Act VII, Scene 9
(C.P. Beachcroft, Additional Sessions Judge and Eardley Norton.)BEACHCROFT: Mr. Norton, you know Arabindo Ghosh was a very brilliant scholar in England. He had no equal at St. Paul’s. He won a scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge. He was a contemporary of mine in the I.C.S. We both won honours at the University and, at the final examination of the Indian Civil Service, Arabindo the prisoner beat Beachcroft the Judge to second place in Greek and Latin. This is called the irony of Fate! Poor Arabindo!
NORTON: “To me it appears a matter for regret that a man of Arabindo’s mental calibre should have been ejected from the Civil Service on the ground that he could not, or would not, ride a horse. Capacity such as his would have been a valuable asset to the State. Had room been found for him in the Educational Service of India I believe he would have gone far not merely in personal advancement but in welding more firmly the links which bind his countrymen to ours. The new era of reform, in spite of local and I believe temporary cleavage, illumines India’s political sky and promises a future as much a matter of just pride to the Englishman as of hope and contentment and advance to the Indian.”
