The Complete Adventures of Feluda: Volume I by Satyajit Ray

now. There is a patient I need to see.’
    We went with him up to the main gate to see him off. He said ‘good-night’ to everyone, thanked Dhiru Kaka again and drove off in his Fiat. Baba and Dhiru Kaka began walking back to the house. Feluda took a cigarette out of his pocket and was about to light it when a black car shot past us and disappeared in the same direction as Dr Srivastava’s car.
    ‘Standard Herald,’ said Feluda, ‘I missed the number.’
    ‘What would you do with the number?’
    ‘It looked as though that car was following Dr Srivastava. Can’t you see how dark it is on the other side of the road? That’s where it was waiting. The driver changed gears in front of our gate. Didn’t you notice?’
    Feluda turned towards the house. It was at least fifty yards from the gate. I could tell, for I have often run in hundred-yards races in school. The light in the living-room was on. I could clearly see through the window. There were Baba and Dhiru Kaka, going into the room. Then I looked at Feluda. He was staring at the open window. The frown on his face and the way he bit his lip told me that he was worried about something.
    ‘You know, Topshe—’
    I am not really called Topshe. My name is Tapesh, but Feluda has changed it to Topshe.
    ‘What?’ I asked.
    ‘I shouldn’t have allowed this to happen.’
    ‘What are you talking about?’
    ‘That window should have been closed. You can see everything that goes on in that room from the gate. An ordinary bulb might have made a difference; but Dhiru Kaka has got a fluorescent light, which makes it worse.’
    ‘So what if you can see everything?’
    ‘Can you see your father?
    ‘Just his head. He’s sitting in a chair.’
    ‘Who was sitting in that chair ten minutes ago?’
    ‘Dr Srivastava.’
    ‘He stood up to show the ring to your father, remember?’
    ‘Yes. I don’t forget things so quickly.’
    ‘If someone was watching from the gate, he could quite easily have seen him do it.’
    ‘Oh no! But why do you think there might have been someone?’ Feluda stooped and picked up a tiny object from the cobbled path. Silently, he handed it to me. It was a cigarette butt. ‘Look at the tip carefully,’ said Feluda.
    I peered at it closely and in the faint light from the street lamp, saw what I needed to see.
    ‘Well?’ said Feluda.
    ‘Charminar,’ I replied, ‘and whoever was smoking it was also chewing a paan. One end is smeared with its juice.’
    ‘Very good. Come, let’s go in.’
    That night, before going to bed, Feluda asked Dhiru Kaka to show him the ring again. The two of us had a good look at it. I had no idea Feluda knew so much about stones. He turned the ring round and round under a table lamp and kept up a running commentary: ‘These blue stones that you see are called sapphires. The red ones are rubies and the green ones emeralds. The others, I think, are topaz. But the real thing to look at, of course, is this diamond in the middle. Not many would have had the privilege of actually holding such a stone in their hand!’
    Then he slipped the ring on to the third finger of his left hand and said, ‘Look, my finger is the same size as Aurangzeb’s!’
    True, the ring fitted perfectly.
    Feluda stared at the glittering stones and said, ‘Who knows, this ring could have had an intriguing past. But you know what, Topshe—I am not interested in its history. Whether it had once belonged to Aurangzeb or Altamash or Akram Khan is not important. We need to know what its future is, and whether—at present—it’s being chased by an admirer. If so, who is he and why is he so desperate to get hold of it?’
    Then he removed the ring from his finger, gave it to me and said, ‘Go now, give it back to Dhiru Kaka. And please open those windows when you return.’

Two
    The next day, we left for the Imambara after an early lunch. Baba and Dhiru Kaka went in the car. Feluda and I both chose to ride in a tonga.
    It was great fun. I had