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friendly message by one of his special agents,
expressing great solicitude for my safety and
suggesting that if I presented myself at the palace
in the evening and threw myself on the Nizam's
mercy by confessing that I had signed the memo-
rial under duress, I might hope to be pardoned.
The Nizam, he added, was in a very angry mood
and might pass any order against me, at any
moment, if I did not do so. I recognised the
arch-fiend's tone in this and made up my mind
to defy him, and my answer was that I was not
the person to gild lies for him ! The next day
the unholy messenger returned with his best
professional smile and brought me further assur-
ances of sincerity and good-will from his chief,
who, he added, wished to convey his sense of
obligation to my family for past favours—which
had naturally increased his anxiety in my behalf !
" I decided to report the matter to Sir Faridoon,
who, in those days, had daily access to His Exalted
Highness; and when he asked me, later, under
orders from His Exalted Highness the name of the
man who had brought the message to me, I gave it
with little compunction. Not many days had
passed before we heard that the obliging gentleman
had received orders to quit the Dominions at short
notice. This was soon followed by another event.
A few days later, an enquiry was started at the
suggestion of the British Resident (Sir Alexander
Pinhey) and a well-known handwriting expert,
Mr. Hardless of Calcutta was sent for to examine
the signatures on the memorial. After some weeks