Each one of us sped upstairs without a word. We found Jayanta Babu lying just outside his mother’s room on the landing, about three feet away from the threshold. He had hurt the back of his head. Blood had oozed out on the floor, to form a small red pool. Dr Sarkar was the first to reach him. He sat down by Jayanta Babu and quickly took his pulse. Feluda joined him a second later. He was looking grave, and frowning deeply. ‘What do you think?’ asked Mr Chowdhury in a low voice. ‘His pulse is faster than it should be.’ ‘And that wound on his head?’ ‘He must have got it as he fell. I got tired of telling him to wear a cap when working in the sun.’ ‘Concussion—?’ ‘It’s impossible to tell without making a proper examination. The trouble is, I didn’t bring my medical kit today. I think he should be removed to a hospital right away.’ ‘That’s not a problem. I have a car.’ Feluda helped the others in carrying Jayanta Babu to the car. He remained unconscious. Kalinath Roy met us on the staircase. ‘I had stepped into my room just for a second to take some medicine—and this happened!’ he exclaimed. ‘Shall I come with you?’ asked Mr Chowdhury as Dr Sarkar got into the car. ‘No, there’s no need to do that. I’ll give you a ring from the hospital.’ The car left. I felt very sorry for Mr Chowdhury. What an awful thing to happen on one’s birthday. Besides, now his plan wouldn’t work, either. We went into the drawing room and sat down. But Feluda sprang to his feet almost immediately and went out of the room with a brief ‘I’ll be back in a minute’. He returned soon enough, but I couldn’t tell where he had gone. Mr Chowdhury continued to speak normally, even going so far as to tell his guests a few stories about his great-grandfather. But clearly it wasn’t easy for him to remain calm and cheerful, when he must have been feeling anxious about his cousin. Dr Sarkar rang an hour later. Jayanta Babu had regained consciousness and was feeling better. He would probably come back home the next day. This piece of news helped everyone relax, but the chief purpose of our visit seemed to have been defeated. Mr Chowdhury made no attempt to bring out any objects from the chest and, in fact, after declining his offer to show us films on video, we returned to our room soon after dinner. The magic show also got cancelled. As soon as we were back in our room, Lalmohan Babu asked the question I had been dying to ask for a long time.

‘Where did you disappear to when we were all in the drawing room?’ ‘I went to Mr Chowdhury’s aunt’s room.’ ‘Why? Just to see how she was doing?’ Lalmohan Babu sounded sceptical. ‘Yes, but I also pulled at the handle of that