Annada Babu looked up anxiously as Ramesh re-entered the room. Ramesh requested Annada Babu to give him the list of guests invited for the marriage so that he could write them all about the change of date of the marriage and also assured that he could bear all the expenses for the marriage apart from he himself making the required arrangements. Annada Babu looked bit pacified . Having handed over the list of invitees to Ramesh, "Have you decided where to practise after you're married, Ramesh ? Not in Calcutta, I suppose ?", he asked.
"No, I want to find some suitable place up-country."
"Up-country ? That's is a sound idea. Etawah isn't a bad place at all. The climate suits one's digestion very well. You see, lad, she's my only daughter, and we should never be happy apart. That's why I want you to choose a healthy place," he added.
Ramesh having offended him, Annada Babu took the opportunity to press certain of his own somewhat exacting demands . In his present frame of mind Ramesh would have readily agreed to migrate to Cherra Punjior the Garo Hills, or any such mist-drenched mountain-top, if Annada Babu had suggested it instead of Etawah.
"Very good," he said, "I will join Etawah bar," and departed after undertaking to countermand the invitation.
No sooner had he gone than Akshay appeared and learned that Ramesh had postponed his wedding for a week. Akshay assumed an air of portentous gravity, and his mind began to work. At length he went on :
"When you think you've found a good husband for Hemamalini you shut your eyes to all possibilities. Everything should be ascertained about the man a daughter is to be entrusted to for life. It appears that he has not given sufficient reason even for the postponement of marriage.After all, when a person clearly indicates that he does not want to give his reasons one can hardly question him further. If it had been anything that he could divulge, Ramesh would have told you of his own accord."
Hemamalini flushed angrily. "I don't want to hear third parties' opinions on the subject. Personally, I am quite satisfied with things as they are," and she hurried out of the room they had assembled in.
Akshay turned green, but he forced a smile. "That's the way of the world-try to do a friend a service and a scolding is your reward. I consider it my duty, as a good friend of Jogendra, to express my suspicions of Ramesh. I can't rest easy when I see any trouble threatening you. However, Jogendra will be here to-marrow. If after he has heard the whole story, he has no anxiety on his sister's account, then I won't say another word."
Annada Babu fully realised that this was the psychological moment for asking Akshay what Ramesh's conduct really meant; but he who probes a mystery may let loose a whirlwind, and the old gentleman was constitutionally averse to such an operation.
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