Chapter 50 Chapter 23 Housekeeping

Settling down is not a new experience for me.However, the portal I have established in Natal is different from my home in Bombay and London.This time, part of the spending was purely decency.I thought it necessary to have such a court as would be worthy of my position in Natal as an Indian lawyer and representative.I therefore found a nice little house in a reputed district, furnished with a suitable set of furniture.Meals are very simple, but because I often invite British friends and Indian colleagues to dinner, the expenses at home have always been very high. Every home must have a good servant.But I never knew how to use a man as a servant.

I have a friend who lives in my house as a companion and helper.I have a cook who has become part of my family.I also have several office clerks who live and eat with me. I think I have had a good deal of success in this experience; but I am not without fault in the bitter experience of life. My companion was a very intelligent man, and I thought he was very honest with me.However, I was deceived on this point.He was jealous of a clerk who lived in my house, and had created such a tight net that I became suspicious of the clerk.This clerical friend had a queer temper of his own, and left my house and office as soon as he realized that I was suspecting him.I was very sad, and felt that perhaps I was wronging him, and my conscience had been bothering me.

At this time, the cook needs to have a few days' vacation, or needs to be away for some other reasons.During the few days when he was away, another person had to be found to replace him.This newcomer, I later learned, was a complete rogue.But to me, he was a man specially sent by God.He had only been here for two or three days before he discovered that something abnormal was going on secretly in my house behind my back, and he was determined to remind me.Those who know me know that I am a very trusting and straightforward person.So this discovery was even more shocking to this man.Every day at one o'clock at noon, I often return home from the office for dinner.One day about twelve o'clock, the cook hurried to my office and said to me, "Please come home right away, you will be surprised."

"What's the matter?" I asked, "you must tell me what's the matter! How can I leave the office at this time to see?" "If you don't go, you'll regret it. That's all I can say." I think his insistence has a urging force.I went home at once, with a clerk with me, and the cook before us.He took me straight upstairs, pointed to my companion's room and said, "Open this door, and you'll understand." I know it all.I knocked on the door, but there was no answer!I knocked on the door so hard that the walls shook.The door opened and I saw a prostitute in the room.I want her to go away and never allow her to come again.I turned around and said to the companion, "From now on, I will not associate with you anymore. I have been deceived and I have been a fool. Is this how you treat my trust in you?" Instead of admitting his mistake, he threatened He said he was going to expose me.

"I have nothing to hide," I said. "Whatever I do, I can make it public. But get out of here!" This annoyed him even more.I saw that there was nothing I could do, so I said to the clerk standing downstairs: "Please go and inform the sheriff, and give my compliments, saying that a person who lives with me has acted improperly. I don't want him He lives in my house again, but he refuses to leave. If the police station can send someone to help, I will be very grateful." It showed him that I was serious.His crime made him nervous.He apologized, asked me not to notify the police, and promised to leave my house immediately, which he did.

It was a timely warning in my life.It is only now that I see clearly how completely I was kept in the dark by this evil spirit.When I took him in, I used a bad method to achieve a good goal, which is called "seeking fish from a tree".I have long heard that this companion is of bad character, but I trust him to be honest with me.I tried to reform him, but almost destroyed myself.I ignored the warnings of many good friends, completely blinded by my overreliance on him. Without this new cook I would not have discovered the truth, and under the influence of this companion I might not have been able to live the life I had then begun.I would be wasting time on him forever, and he would have the power to place me in the dark and lead me astray.

But as always, God saved me.My intentions were pure, and I was saved in spite of my mistakes, and this early experience was a sound warning for my future.This cook can be said to be a messenger sent from heaven.He can't cook, and as a cook, he won't live in my house.But no one else could open my eyes.I learned later that this was not the first time that woman had been brought into my home.She used to come here often, but no one has more courage than this cook.Because everyone knows how blindly I trust that companion.The cook, as it turned out, had been sent for this purpose, for he immediately asked to leave.

"I can't live in your house," he said, "you are so gullible, this is not my place." I let him go.Only now did I realize that it was none other than this companion who had poisoned my ears and made me doubt the clerk.I tried my best to undo what I had done to the clerk.However, I have never been able to fully satisfy him, and this is my lifelong regret.No matter how you fix it, a rift remains a rift.