Maganlal had given us three days to give an answer. Feluda made no attempt to contact him in these three days. What happened on the fourth day left us reeling with shock. It was a Friday. I got up as usual and finished doing yoga, which I had started to do recently, inspired by Feluda. By the time I finished. it was half past six. Normally, Feluda joined me at this time, bathed and fully dressed. There was no sign of him today. I went to his room and found the door ajar. A slight push made it open widely. What I saw was totally amazing. Feluda was still lying on his bed, fast asleep. He should have been up more than an hour ago. I went over to him quickly and tried to wake him. When he didn’t respond even to some vigorous shaking, it dawned upon me that he was unconscious. Automatically, my eyes went to the Godrej safe. It was open, its contents lying on the floor. Quickly, I felt his pulse. That—thank God!—appeared normal. I ran back to the living room and rang Dr Bhowmik, our family physician. He arrived in ten minutes. Feluda began stirring as the doctor started to examine him. ‘Someone used chloroform, I think,’ said the doctor. ‘But how did he get in?’ It took me a minute to work that out. The side door to the bathroom, through which our cleaner came in every day, was open. Feluda opened his eyes in about fifteen minutes. ‘You’ll be fine,’ Dr Bhowmik said reassuringly. ‘In just a few minutes, you’re going to feel like your old normal self. What you need to check is whether anything has been stolen. Your safe is still hanging open.’ ‘Topshe, open the bottom drawer.’ I did, but couldn’t find the red velvet box Mr Boral had left with us. His pink pearl had gone. Feluda shook his head and sighed. ‘Who can I blame but myself? I did bolt that door last night, I remember that. But the bolt had become rather loose. I noticed it a few days ago, but didn’t get round to getting it fixed. Oh, I could kick myself!’ Dr Bhowmik left. I rang Lalmohan Babu and fold him what had happened. He came as soon as he could. ‘Look, Felu Babu, I knew something like this would happen. I did try to warn you, didn’t I? If they could come straight into your room and actually chloroform you, just think how dangerous these people are! What are we going to do now?’ he asked. Feluda, having recovered, was drinking a cup of tea. ‘I am not going to tell Boral about this. At least, not immediately. Let’s see if I can get that pearl back.’ The telephone rang. It was Someshwar Saha from Sonahati. Feluda spoke for about three minutes before replacing the receiver.

‘Boral’s got some fresh news. He’s heard again from Dharampur. Singh still wants the pearl for his collection.