Shanti Dav is a week into his job as a tour guide in Dehli, and his current customers are Mr. and Mrs. Nimmons, a newly married couple, and Mrs. Rayne, an older woman. All three are Americans, and Shanti is certain they will be suspicious of him and everything else. When he picks them up from their hotel, Mr. Nimmons comments on his previous experiences of being scammed while traveling. Mrs. Rayne talks avidly in the car, and Shanti thinks back to a fiasco involving his customers from the day before. He recalls trying to prevent his tourists from being scammed, only to be accused of helping the scammer and being willing to sell his soul for four annas. While showing his current customers around Old Dehli and a shrine, they are bombarded by beggars and merchants, many of which offer Shanti a commission for misleading his tourists. He refuses all the offers and tells his tourists not to give any money. On the way to the market, he drives them through a crowd of children reaching through the car windows for change. The Americans feel pity for the children, but Shanti only remarks that they are professional beggars. At the market, the Nimmonses go off on their own, and Mrs. Rayne takes Shanti for company. He is surprised to find that she bargains well and does not allow anyone to cheat her. When the Nimmonses return, they naively talk about a lucky “sale” they came across. Shanti and Mrs. Rayne stay quiet, knowing that the Nimmonses were overcharged. Shanti grows frustrated at his useless envy for the American tourists, who spend more on gifts than he makes in a month. In a later conversation, Shanti and Mrs. Rayne talk about the overwhelming poverty everywhere and the foolish but happy Nimmonses. Mrs. Rayne admits that she wants to help all the people they saw, recognizing how much they struggle in comparison to her meaninglessly easy life back home. She asks him if he thinks she can help, and Shanti says why not. Mrs. Rayne tells him to keep in touch by mail while she makes arrangements at home. Shanti promises to keep in touch but doubts he will write back or afford the postage.