I pushed the door, but it refused to open more than a little. Something pretty heavy must be lying behind it. What could it be?

I peered in through the little gap, and my blood froze.

Feluda was lying on the floor, face down. His right elbow was what the door was knocking against.

I could hardly breathe, but knew that I must not panic. Together with Lalmohan Babu, I pushed the door harder and eventually we both managed to slide in.

Feluda was unconscious. But, possibly as a result of our pushing and heaving, he was beginning to stir and groan. Lalmohan Babu, it turned out, could keep a calm head in a crisis. It was he who splashed cold water on Feluda’s face and fanned him furiously until he opened his eyes.

Then he raised a hand gingerly and felt the centre of his head, making a face. ‘It’s gone, I assume?’ he asked. I had already checked.

‘Yes, Feluda,’ I had to tell him, ‘that attaché case has vanished.’

Feluda staggered to his feet, declining our offer of assistance.

‘It’s all right,’ he insisted, ‘I can manage. I’ve got a bump on my head, but I think that’s all. It might have been worse.’

It might indeed. Feluda took a few minutes to rest and to make sure nothing was broken. Then he rang room service, ordered tea for us all and told us what had happened.

‘I studied the entries in my notebook for about half an hour after you had gone. Then I began to feel tired. I hadn’t slept for more than a couple of hours last night, you see. So I thought I’d have a little rest, but just at that moment the telephone rang.’

‘The telephone? Who was it?’

‘Wait, let me finish. It was the receptionist. He said, “Mr Mitter, there’s a gentleman here who has recognized you. He says he’d like to take the autograph of such a brilliant sleuth as yourself. Shall I send him up?”’

Feluda paused here, turned to me and continued, ‘I realized one thing today, Topshe, and I don’t mind admitting it—to give an autograph is as tempting as taking it. I shall, of course, be more careful in future. But I needed this lesson.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I felt so pleased that I told the receptionist to send the man up. He came, knocked on the door, I opened it, felt a sharp knock on my own head, and … everything went black. The man had covered his face with a large handkerchief, so I don’t even know what he looked like.’

‘Since we are in Delhi,’ suggested Jatayu, ‘wouldn’t it be a good idea to inform the Prime Minister?’