“I shall be next,” thought the terrified dreamer. He looked down on his own galling chains, and lo! they were formed of innumerable pice and pies, the fruit of petty frauds for which he had sold his soul. The destroyer approached; the trembling Sardar seemed already to hear the doom, “He is mine! bear him away!” The poor wretch made so desperate an effort to burst his chains, that lo! he awoke from his dream.
Ganesh Das still trembled, but he was thankful that his day of grace was not yet past, that it was not yet too late to escape the soul-destroyer. He fell on his knees, repeating words which he had learned from the Bible: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon (Isa. lv. 7). For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. vi. 23).
IX.—THE CRACKED SCENT-BOTTLE.
Mohendro, the Padre Sahib’s bearer, saw that Melo, the Mem Sahiba’s new ayah,[58] had a troubled countenance.
“Why are you troubled, Melo?” asked he.
“When dusting the Mem Sahiba’s room,” replied Melo, “I threw down her beautiful scent-bottle. The scent-bottle was cracked, and the sweet water was all spilt.”
“What matters it to you?” said the bearer, smiling. “You have been but one day in the house; put the bottle back in its place, and when the Mem Sahiba sees that it has been emptied and cracked, say that you found it so, and that the last ayah certainly did the mischief.”
A short time before, Melo would have thought nothing of telling a lie; but she was now a baptized Christian, and had been taught God’s Commandments. Melo knew that one of them is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour (Ex. xx. 16). Melo had resolved to keep a strict watch over her lips, for she had learned the text: Lying lips are abomination to the Lord (Prov. xii. 22). “I am afraid to tell my Mem Sahiba a lie,” she replied.
The bearer laughed at her words. “Why, to lie comes as natural as to eat!” he cried. “The last ayah has gone away to Benares, so your lie will do no harm to any one in the world.”
Melo thought to herself, “Will it do no harm to myself?” But Melo was but a new Christian; habit is strong, and she had been accustomed to tell lies from the time that she first could speak. Melo resolved that when her Mem Sahiba noticed the harm done to the scent-bottle, she would say that the last ayah had done it. She was timid, and could not bear that the Mem Sahiba, whose service she had just entered, should think her careless.