UNA-BOMBAY 401
frying pan into the fire." Popatbhai was silent. The distance
to be covered before they could reach Yeraval was about
forty-eight miles and would take not less than twenty-
four hours. For an hour, at long intervals, there were four
halts at the wayside villages. When there were only ten
miles still left to reach Yeraval, Ramdas jumped out of the
cart and proposed to walk the distance and Popatbhai
followed suit. At dusk they reached Yeraval.
The cart arrived later; except for the loss of a pillow
which must have dropped on the road, there was no other
mishap. The night was spent in a small room on the third
storey of a huge business house belonging to a young
merchant.
Now Popatbhai who is a man of simple habits had a
deep-rooted dislike for smoking. He would go about
advising every smoker, who came in contact with him to
give up the habit, at the same time, expatiating upon its
manifold evils. But by a strange irony of fate, he was the
storekeeper of bidis for Bam das who was given to smok-
ing! His high regard for Ramdas would not permit of
his looking upon this habit of Eamdas as condemnatory. In
the small room he smoked. The windows being very high
and small in size, clouds of smoke gathered in the room,
thick and fast.
"Ramji, the nauseating smell of smoke must be very
trying to your nostrils which are unused to it," remarked
Eamdas.
"Not at all," he replied quickly; "on the contrary, the
smoke you puff out has been purifying the atmosphere."
Yerily, true love sees no defects and this is the greatest
quality of love!
(ii) God does everything fop ihe best
Popatbhai parted from Eamdas at Yeraval since he had
to return to Wadhwan city, his native place, while Earn-
das boarded the B.LS.N. steamer sailing for Bombay.
51