THE VISIT OF THE WASHERMAN. 
been the direct means of getting him into one, and 
that man should be either her husband or lover ; but 
in this case there was no difficulty at all in the matter, 
for she just said, “ Get up, you stupid ass; just the 
old story : a man does make such a fool of himself, 
when he goes and does things without telling his wife ! 
Why did you not tell me you intended taking the 
gentleman’s clothes homo to him, and I would have given 
you the articles about which such a foolish row has 
been raised. ” Upon saying this, she lifted a cloth from 
the top of a basket, and, there they were ! She had 
rented them out to the head kangani of the next estate, 
for use, during last Sunday, and, after he brought 
them back, had gone down to the river to give them a 
wring out, in order to be ready for him to take back, 
along with the others, but she did not tell him this, 
fully intending to keep the profit on the transaction 
private, and for her own private use. Here they 
are, ” says the washerman , taking the towel from 
under his arm, unrolling it, and placing the missing 
clothes on a chair. “ Now master please pay, ” and he 
was paid. One day the washerman presented himself 
with the clothes, dressed in a beautifully flowered satin 
vest. Master fixed his eyes upon it, feeling sure he had 
seen it before. Yes, it must be the very same, an old- 
fashioned one which had belonged to one of his “fore^ 
bears, ” and had been packed into one of his trunks, 
on leaving home, for the purpose of coming out ‘ ‘ very 
swell” on the “ going-to -Kandy day.” Just to make 
sure he opens his almirah, looks well through the 
upper shelf, where clothes not in ordinary use were 
stowed away, but no satin vest was there. ‘‘Dhobi,”' 
says he, ‘ ‘ where did you get that waistcoat ? It is 
mine.” “Master’s!” says the dhobi. “Impossible: 
master know very well, how could ever I wear his 
clothes. I bought it from the servant on the next 
estate for two rupees. ” “ Two rupees ! ” exclaimed the 
owner of the vest, “it is quite new, scarcely ever been 
used, and must have originally cost fifteen or twenty. 
But the dhobi still said, ‘ ‘ Master know very well, I not 
that kind of man. ” “ Know, or not know, quoth the 
master, ‘ ‘ off with it, and I will soon prove up it is 
mine. Sharp with you : no shirking. ” The washerman, 
seeing master was quite determined upon having a 
close inspection, slowly divested himself of the gar- 
ment, and handed it to him, who said, “ What a 
horril3le smell. ” On this account he stretched out his 
hands, as they held the raunent, as far from his nose 
as possible, turned up the back collar, and there, under- 
neath, sewed very neatly in, with red silk, in bright, 
red letters -was stitched 
P. D. MliLIE, 
