Mr Bose said ‘good evening’ to Dr Hajra as he passed him, and went towards his own room. Dr Hajra began walking down the corridor, holding the boy by the hand. Then he saw us and stopped, looking a little confused. Perhaps the sight of two strangers had startled him. Feluda smiled and greeted him. ‘Namaskar. Dr Hajra, I presume?’ he asked. ‘Yes. But I don’t think I. . .?’ Feluda took out one of his cards from his pocket and handed it to Dr Hajra. ‘I need to talk to you. To tell you the truth, we are here at Mr Dhar’s request. He has written you a letter.’ ‘Oh, I see. Mukul, why don’t you go to your room? I’ll have a chat with these people, then I’ll join you. All right?’ ‘I’ll go to the garden,’ said Mukul. His voice sounded as sweet as a flute, but his tone was flat and lifeless, almost as if the words had been spoken by a robot. Dr Hajra said, ‘Very well, you may go to the garden, but be a good boy and don’t go out of the gate, okay?’ Mukul jumped from the corridor straight on to the gravel path, without saying another word. Then he stepped over a row of flowers and stood quietly on the lawn. Dr Hajra turned back to us, gave a somewhat embarrassed smile and asked, ‘Where should we sit?’ ‘Let’s go to our room.’ The hair around Dr Hajra’s ears had started to grey, I noticed. His eyes held a sharp, intelligent look. Now that I could see him more closely, he appeared older—probably in his late forties. When we were seated, Feluda handed him Mr Dhar’s letter and offered him a Charminar. Dr Hajra smiled, said, ‘No, thanks’, and began reading the letter. When he’d finished, he folded it and put it back in its envelope. Feluda explained quickly about Neelu being kidnapped. ‘Mr Dhar was afraid,’ he said, ‘that those men might have followed Mukul and arrived here. That is why he came to see me. In fact, I am here really because he wanted me to join you. But, even if nothing untoward happens and you do not require my protection, I can see that my visit will not go to waste as I’ve always wanted to see Rajasthan.’ Dr Hajra remained thoughtful for a few moments. Then he said, ‘Fortunately, nothing has happened as yet that might be seen as untoward. But honestly, there was no need to talk to a press reporter and say so much. I told Mr Dhar to wait until I finished my investigation, and then he could get Mukul to speak to as many reporters as he liked, especially about the hidden treasure. I might think the story is possibly quite baseless, but there might well be people who’d be easily tempted to go and look for it!’ ‘What do you think of this whole business of recalling previous lives? Do you really