hour later the Secretary arrived. Mr. Hem Chand, B.A. (Cantab), a young man with thin glasses, who bowed obsequiously to Sir Todar Mal, as he was in the habit of bowing obsequiously to every Municipal Commissioner, -since his job was dependent on them. 'Half past eleven, Babu Hem Chand,' said Sir Todar Mal, taking out his gold watch by its heavy silver chain from the inside pocket of his frock coat, 'and no one here yet!' 'You know what these Lallas arc,' said Mr. Hem Chand, flicking the ash from his cigarette and settling down to write the minutes of the last meeting. They will never learn Local Self Government since they are so unpunctual.'