After the party left, Baldev took his friend in a bear hug, flashed the ring, and said, "Thanks, Atma. We've nailed it."

Atma smiled.

"To complete this process, tomorrow at ten, I need your help for one hour."

"Okay, I have to yield, but don't invite them again."

"I'll never do that. On October fifth, I'll be a multi- millionaire."

"I hope it works. You'll be in trouble if they drop at my place before your marriage."

"Please keep my pictures and certificates in your living room for eighteen days. If they visit, tell them that Sahib has gone to New Delhi to fight a case in the Supreme Court."

"This damn thing is getting more and more complicated," Atma groaned.

Baldev dabbed his tears and said, "I owe you so much, but I've just one more hurdle."

"What in the world is that?"

"I need fifty thousand to buy stocks."

"What stocks?"

Then Baldev explained the whole problem and said, "You're rich and can assist me to secure this loan from the bank."

"Look Baldev, I'll help, but I think the lure of dowry has made you crazy."

"After my marriage I'll control millions of rupees. This bank loan is only a peanut."

Baldev and Atma rushed to the bank. Atma provided the collateral, and Baldev got a fifty thousand rupee loan at high interest.

Next day the Aristocrat arrived in his limo. He introduced his CEO, an old man, who was wearing a three-piece silken suit and gold frame glasses. Baldev handed over fifty thousand rupees. The CEO gave him the printed stocks and shook his hand.

The CEO said, "You won't regret this; our corporation is the richest in India. These stocks give very high dividends — ten times the bank interest."

The Aristocrat pivoted toward the CEO and remarked. "Nathu, now you and other members can't have any objection to my making this stockholder the chairman of my company."

"No, sir. I like your choice, but he has no training in our business."

"I sent you to Harvard for four years and count upon you to teach my son-in-law."

The CEO replied, "Yes, sir."

Then the Aristocrat gave the address of his residence and invited Baldev to visit him on the coming Thursday.

When the party left, Baldev started dancing and promised Atma to hire him as attorney for his corporation. He said his goodbye and cycled to his run-down place. He couldn't sleep during the night, and time appeared to be crawling like a wounded tortoise. Finally, Thursday arrived. He rented his cousin's taxi which was converted to a private car by changing the plates, and his cousin wore the chauffeur's uniform. Baldev prayed to God for help. After two hours the car reached Ludhiana and stopped in front of a palatial building, at the address given by the Aristocrat. Baldev adjusted his tie and looked at himself in the mirror. The chauffeur opened the door; Baldev got out, climbed the steps, and stabbed the bell. He was shocked to see a Muslim, with dyed red beard, opening the door. He thought the fellow must be a servant and asked, "I want to meet Sardar Bahadur Karnail Singh."

"No one of that name lives here."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I purchased this house fifteen years ago, and my name is Mushtaq Ali."

Baldev turned ghastly pale, but he managed to thank the person. He thought he might have made a mistake in writing the address. So he rushed to the post office and searched the telephone directory — the name of the Aristocrat was not there. He rushed to the stock market building and learned, the corporation, whose stocks he had purchased from the Aristocrat, didn't exist. Then he went to a jeweler to sell the diamond ring which he had received. He got twenty rupees, since it was a cheap glass.

These discoveries turned Baldev's legs into jelly; his heart stopped beating and ice spread in his stomach. He staggered to the car which brought him back to his home at Amritsar.

He requested his cousin not to reveal this to a living soul. He didn't have the courage to face Atma. Therefore he wrote a note to him, and cycled to his village.

The Father was stunned to find his son coming on a cycle instead of a car.

"Where is your car?"

"I've been swindled," Baldev said and then narrated the whole story.

"Son, you wanted to cheat, and God punished you."

"Yes, He did it in a big way. Now I'll stay here to help you and cycle to the courts."

"All right, put your cot in the barn."

Baldev's painful, backbreaking life started. To make the payments on the bank loan, he had to work on two jobs, besides helping his father. He left his village at five in the morning and worked at a gas station for four hours and then attended the courts at ten. After returning at six in the evening, he assisted his father. Late at night, while plowing the fields with the placid, cud-chewing buffalos, he cursed his greed for dowry and soliloquized, "The lure of damn dowry sucked all my wealth, turned me into a pauper, and buried me under heavy debts. I would have been much happier with a girl without any dowry. Now I have to wait for ten years to pay off the loan. Oh my God! I'll be an emaciated old man and may not even find a wife."