ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 115 



so forth ; but it was all up with him now, and he had to 

 comply ; no sleight of hand could avail him — and — out 

 rolled my bangle ! 



It was explained to me later that a very few minutes 

 before this, when passing round the back of the house, 

 F. had seen the butler, while rearranging his turban, push 

 something well in between the folds. He knew that the 

 man would not keep his own valuables there, and the 

 thought of my bangle occurred to him with such insistence 

 that he was coming to talk the matter over with me and 

 fix on a plan ; then seeing Chowry with me, her wrappings 

 off, and the reason for them evident, everything instantly 

 shook itself into place in his mind, and he acted, with the 

 result I have described. 



The man's conviction, of course, ruined his career as a 

 butler among the English households of the neighbourhood, 

 and we should not have been so hard on him for the mere 

 theft itself ; it was the cold, cruel-hearted ill-usage of that 

 child that fired us to extremes. 



Chowry was cared for, and all that was possible done to 

 promote her cure. She was promised gold sprigs to stick 

 in all round the edges of her ears, when they should heal, 

 instead of the little rolls of paper or stained reeds she had 

 worn, also a ring or two for her fingers. 



But, after all, what were the few isolated cases thus 

 detected and punished compared with all that went on 

 unchecked, not even interfered with, albeit well known ? 

 These practices were too far-reaching and universal for 

 individual effort to be of much use ; many well authenti- 

 cated instances could be given of hideous wrong done to 

 the innocent and helpless, but there is no need to dwell on 

 such horrors. 



Such a deed once perpetrated almost under one's very 

 roof-tree — as in Chowry's case — one can hardly get it out 

 of one's head again for fear of what may still be going on 



