We came out of the rest house and found our taxi at five-thirty the following morning. Joginder was ready and waiting for us. Pavandeo’s American car was standing near ours, being loaded with film equipment. He could not possibly leave for another half an hour. But the chances were he would catch up with us without any problem, and then overtake us. As we were about to get into our car, the man himself came striding towards us, as though he had something important to say. ‘Last night,’ he said to Feluda, ‘Mr Giridhari had a glass too many, and revealed your identity. I’d like to ask you a straight question.’ ‘Yes?’ ‘Did Umashankar send you here to keep an eye on me?’ ‘Even if he did, Mr Singh, I would certainly not tell you about it, for that would be a breach of confidentiality. It would also be rather foolish. However, I have to admit Mr Puri has nothing to do with my presence here. We are going to Kedarnath purely as tourists. If something untoward does happen, I will naturally not stand by and be a passive spectator. I would like to meet Bhavani Upadhyaya myself, for something special has made me immensely curious about him, although I am not at liberty to tell you what it is.’ ‘I see.’ ‘May I now ask you a question?’ ‘Sure.’ ‘Are you going to show that famous pendant in your film?’ ‘Of course, assuming that Upadhyaya has still got it with him.’ ‘But don’t you realize that will put his life at risk? At the moment, nobody knows he has got something so valuable; but your film will be seen by thousands. Do you think it’s fair to expose his secret like that?’ ‘Mr Mitter, if he has truly become a sanyasi, that locket should have no meaning for him. I will ask him to give it to a museum. It originally belonged to the Maharaja of Travancore. Its workmanship is absolutely exquisite. If he donates it to a museum, Upadhyaya’s name will always be remembered. You bet I am going to show it in my film, and I hope you will not try to stop me.’ Pavandeo stormed off, having spoken the last few words with a great deal of emphasis. Mr Bhargav joined us as soon as he left. ‘I wish I had known you were also going to Kedar,’ he said. ‘I could have gone with you, and shared the information I’ve got regarding Upadhyaya.’ ‘Really? Who—or what—is the source of your information?’ ‘Well, I spoke to Mr Singh’s brother, Surajdeo, in Rupnarayangarh. But the interesting details came from their eighty-year-old bearer. He said Upadhyaya had treated the former Raja Chandradeo Singh,

and cured him of asthma.’ ‘I see.’ ‘In order to show his appreciation, the Raja gave him one of his most precious pieces of jewellery. Nobody outside the family knew of this until now. Can you imagine what this will mean to the press? Oh,