Bhagwangarh did indeed turn out to be in Madhya Pradesh. ‘You will have to go to Nagpur,’ said our travel agent, ‘and take a meter gauge train to Chhindwara. Bhagwangarh is 45 km to the west of Chhindwara.’ Feluda promptly sent a telegram to Rajah Bhudev Singh, explaining why he wanted to meet him. The Rajah’s reply arrived the next day. We were most welcome, he said. If we could let him know the date and time of our arrival, he would send a car to meet us at Chhindwara. Feluda rang the travel agent again. ‘If you’re in a hurry to get there,’ said Mr Chakravarty of Pushpak Travels, ‘there is a flight to Nagpur tomorrow morning. It leaves at 6.30 a.m. and reaches Nagpur at 8.15. You could catch a train to Chhindwara at 10.30, and get there by 5 p.m.’ ‘That sounds fine, but how do we get back?’ ‘Well, you could spend the whole day in Bhagwangarh the day after tomorrow, and catch an overnight train from Chhindwara. It will bring you to Nagpur at 5 a.m. the following morning. The Nagpur-Calcutta flight is at 8 a.m. You could be back in Calcutta by half-past ten.’ Feluda told Mr Chakravarty to go ahead with the bookings and sent another telegram to Bhudev Singh. ‘Since we are free all day today,’ he said, ‘let’s go and meet Mr Somani.’ Somani was available, as it turned out, and willing to meet us in the evening at 5.30 p.m. We turned up on the dot at his flat in Lotus Towers, Amir Ali Avenue. A bearer showed us into his living room. A quick look around told us the man liked collecting a variety of things, many of which were obviously expensive. But there was no discernible order in the way they were displayed. Each object seemed to have been dumped anyhow. We were kept waiting for ten minutes. Then Mr Somani wafted into the room, which was filled immediately with the smell of cologne. He had clearly been in the shower when we arrived. He was dressed in white trousers and a white kurta. Light Kolhapuri chappals were on his feet. There were touches of grey in his carefully brushed hair, though the thin moustache he sported was completely black. He offered cigarettes to Lalmohan Babu and Feluda, then lit one himself and said, ‘Yes, gentlemen, how can I help you?’ ‘We need some information,’ Feluda began. ‘Yes?’ ‘You went to Baikunthapur recently, didn’t you?’ ‘Yes, I did.’ ‘To buy a painting?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘But the owner refused to sell, is that right?’

‘Yes.’ ‘Could you tell me how you got to know about the painting?’ Mr Somani seemed to stiffen at this question. He gave Feluda a look that simply said, ‘That’s none of your business’. But he replied civilly enough. ‘I did not get to know about it at all. Someone else did. I went at his request.’ ‘I see.’ ‘Why, can you get that painting for