Kshemankari had in the meantime informed Nalinaksha that she had made a proposal on his behalf and that is accepted.
"Have you arranged it definitely already ?" he asked smilingly ; "you have been very quick about it !"
Kshemankari informed him that she had taken a great fancy for Hemamalini and in view of her falling health she was very much concerned of him remaining lonely. She said that Hemamalini was quite exceptional girl who could satisfy all the requirements to be her daughter-in-law.
"Spare me, mother," he said, "I was not thinking of her as a prospective bride to me ; it's impossible of marrying Hemamalini in-spite of all her virtues. I can't really do it !"
"Don't talk nonsense ! I see no reason against it," she insisted.
It was not easy for Nalinaksha to justify his objection, but his unspoken thought was this ; towards Hemamalini he had assumed himself in the role of father-confessor ; to turn around suddenly and propose marrying to her seemed almost outrage. He remained in silence for a while and started saying:
"There's one thing I must tell you, mother ! Let me first beseech you not to distress yourself about it. The incident that I'm about to release to you happened nine or ten months ago and it is useless to grieve over it now. Still I know that it is a characteristic of yours, mother, to shudder at the horror of a calamity even when all is over and irremediable. It is for that reason that I have never told you this story, though I have been constantly on the point of doing so. Take what measures you like to propitiate my evil destiny but do not distress yourself with vain regrets."
Kshemankari was profoundly disturbed.
"I don't know what you're going to tell me, lad, but so long as I live, I shall never be able to repress my emotions. It is useless to keep aloof from worldly affairs. You do not have to go in search of misfortune ; it swoops down on you uninvited. Tell me your story at once and never mind whether the news is good or bad."
" Last February," he began, "I sold up all my property in Rangpur, found a tenant for my garden-house, and started for Calcutta.When I reached river-crossing at Sara I took a whim to abandon the railway and to proceed the rest of the way by water ; so I hired a large country-boat at Sara and set off. After being on the water for two days we tied up at a sand-bank, and I had gone ashore to bathe when I suddenly encountered an old friend Bhupen carrying a gun. It appeared that he was a Deputy Magistrate in these parts and had camped at a village called Dhobapukur and insisted on my accompanying him to spend some time in his camp-house there. In the evening we went for a stroll round the place ; it is quite a small village. The owner of the house was one Tarini Chaturjye. He cross-questioned Bhupen till he had my history by heart."
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