THE VISIT OF A SILVERSMITH, AND 
ITS RESULTS. 
any description to repair ? for a sharp and lively lady 
was she, with always an eye to business. She then 
stretched out her arms, and told him to examine her 
bracelets, and just see what neat work the tattan 
could perform, while the young master stood in silent 
amazement, at her audacity. Why, she was not one bit 
afraid of the periyadurai, not she ! What with one 
thing and another, the woman had been a long time 
in the verandah, and in pops the silversmith himself, 
to see what has become of her. On seeing the periya 
durai, he claps his hands, and makes a profound 
salam, and, as in the prosecution of his calling he had 
picked up a smattering of English, said, “ Master please 
order the sinna durai not to detain my "wife so long at 
the bungalow, when 1 send her with a message.” 
Then turning to his wife, he said, “ Have you got that 
one rupee I sent yon to get, for repairing the tea-pot 
and candlestick?” ‘‘Ho, ho,” shouts the young mas- 
ter, “one rupee was it ! MTiy, she said two, and has got 
them too !” Come, come, give up that two shillings,” 
and before the big master and the silversmith understood 
what was wrong, to their horror and astonishment, the 
sinna durai had caught hold of the woman, and com- 
menced to unroll the cloth that was bound round her 
waist, in order to get hold of the money underneath 
it. The tattan seized hold of a broom and rushed to the 
assistance of his wife, and the periya durai laid hold 
of him, and during the general turmoil a number of 
rupees dropped down on the verandah, from the 
woman’s cloth : the sinna durai pounced upon one of 
them, and triumphantly placed it in his pocket, and 
the scramble was at an end. Had the silversmith’s 
wife been like any other woman, she would have got 
out of the scrape by shedding tears, but she did 
nothing of the sort : she broke out into such a volley 
of abuse against the two masters, that even the 
tattan himself seemed quite shocked, as with one 
hand he seized hold cf the hair of her head, with the 
other he grasped her shoulder, and thus, keeping her 
well in front of him, pushed her on in front of him, 
until they disappeared round the corner, and after 
that, they heard her scream out violently: no doubt 
he was beating her. Just as the periya durai was 
going away, a coolie came running up, in a breathless 
state of great excitement, and said, the silversmith 
had been beating his wife, that she was dying, that 
she was dead, he had killed her. So they all hurried 
away to his room, round which a large crowd of 
people had assembled, all looking very grave and sad. 
On pushing through them, into the room, the tattan’s 
wife was seen, stretched out on the floor, on her back, 
