Next morning he received a letter from the District Magistrate which filled him with mingled joy and terror.  It contained a curt request to call at once on a matter of great importance.  He drove to the great man’s bungalow arrayed in his best, but was kept waiting for nearly a quarter of an hour in the porch.  When he was ushered into the magistrate’s study he saw intuitively that something was wrong.  His salam was returned by a mere inclination of the head and a request to be seated.  Then the Magistrate spoke in tones of chilling politeness:—­

“Rai Bahadur, I’ve sent for you to say that a subscription of Rs. 10,000 is wholly unworthy of your position.  If you wish, I will send it to the Secretary of the Memorial Fund; but I warn you plainly that the most you can expect in return is an expression of the Lieutenant-Governor’s thanks in the Gazette.  I could not possibly recommend you for a title for such a paltry sum.”

Poor Samarendra’s heart beat more loudly than the clock on the magistrate’s mantelpiece.  He stammered out:  “I need only assure your honour that I have given as much as I could afford; but if your honour thinks the amount insufficient—­er—­er—­er—­I am quite willing to give—­twice as much”.  So saying he awaited a reply in trembling apprehension.  It was satisfactory.

“Now, Rai Bahadur, you are talking sense.  Send me Rs. 10,000 more for the fund and I’ll undertake to submit your name to Government for a Rajaship.  It will be just in time for the New Year’s Gazette.  Now you may take leave.”

Samarendra bowed himself out with precipitation and, on returning home, sent for his factotum, Bipin, to whom he related this momentous interview, with an injunction to raise Rs. 10,000 more by hook or by crook.  Bipin shook his head ominously and feared that no moneylender would advance any considerable sum on estates already over-burdened.  However, he promised to do his best and negotiated so successfully that Rs. 10,000 were procured at 24 per cent. in less than a week.  This additional subscription was gracefully acknowledged by the District Magistrate, and a fortnight later Samarendra’s drooping spirits were revived by the appearance of a notification in the Gazette thanking him warmly for his “munificence and public spirit”.  There was nothing for it but to count the days of the expiring year.

On 31st December, 189-, his impatience could brook no further delay.  Hurrying to Calcutta by train, he sent a trusty servant to the Government printing office with orders to obtain the earliest copy of the Gazette at any price.  He slept not a wink on that fateful night and rose betimes to intercept the messenger.