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           "Tharini Chaturjye was a money lender in that place and when a new magistrate visits that place he would make a great parade of his public spirit in allowing school to be held in his house. Actually he does nothing for the schoolmaster except to provide his meals, and in return was making use of him to work till ten o'clock at night writing up Tarini's accounts ; his salary was paid out of school fees and the Government grant. He had a sister who was left penniless at her husband's death and to whom he had to give shelter in consequence. She was pregnant at the time and died in giving birth to a daughter. He had another widowed sister who did all the housework and so saved him a servant's wages. This poor creature took charge of the orphan, but she too died a few years later, as explained by my magistrate friend. The girl had been leading a dog's life ever since, slaving for uncle and aunt and getting nothing but scolding in return. She had nearly passed the marrying age, but it was no easy task to find a husband for a friendless orphan like her, especially as no one in the village knew her parents. She was a posthumous child too, and the village gossips whisper scandal about her origin. Tharini Chaturjye was notoriously rolling in wealth, so they depreciated the girl in the hope of squeezing a big dowry out of him before he can get her married. And yet, you know, she was a loveliest girl that I ever saw. She was called Kamala, after the goddess Lakshmi, and she was the perfect image of her namesake in every respect. My friend, being aware of my personal ideals and mental aspirations, suggested me to go in for marriage with that girl. Do you know, mother, I was in such a dare-devil mood that at once, without a moment's reflection,  'All right, I'll marry the girl.' I had always intended to give you a surprise by bringing you home an orthodox little Hindu daughter-in-law ; I knew quite well that if I married a grown-up Brahmo lady none of us would be happy. As I was told that this girl was of about fourteen years age I volunteered to marry her immediately. Bhupen was flabbergasted at my decision and revealed my intention to Tarini Chaturjye. 'I implore you to come to my rescue,'  he said, 'see the girl for yourself ; then, of course, if you don't fancy her that's an end to the matter, but on no account listen to the misrepresentations of my enemies.' 'I don't require to see her,' I replied ; 'you can fix a day for the wedding.' 'The day after to-morrow will do,' said Tarini ; 'let us have it then.' Of course one could see the motive underlying his piteous appeal and his indecent haste ; he wanted to avoid a heavy outlay on the wedding festivities. However, the marriage duly took place."
         "The marriage took place !" exclaimed in consternation ; "are you serious, Nalin ?"
         "Perfectly serious, mother," replied Nalin, "we set off hiring a boat in the afternoon when one has every reason to expect fine weather. It was in the month of March. That evening, a couple of hours later, an intensely hot blast of wind descended on us and in some inexplicable way overturned the boat and left no trace of it."
        "Gracious heavens !" ejaculated Kshemankari with a thrill of horror.
        "When I regained consciousness a little later I found myself struggling in deep water and there was no sign of boat or of any of its occupants. I informed the police and a thorough search was made, but without result," explained Nalinaksha.
              

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            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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             Kshemankari expressed her confidence of Nalin agreeing for this proposal of marrying Hemamalini to Annada Babu as he wouldn't say 'no' to what his mother tells him.
            Annada Babu went home elated, and he lost no time in sending for Hem.
            "My dear," he commenced, "I'm an old man and my health is far from good, but unless I see you settled first I cannot end my days in peace. You must allow me to be quite frank with you, Hem. You have no mother and I feel entirely responsible for you."
            Hemamalini stared at her father, wondering what was coming.
           "I'm so delighted at the prospect of this match, dear," he went on, "that I can't contain myself any longer. My one fear is that something may happen to prevent it. It's this, dear : Nalinaksha's mother has this evening made a proposal of marriage to you on her son's behalf."
          Hemamalini blushed and faltered, "Why, really, dad ! It's quite impossible."
         She was overcome with confusion when her father sprang this proposal on her, for she had never thought of Nalinaksha as a possible husband.
        "Why is it impossible ?" asked Annada Babu.
       "Nalinaksha !" exclaimed Hemamalini, "how could it be possible ?"
       It was hardly a logical answer, but it was infinitely more conclusive than any logic. Annada Babu's hopes were dashed ; this opposition was a thing that he had not anticipated. He had confidently assumed that his daughter would be delighted at the prospects of marrying Nalinaksha. Stunned by his disappointment the old man mused over the insoluble riddle of the feminine temperament, and not for the first time lamented that Hemamalini had no mother.
        Hemamalini went out into the verandah and sat herself in darkness for a while and at last glanced into the room. At the sight of her father's disconsolate face she hurried indoors and persuaded her father for supper.
      Annada Babu rose mechanically and made for the supper-room, but he had little appetite for food. Hemamalini's rejection of the proposal had been a bitter disappointment to him. "So Hem has not been able to forget Ramesh after all," he sighed to himself, and silently departed to bed.
       Hemamalini had sternly resolved to exclude all thought of Ramesh from her mind lest she should be tempted to swerve from her duty, and this self-denying ordinance had cost her many a hard mental struggle. She had never been able definitely to map out her future course of conduct. When she finally determined to regard Nalinaksha as her spiritual preceptor and to order her life according to his teaching, she supposed that her object was attained. But when this marriage was proposed and she essayed to root out the old love from its lurking-place in the innermost recesses of her heart she realized how ineradicable it really was. A threat to sever the old attachment was enough to make Hemamalini cling to it in her despair more resolutely than ever.

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              Annada Babu had rented a bungalow in a secluded part of the cantonment out side the Benares city.
            On his arrival in Benares city he had learned that Nalinaksha's mother, Kshemankari, was suffering from pneumonia. As a result of Hemamalini's unremitting care the illness of the old lady started subsiding, though she was left deplorably weak. Kshemankari was so rigid on her ceremonial purity that she could not take from the hands of the Brahmo girl such potions and nourishment and as such Hemamalini could offer no assistance. She had been accustomed to cook her own food, and now Nalinaksha prepared the invalid's diet and served up all her meals, greatly to his mother's distress.
          Austere as Kshemankari was in respect of her own comfort and personal adornment, she had a keen eye for order and personal beauty Of Hemamalini and the old lady pictured as her daughter-in-law and nurtured a day-dream. Undue insistence on ritual she considered unbecoming in Nalinaksha as she strongly disapproved of his austere mode of life.
       The old lady started feeling the comfort of the company of Hemamalini and thoroughly enjoyed loosening her long tresses and braiding them afresh in some ever-novel fashion She even went the length of unlocking her ebony chest and tricking the girl out in the bright- colored garments that she loved. Dressing-up was a game in which she took heartfelt delight.  Almost every day Hemamalini spent the evening with old lady in learning needlework.
       Kshemankari was also very fond of reading Bengali novels and Hemamalini brought all her books and periodicals that she possessed. Hem marvelled at the shrewdness of the old lady's comments on the stories and essays ; she had always imagined that such discrimination could only be the product of an English education. The witness of her discourse and the piety of her mode of life made Nalinaksha's mother appear a very wonderful woman in Hemamalini's eyes. There was nothing commonplace or conventional about her, and Hemamalini's intercourse with her was a series of delightful surprises to the girl.
      Kshemankari succumbed to another attack of fever, but this bout did not last so long as the last. One morning during her convalescence, when Nalinaksha came in and saluted her like dutiful son by touching her feet, he took the opportunity to urge her to allow herself to be treated as invalid. Her usual austerities, he observed, were not suited to a person in her condition.
       "So, I'm to renounce my old habits while you proceed to renounce the world altogether ?" cried the old lady. "My dear Nalin, you can't keep up this farce any longer. Kindly do as your mother tells you and get married !"
        Nalinaksha was silent and Kshemankari proceeded : "You see, my dear, this old lady of mine won't last much longer. I shan't die happy unless I see you married I look forward to your marrying of a girl whom I could train myself. I had visions of dressing her up to suit my own ideas. There is no saying how long I shall live, and I can't take for granted that my remaining lease of life will be a long one. It would not be fair to leave you with an uninformed girl on your hands. Much better marry someone one whose age is nearer to your own. I lay awake every night, while I had fever, thinking this out. I feel very strongly that this is the last duty that I owe to you, and I must live to perform it, otherwise my mind will never be at rest."
       "But where am I to find a girl who would settle down contentedly with me ?" asked Nalinaksha.
       "Don't trouble your head about that. I'll arrange matters for you and you'll know the result in good time."
        Kshemankari had never personally encountered Annada Babu, for she had always remained in her customary seclusion when he visited her house. That day , however, when the old gentleman looked in during his evening constitutional, she intimated that she wished to see him ; and no sooner was he ushered into her presence than she went straight to the point.
       "Your daughter," she began, "is a very charming girl, and I am exceedingly fond of her. You both know my son Nalin. His character is irreproachable and his professional reputation is high. Do you agree with me that you might have difficulty in finding a better husband for your daughter ?"
        "You really mean this ?" exclaimed Annada Babu. "Why, I never dared to hope for such a thing. I should certainly consider myself very lucky to have Nalinaksha for a son-in-law, but what is Nalinaksha's opinion about this proposal ?"       

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             The information which he had received from Chandra Mohan afforded Akshay much food for thought.
            "What can be at the bottom of it," he asked himself. "So Ramesh has been practising at Ghazipur, has he ? He succeeded in covering his tracks pretty well ! What can have induced him to throw  up his practice and to have the effrontery to show his face again in this street ? He's bound to discover sooner or later that Annada Babu and Hemamalini are in Benares ; then he will make the bee-line for the place."
          Akshay resolved to visit Ghazipur in the meantime and to collect all possible information there ; after that he would proceed to Benares and seek an interview with Annada Babu.
         It thus happened that on a December afternoon shortly afterwards Akshay might been seen alighting at Ghazipur, bag in hand.
        He commenced enquiry about Ramesh Babu by tackling the shopkeepers in the market ; but exhaustive inquiries convinced him that no lawyer of that name was known to the tradesmen.
        He next tried the courts, He found a beturbaned Bengali pleader at the court and he accosted that lawyer with the remark, "Excuse me, sir. I'm looking for one Ramesh Chandra Chaudhuri, a Bengali pleader who came here recently ; do you happen to know where he lives ?"
        He was informed that Ramesh had lived for some time in Uncle's house, but whether he was still there or not the pleader did not know ; his wife was missing and it was believed that she had been drowned.
       Akshay now directed his steps to Uncle's house.
      "I see Ramesh's game now," he mused as he went along ; "his wife is dead and he will now proceed to demonstrate to Hemamalini's satisfaction that he never had a wife. In her present frame of mind Hemamalini will believe anything that he hears from Ramesh. These over-righteous folk are really terrible fellows when one penetrates their secrets !" and Akshay mentally congratulated himself on his own integrity.
       Questioned by Akshay regarding Ramesh and Kamala, Uncle was unable to control his emotion and tears flowed from his eyes.
       "As you are a special friend of Ramesh " he said, "you must have known that dear girl Kamala intimately ; so you will not be surprised to hear that I had only known her for a day or two when I completely forgot that she was not one of my own daughters. How could I have foreseen that the dear girl would inflict such a terrible blow on one whom she had so thoroughly captivated in so short a time ?"
       "The whole thing seems to me inexplicable," replied Akshay in feigned sympathy. "It's obvious that Ramesh can't have treated her well."
        "Ramesh is a friend of yours and you mustn't take offence at what I say ; but to tell the truth, I've never been able to understand him. He's a pleasant enough fellow to talk to, but it's impossible to know what's going on in his mind. He must be abnormal, otherwise one can't explain how he could neglect such  a charming little wife as Kamala. She was so true to him that though she and my daughter were as intimate as two sisters she never breathed a word against her husband. My daughter could tell very well at times that Kamala was brooding over something, but to the end she never got a word out of the child. It breaks my heart, as you may well imagine, to think what a girl like her must have suffered before she took the final plunge. The cruelest feature is that I happened to be away in Allahabad at that time. Had I been on the spot I do not believe she would have had the heart to desert me."
        Next morning Uncle conducted Akshay to Ramesh's bungalow and together they visited the scene of Kamala's disappearance.
       When they returned to Chakrabartt's house Akshay remarked, "Do you know, sir, I can't feel as certain as you that Kamala actually committed suicide by drowning herself in the river. I'm inclined to believe that she ran away from home. We ought to have thorough search made for her."
       Uncle leapt up from his chair in his excitement, "you may be right," he exclaimed, "it's by no means improbable."
        Akshay suggested that there was a family known to him and Ramesh very intimately and it's possible that Kamala took shelter with them.
        "Why, Ramesh never told me that !" cried Uncle, his natural buoyancy reasserting itself. "Had I known, I should certainly have made inquiries from those people." They proposed to visit Benares together to make fullest possible investigation.
         Akshay imagined that with Uncle's testimony to corroborate he would be able to succeed in making his plan of  proving Ramesh's double-dealing and making Hemamalini believe him.   

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           After supper, however, they drew their chairs into the lamplight and sat for leisurely chit-chat and Ramesh had at last an opportunity to explain his errand.
         "Well, Jogen," he began,"your intuition must tell you what has brought me here. You once asked me a question which at the time I was unable to answer. There is no longer anything to prevent my answering it."
         Ramesh relapsed into silence. After a few moments he proceeded slowly to relate the whole story of his connection with Kamala from beginning to end. At times he choked and his voice trembled, and at certain points he stopped altogether. Jogendra heard him out in silence.
        When he had finished Jogendra sighed.
        "Had you told it all to me that day I couldn't have believed it !"
        "It's just incredible to-day as it was then. I want you to come with me to the village where I was married ; then I'll take you on to Kamala's uncle's house."
        "I refuse to stir a step. I'm ready to believe every word you say without moving from this chair. I had always been in the habit of trusting you implicitly and you must forgive me for my one departure from a lifelong custom."
         Jogendra rose from his chair and the two old friends embraced.
         When Ramesh found his voice he went on :
         "Fate involved me in such an inextricable web of falsehood that I could see no remedy except to draw everything into its meshes. Now that I am clear of it and have nothing more to conceal I can breath freely again. I don't know to this day, and am never likely to know, what induced Kamala to commit suicide, but this much is certain, it was the only possible solution for her. The pair of us were in such a tangle that I shudder to think of the difficulties with which we should ultimately have been faced had she not cut the Gordian knot in this way. She was snatched suddenly and unexpectedly out of the jaws of death, and as suddenly and unexpectedly she disappeared into them again !"
        "You needn't take it for granted that Kamala committed suicide. However the way is clear for you, so far as that is concerned. There's only the question of Nalinaksha now," and Jogendra proceeded to discourse on Nalinaksha. "I don't understand that type of person," he said, "and what I don't understand I don't like ; but a lot of people are the other way about ; what they don't understand appeals to them most. That's why I'm afraid of Hem. Things began to look bad when she gave up tea and wouldn't eat meat or fish. Then her eyes lost their old sparkle and even when one said something cutting she only smiled sweetly. However, if I have your help, we'll rescue her in no time, you may be sure of that. So gird  on your armour and the two of us will join battle against the ascetic."
         Ramesh laughed. "I haven't much reputation as a fighting-man, but I'm ready. Hadn't I better go ahead myself."
       "No, no, that would never do. It was I who broke off your engagement and I must renew it again by my own efforts. I can't let you go on with the advance-guard and rob me of so congenial a task," offered Jogen.

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             Ramesh was not long gone when Akshay arrived. When Jogendra left Calcutta he had requested Akshay to visit the house occasionally during the family's absence.
            Akshay never neglected a duty that he had undertaken, and he made a practice of dropping in at odd times to see that one or other of the two bearers was duly guarding the premises.
           When Akshay made a visit there Chandra Mohan informed him that Ramesh Babu was there a few minutes ago. Chandra also gave him whatever information that he had gathered about Ramesh.
           Ramesh returned to his lodgings, musing as he went :
          "Fate continues to make terrible game of me ! My relations with Kamala on the one hand and Nalinaksha's with Hemamalini on the other would make a plot for a novel- and a crude one  at that ! Such a mix-up is worthy of an author like Fate, who will stick at nothing ! It is in real life that the most extraordinary things happen ; things that the most hardened novelist would never dare to spring on the public as his own invention !" Nevertheless he now felt himself free from the worst of his entanglement. When it came to composing a finale to the last chapter of his intricate life's history Fate would surely not be too hard on him !
          Jogendra living in a house near the landowner's residence, on one Sunday morning, found a man from the bazar brought him a note. Opening it, he found that Ramsh had written to say that he was waiting in a shop at Bisaipur and he had something important to communicate.
         Jogendra dashed up to the shop to find Ramesh. He had parted from Ramesh in anger after a stormy scene, but that was long ago, and when the friend of his boyhood suddenly appeared in these wilds he could not send him abruptly to the right-about. Jogendra was actually pleased at the thought of meeting Ramesh, nor was his mind free from curiosity. It would do no harm to see him, especially as Hemamalini was far away.
       He found Ramesh sitting alone on an upturned kerosene tin in a grocer's shop. Jogendra went forward at once, grasped Ramesh by hand and drew him to his feet.
       "I really can't cope with you !" he cried, "you are as diffident as ever. Why couldn't you come straight to my quarters instead of sticking in a grocers shop half-way ? One would think you enjoyed the aroma of treacle and the perfume of fried rice !"
       Taken aback by this greeting, Ramesh merely smiled. Jogendra hurried him off, keeping up an incessant flow of talk.
       "The theologians may preach what they like," he said, "but to me the workings of Providence are inscrutable. Look at me ! I was brought up in a city to be a thorough townsman, and now I'm cast into this howling wilderness to starve my soul among the clods !"
       "It's not a bad place at all," remarked Ramesh, looking round.
        Jogendra expressed his dissatisfaction expressing, "I'm trying hard to intensify the solitude by driving away the only companionable soul in the place ! For a time I was absolutely stifled with excessive peace of mind here. But at present I'm at daggers drawn with the secretary of the school committee, and after the sample of my temper that I've given the landlord he won't be in a hurry to attack me again. He wanted to employ me as his trumpeter in the English newspapers, but I made it quite plain to him that I'm my own master. It's not my virtues that keep me on here. The Joint Magistrate thinks a lot of me, so the landlord is afraid to turn me out. Some day I'll see in the Gazette that the Joint has been transferred to some other district. Then I'll know that my sun has set and that the days of my headmastership at Bisaipur are numbered. "
         They reached Jogendra's quarters, where Ramesh at once subsided in to a chair.
         "Don't sit down yet," said Jogendra. "I haven't forgotten your prejudice in favor of a morning bath. Go and have your tub now. Meanwhile I'll prepare fresh tea as an excuse to indulge in a second brew of tea."
        The whole day passed in eating, talking, and resting, and Jogendra never gave Ramesh a chance to mention the important business which had brought him to Bisaipur.      

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             Ramesh's future was now a blank. He had nothing to look forward to, no regular work, no settled habitation. It must not be supposed that he had completely forgotten Hemamalini. Rather, he had cast the thought of her aside.
           "The cruel blow that Fate has dealt me has made me permanently unfit for this world's affairs," he said to himself. "A blasted tree is out of place in a green wood."
           He sought relief in travel and flitted restlessly from place to place. He surveyed pageant of the Benares ghats from a boat on the Ganges. He proceeded to Delhi and ascended  the Kutub Minar ; thence to Agra, where he visited the Taj Mahal in the moonlight. From Amritsar, with its Golden Temple, he journeyed to Rajputana and made pilgrimage to the shrines on Mount Abu. Neither body nor mind had any rest while the roaming spirit possessed him.
         But the last nostalgia set in and his thoughts turned to home-the peaceful home of his childhood, now almost forgotten, and the ideal home of his whilom imagination. When the call became too insistent, the wanderings by which he had hoped to assuage his misery came to a sudden end. He secured a seat in the next Calcutta-bound express and with a prodigious sigh took his place in the train.
       Ramesh had been some days in Calcutta before he nerved himself to set foot in Kalutola. One day he went as far as the entrance to the lane in which he had lived, and on the following evening he summoned up courage and marched up to the front door of Annada Babu's house. All the doors and windows were shut and barred, and there were no signs of human occupancy. It occurred to him that the bearer Sukhan might have been left behind to guard the empty house, and he knocked at the door several times and called to the bearer, but there was no response. A neighbor, Chandra Mohan, who was sitting in his porch smoking a hookah, now hailed him : "Hallow, Ramesh Babu, is that really you ? How are you ? None of Annada Babu's people are at home."
          "Do you happen to know where they've gone, sir ?" asked Ramesh.
          "I can't say. They're gone somewhere up-country, that's all I can say," he told.
          "Which of them went there ?"
          "Annada Babu and his daughter," replied Chandra.
          "Do you know for certain that no one else went with them," he asked further.
          "Yes, I'm quite sure of that ; I saw them start," affirmed Chandra.
          Ramesh could contain himself no longer. "Some one told me ," he proceeded, "that a gentleman called Nalin Babu accompanied them."
         "Your informant was wrong. Nalin Babu stayed for some time in your old lodgings there, but he started for Benares several days before Annada Babu left Calcutta," confirmed Chandra Mohan.
         Ramesh then proceeded to draw out Chandra Mohan on the subject of this Nalin Babu, and was informed that his full name was Nalinaksha Chattopadhyay ; he was supposed to have had a practice in Rangpur, but was now living with his mother in Benares.
        After a short pause Ramesh asked if Chandra Mohan knew where Jogen was at the moment. He was told that Jogendra had gone to a place called Bisaipur, in Mymensingh, where he was headmaster of a high school established by a landowner of the place.
      Chandra Mohan now began to question in turn. "I haven't seen you for a long time, Ramesh Babu," he remarked. "Where have you been all these days ?"
       Ramesh saw no reason for further concealment. "I went to practise in Ghazipur," he answered.
       "Are you going to make your home there ?"
       "No, I don't mean to settle down there after all. I haven't decided where to go next." 

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               Bipin and Ramesh drove straight to the bungalow in Ramesh's carriage and tackled Bishan again. By their united efforts they succeeded at last in eliciting from him the following meagre details :
             Later in the afternoon Kamala had started off alone towards the river. Bishan had offered to accompany her, but she had declined his escort and had given him a rupee. He had then taken his post at the gate to guard the bungalow and while he was there a toddy-tapper had come along carrying a pot of a fresh-drawn toddy, frothing and bubbling over. As to what happened after that Bishan had no clear recollection !
           He pointed out the path  which Kamala had taken on her way towards the Ganges. Ramesh, Bipin and Umesh set forth in search of Kamala, Umesh darting frenzied glances from side to side. The Three reached the river-bank, halted there on the simmering sand in the morning sun, but not soul was in sight.
         Umesh called aloud, "O mother, where are you ?" but there was no response except from the echo which flung back the words from the high bank across the wide river.
        Prowling around Umesh espied a white object in the distance, and darting towards it, found a bunch of keys wrapped in a handkerchief lying at the water's edge.
        It was indeed Kamala's bunch of keys. Close to where the keys lay the stream had left a small deposit of alluvium and in the soft mud they descried the deep prints of two little feet leading towards the water. A glistening object in the shallow water caught Umesh's roving eye. He drew it out and it proved to be a small enamel brooch mounted in gold, Ramesh's gift to Kamala.
       Realizing that all the indications pointed clearly towards the Ganges, Umesh broke down completely. He leapt into the shallow water shrieking, "Mother, O mother !" and plunged again and again below the surface like a mad creature, groping with his hands at the bottom till the water was turbid.
       Ramesh was too dazed to utter a word and it was Bipin who called to Umesh :
       "What are you doing ? Come out of that !"
       "I won't come out," sputtered Umesh. "Oh, mother, how could you go and leave me like that ?"
        Bipin had really no call to be nervous, for the boy could swim like a fish and could hardly have drowned himself if he had tried. He wearied at last of floundering in the water, and emerging from the river, wallowed on the sand, weeping bitterly.
       Bipin laid his hand on Ramesh's shoulder to arouse him from his stupor.
       "Come, Ramesh Babu," he said, "we're only wasting time here. We'll send word to the police and they'll make all possible inquiries."
       No one in Sailaja's entourage had any food or sleep that day and the house resounded with cries of grief.
       Fishermen were engaged to drag the river thoroughly and the police scoured the whole country side. Special inquiries were made at the railway station, but no Bengali girl answering to Kamala's description had been seen entering the night train.
       Uncle arrived that afternoon, and when he heard a detailed account of the occurrence and of Kamala's strange behavior prior to her disappearance, he became convinced that she had committed suicide by drowning.
       So utterly stupefied was Ramesh by the catastrophe that he could not shed a single tear.
       He returned to the river after sunset, and standing on the spot where the keys had been found, gazed once more at the little footprints. Then he removed his shoes, girt up his waist-cloth, and wading out into the river, took from its box the necklace that he had brought from Allahabad and flung it into the midstream.
       He remained no longer in Ghazipur, but the inmates of Uncle's house were so prostrated by the sad event that at the time no one missed him.

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            Ramesh returned to Ghazipur from Allahabad at an early hour in the morning. The streets were almost empty and in the piercing cold he drove along the deserted thoroughfare to his bungalow being conscious of nothing but the pulsations of his eager heart.
           He stopped his carriage at the gate and alighted ; Kamala must have heard the sound of the wheels and would be awaiting him on the verandah. He had brought with him from Allahabad a costly necklace which he intended to throw over her neck himself, and he now took the box containing this ornament out of the pocket of his overcoat. As he approached the bungalow, however, he found all the doors closed and the bearer Bishan sleeping peacefully on the verandah. He paused for a moment in chagrin, then shouted to Bishan by name, in the hope that the sound would penetrate indoors and awaken another sleeper. This was a cold welcome for one whom excitement had kept awake half the night !
          Repeated shouts failed to awaken Bishan and finally Ramesh had to shake him. The bearer sat up and gazed round for a second or two in bewilderment.
          "Is your mistress at home ?" asked Ramesh.
      For a moment Bishan looked puzzled, then the purport of the question suddenly dawned on him.
          "Yes, she's at home," he murmured drowsily, and falling back composed himself to sleep again.
        The door opened at a push. Ramesh entered and glanced into one room after another, but all were untenanted.
       He shouted "Kamala !" but there was no response.
       He made the round of the garden, going as far as the nim-tree, and searched the kitchen, the servants' quarters, and the stables, but Kamala was nowhere to be found.
       In the meantime the sun had risen, the crows had begun to caw, and two or three village girls had appeared, carrying jars on their heads, in quest of water from the well of the compound.
        Returning to the bungalow, Ramesh found that Bishan was once more buried in slumber. Bending down and shaking the sleeper vigorously Ramesh noticed that his breath smelt strongly of toddy. The rough handling partially restored Bishan to his senses and he scrambled to his feet.
        "Where is your mistress ?" inquired Ramesh.
        "Why,surely she's in the house," came the reply.
        "Nonsense, she's not there," shouted Ramesh.
        "She certainly came here yesterday," was the reply.
         "Where did she go after that ?", asked Ramesh.
        Bishan merely gaped, and at that moment Umesh appeared, gorgeously attired in Kamala's finery, with eyes bloodshot from want of sleep.
         "Where is mother, Umesh ?" inquired his master.
         "She has been here since yesterday."
         "Where have you been ?"
         "Mother sent me to see the play at Sidhu Babu's."
         "What about my fare, sir ?" interjected the driver at this point.
        Ramesh leaped into the carriage and drove straight to Uncle's house. Every thing there was in confusion, and his first thought was that Kamala had taken ill, but he was mistaken. Late in the evening Umi had suddenly commenced to scream, her face had turned blue, and her hands and feet had become cold as ice, to the great alarm of all the elders. The whole household had been kept busy attending to her and no one had had a wink of sleep. Ramesh jumped to the conclusion that Kamala had been called in to assist in nursing the sick child and he remarked to Bipin accordingly ; "Kamala must be greatly worried about poor little Umi." Bipin did not know for certain whether Kamala had come over during the night or not, so he simply nodded and answered, "Yes, she was very fond of the child and she must certainly be anxious. However the doctor says there is no cause for alarm."
        Reassuring as this might be, Ramesh's lively hopes had received a check ; he felt correspondingly depressed and it seemed to him some malevolent agency was working against his union with Kamala.
       Umesh now arrived from the bungalow. The boy had free access to the zenana and Salaja was very fond of him.
       Seeing him enter the house and approach her room, she had hastened to the door to warn him against wakening the child, when to her astonishment he asked where Kamala was.
        "Why, dear me, you went off with her to your house yesterday !' said Sailaja. "I thought of sending Lachminia to her last night, but Umi's sickness prevented that."
        "And she's not here now ?" groaned Umesh.
        "What do you mean ?" snapped out Saila. "Where were you all night ?"
        "Mother wouldn't let me stay with her. When we got to the bungalow she packed me off to Sidhu Babu's to see the play," replied Umesh.
        "You're a fine fellow ! Where was Bishan ?"
        "Bishan knows nothing at all. He drank too much toddy last night."
        "Call my husband then, be quick about it."
         Saila showed all her concern about the whereabouts of Kamala to her husband requesting him to be on the job of searching for Kamala immediately.      

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              Finding the state of her father Hemamalini rose and went over to him, "don't be angry, dad," she murmured. "It was kind of Jogen to offer me a cup of tea and I'm not offended in the least. Come now, you must take something. I know tea doesn't agree with you unless you eat something with it," and she brought a plate of cakes and laid it before him.
           Annada Babu began to eat very slowly.
          Hemamalini returned to her own seat and was on the point of drinking out of the cup that Jogendra had poured. Jogendra immediately rose and took the cup from Hemamalini, then, turning to his father, he said, "I am sorry, please forgive me."
         Annada could not command his voice sufficiently to reply and tears gathered in his eyes. Jogendra and Akshay slipped quietly out of the room. After a few mouthfuls Annada Babu also rose, took his daughter's arm, and tottered upstairs.
        That night he had an attack of acute pain. The doctor was called in and announced that the patient was suffering from internal inflammation ; a stay of a year or six months at least, in some bracing locality up-country might restore his health completely.
       "Hem, dear," said the old man when the pain was easier and the doctor had departed, "let us go to Benares and stay there for a while."
        The same idea had simultaneously occurred to Hemamalini.
        Since Nalinaksha's departure she had become conscious of certain weakening in her devotions. So long as he was at hand she had found her austerities an unfailing solace, and the glow of steadfast piety and tranquil kindliness that illuminated his face had served, as it were, to confirm her faith.
        In his absence it seemed as though her zeal had suffered an eclipse, albeit on the day after his departure she had striven hard against her own inclinations and had attempted to follow his precepts with redoubled keenness. Lassitude had however inevitably set in and generated such despair that she could restrain her tears no longer.
       At the tea-table she had nerved herself to the exercise of hospitality, but a weight had been pressing on her heart and the pain of the old memories reasserted itself in a still more formidable guise. The consciousness that she was without prospect and the impulse to cast herself adrift in desperation returned. Her father's proposal was accordingly most opportune and she embraced it eagerly.
      "Yes, let us go there, dad !" she exclaimed.
       Noticing the bustle of preparation next day Jogendra asked what was up, and his father informed him  that he and Hemamalini were going up-country.
       "Where to ?" inquired Jogendra.
       "We'll tour about a little before we settle down," replied Annada, who shrank from admitting to his son that their destination was Benares.
        "Sorry I can't come with you," said Jogendra, "I have sent in my application for that head-mastership and I'm waiting for an answer."     

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                  Nalinaksha had never visited them so early in the morning and Hemamalini glanced up expectantly at his face. He explained that he had just heard from Benares that his mother was ill ; he would have to leave Calcutta by the night train, and as the whole day would be taken up with preparations for the journey he had come thus early to bid them farewell.
              "I'm greatly distressed to hear of your mother's illness," said Annada Babu. "May Heaven soon restore her to health. I shall never be able to repay you for all the help you have given us during the past weeks."
             "It's I who am in your debt, I assure you," Nalinaksha replied.  "You showed true neighborly feeling in the trouble that you took to make me comfortable next door. Moreover your earnestness has given a new meaning to the profound problems on which I have been meditating some time past. Your manner of life has been an inspiration to me in my speculations and my devotions and has made them appear doubly efficacious. The benefit to be derived from communion with fellow-creatures who share the same aspirations has been brought home to me."
          "Nalin Babu ! Before we knew you, we stood in sore need of something that we could not define. At this juncture you suddenly appeared on the scene and I realized that your help was indispensable. As soon as we heard from Jogen, it was in the nature of miracle that Hem, who never shared the craze for attending and listening to speeches, accepted to the meeting of you without the slightest demur-quite an unprecedented thing, I assure you ! What had happened then was in the nature of a miracle. We are greatly in debt."
         "Let me tell you something in my turn," replied Nalinaksha, "I have never disclosed the intimate facts of life to any one but yourselves. To reach the highest pitch of truthfulness one must lay bare all secrets and it is your help that has enabled me to comply with this insistent requirement. Accordingly you have been indispensable to me."
          Hemamalini, though took no part in the conversation, sat in silent contemplation till Nalinaksha was about to take leave and simply said, "Be sure to let us know how your mother is," and as he rose to depart she prostrated herself before him.
          Akshay had given the house a wide berth of late, but, after Nalinaksha's departure for Benares, Jogendra brought him to tea again. Akshay hoped to gauge from Hemamalini's behavior to what extent the memory Ramesh still obsessed her thoughts,but as a matter of fact she appeared perfectly at ease.
          "We have seen very little of you lately," she remarked with unaffected friendliness.
          "Do you think I'm worth seeing every day ?" he retorted.
          "Well, " laughed Hemamalini, "If you really think one shouldn't pay calls unless one is worth seeing many of us would have to spend our days in solitude !" She poured out a cup of tea for each one of the three including her father.
         "Aren't you going to have any tea ?" asked her brother.
          Hemamalini knew that she must expect a scolding from Jogendra, but she answered with a perfect composure, "No, I've given up tea."
          "So you've turned ascetic in right earnest. Tea-leaves don't contain enough of true spiritual essence, I suppose ? This really is the limit !  Never mind if drinking a cup of tea does interrupt your penance. The most lasting things don't endure for long, so why make fuss about trifles" ; and he poured out another cup and placed it before Hemamalini.
           Leaving it untouched, she exclaimed,"Why, dad, you've taken nothing with your tea ! Won't you eat anything ?"
           Annada Babu's voice and hands trembled with anger as he replied, "Believe me, dear, If I tried to eat anything now it would choke me. I've been trying for a long time to submit in silence to Jogen's rudeness and I'm reduced to such a state that, if I spoke, I should say something in the heat of the moment for which I should be sorry afterwards."  


    

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               Sorrow is an emotion which is not content to exist merely as a certain frame of the mind. It seeks to find an outlet in the performance of some difficult task. Daily contact with Nalinaksha had laid bare to Hemamalini her own failings of character and she strove passionately to follow in the track that he had indicated. As time went on she became more and more enamored of the idea of subjecting herself, after the fashion of a devotee, to a stern self-discipline which in itself would serve as a support.
             Hemamlini found a great relief when she formed the resolution to follow in Nalinaksha's footsteps and subject herself to an austere ordinance and a fleshless diet. In pursuance of her decision she stripped her room bare. Carpet and rugs were lifted and stored away, and her bed was hidden behind a screen. Every day she sprinkled water on the floor with her own hands and swept it clean. A flower-bowl was the only ornament that she retained. After bathing she would dress in spotless white and seat herself on the floor, while the sunshine poured unobstructed through the open windows and flooded the room, and she steeped her whole being in the light and winds of heaven.
          Annada Babu could not rise to the same height of religious ecstasy as as his daughter, but he rejoiced at the radiance that her self-imposed discipline imparted to Hemamalini's face. When Nalinaksha visited the house it was on the floor of Hemamalini's room that the trio sat and held converse.
         Jogendra voiced his disapproval loudly. "I don't know what has come over you all," he snarled. "Between the three of you you've made nearly the whole house holy ground ; there's hardly a spot where a fellow like me can set foot."
        Hemamalini would have been offended deeply by her brother's taunts, but now, though Annada Babu's temper occasionally gave way under the lash of Jogendra's sarcasm, Hemamalini followed Nalinaksha's lead and merely smiled sweetly. That her acquaintances derided her austerity as mere eccentricity she new full well, but her trust in Nalinaksha and her admiration for his ideals armed her against all mankind and she faced the world unabashed.
         One morning she had bathed and finished her devotions and was sitting in the solitude of her chamber before the open window, absorbed in meditation, when Annada Babu ushered in Nalinaksha. Hemamalini's heart was full to overflowing. With a gesture of reverence, due only to an honored parent or a venerated preceptor, she prostrated herself before each in turn and touched the dust of their feet, much to Nalinaksha's confusion.
        Annada Babu, however, reassured him. "Don't be embarrassed, Nalinaksha Babu," he said, "she is only doing what is right."          

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               It was told that Nalinaksha was a saintly person and spends the whole day praying and studying the scripture and in the opinion of his acquaintances he was a person of noble character. He had politely declined drinking even tea when offered in Annada Babu's house saying that it was his mother's view of maintaining strict ceremonial purity and he had to avoid any act that would impair the intimacy of their relations. he said, however, he enjoyed the company of people enjoying the pleasure from drinking tea habitually. Hemamalini could not forbear gazing at him in reverent admiration, and her heart went out to him when she observed the expression of grave and earnest devotion that lit up his face the moment he mentioned about his mother. She was conscious of an impulse to question him about his mother, but diffidence forbade.
          Nalinaksha's acquaintance with Annada Babu and his daughter soon ripened to intimacy. Before she knew him, Hemamalini had supposed that Nalinaksha's discourse would be confined to spiritual matters and she had never imagined that one could converse as freely with him on every-day topics as one could with ordinary people. She soon found that he was quite capable of light conversation, and yet in the midst of the most animated talk he retained an air of aloofness.
         Jogendra had, however, become skeptical of the spiritual practices of Nalinaksha and had a dig ; "why, Nalin Babu, your own friends and relations won't be allowed to visit you without being dubbed your 'disciples'. One can't laugh away an insult like that. I've been told that you breath through nostrils ilke a yogi, and gaze at the rising sun, and that you can't eat or drink without all sorts of ceremonial. The result is that you are out of place of common public. You really should give up these practices of yours."
        Nalinaksha offered an explanation ; "well,Jogen Babu, I admit that the man who is out of place in ordinary society must be a fault, but human being finds scope for exhibiting his own peculiar pattern out side society must not be deprived him of that liberty. But what astonishes me is how people can see and find opportunity to discuss what I do out of public eye in the privacy of my own room."
       "Nalin Babu, it is when one does unconventional things, even in supposed privacy, the people would take notice. Observe ordinary conventions and no one will waste a glance on you. Your proceedings on the roof your house are noticed by my sister and she told my dad," objected Jogendra.
       Nalinaksha appeared to have got offended by the remarks of Jogendra.       

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                 Jogendra was not impressed by Nalinaksha's lecture and by the actions of Akshay he understood Akshay was so prejudiced against Ramesh that he tried to make everybody believe that he was the first one to see through Ramesh. Jogendra said that he didn't care for Nalinaksha and he would not help Akshay in making any efforts in the manner of diverting the attention of his father and sister towards Nalinaksha.
            Annada Babu was in the habit of constantly swallowing nostrums prescribed by physicians of both the western and the indigenous schools of medicine. Now, however, he had lost all inclination for drugs. His health was affected but he never made any allusions to his bodily ailments. While her father had fallen asleep in his chair from utter weariness, Hemamalini to her dismay found that Jogendra had brought Nalinaksha home with him ! She was on the point of taking refuge in another room when Jogendra interposed.
            "Hem !" he called to her, "I've brought Nalinaksha Babu. Let me introduce him to you."
           Hem stood still in confusion while Nalinaksha approached and bowed without raising his eyes to her face.
          Meanwhile Annada Babu had awakened and called for his daughter. Hem re-entered the room and announced in a whisper that "Nalinaksha Babu" was there.
          Jogendra ushered in his guest and Annada Babu bustled forward to greet him.
         "We are indeed fortunate !" he exclaimed, "in having a visit from you. Hem, dear, don't run away ; sit down here. Nalinaksha Babu, this is my daughter Hem. She and I were to hear your address the other day and enjoyed it greatly. There was one thing you said-about never loosing what we have once gained and incomplete gain being really a loss-that struck me as a very profound truth. Don't you agree, Hem ? The real test comes when a thing passes out of our possession. Then we know whether it was truly our own or not. I have a request to make of you, Nalin Babu. If you could drop in now and then for a talk we should consider it a great favor. We don't go out much. You may be certain of finding my daughter and myself in this room at whatever hour you call."
        Meanwhile Jogendra excused himself and departed as he was not in the habit of sitting still for long in one place.
        Nalinaksha threw one glance at Hemamalini's self-conscious face before he came with a reply :
        "You mustn't imagine me a solemn prig because I used a lot of long words on the lecture-platform. It was only because the students insisted that I consented to lecture at all-I never could withstand importunate people-but I think I have successfully deterred them from asking for a repetition of the dose ! The lads make no secret of the fact the that most of my address was incomprehensible to them."
        When Nalin Babu was at the point of leaving Annada Babu asked him where he was residing. Nalinaksha laughed.
        "I can't say that I'm living in any particular place at the moment. I have a great many acquaintances and they drag me about with them. I like it well enough, but one requires a little peace and quiet now and then, so Jogen Babu has taken rooms for me in the house next to this. This lane of yours is certainly a restful place."
        Annada Babu was hugely gratified at this announcement, but if he had happened to glance at his daughter he would have noticed a momentary spasm of pain pass over her countenance. The next-door house was the one in which Ramesh had lived.  

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            Annada Babu and Hemamalini returned from the meeting late in the afternoon.
           "Well, that was indeed a treat," remarked the old gentleman as he seated himself at the tea-table. His mind was so busy that when Hemamalini slipped upstairs after tea he failed to notice her departure. He found Nalinaksha astonishingly young and boyish on the platform. Although he had attained maturity his countenance retained the freshness of youth. Withal he had an air of mystic gravity that seemed to emanate from his inner consciousness.
         The subject of his address was "Loss", and its burden was that without loss there can be no genuine gain. What we obtain without effort is not true gain ; only what is acquired through sacrifice becomes our own in the true and inner sense. He who sees his tangible possessions glide out of his grasp is unfortunate indeed ; but in truth the human soul, in the very act of loosing, retains the power to win back with interest that which is lost.
        If when we suffer loss we can bow our heads, clasp our hands, and pronounce the words, "It is a gift-a gift of renunciation, a gift of sorrow, significance, the transient becomes the eternal, and what was a mere instrument of our daily use becomes an appurtenance of our worship, stored up everlastingly in the treasure-house of the temple of our heart.
       His words had made a deep impression on Hemamalini. As she sat in a silent reverie on the house-top, her heart was full, and earth and sky seemed to her no longer an empty void.
       As they were returning from the lecture Jogendra had remarked to Akshay :
        "Well, you've hit on a most eligible man and no mistake ! But what a mystic he is ! Half of what he said is Greek to me."
        "One has to diagnose the case before one can prescribe the medicine that the patient needs," returned Akshay. "Hemamalini is suffering from a delusion about Ramesh and it requires a mystic to arouse her from it. Did you look at her face while the fellow was spouting ?"
        Jogendra was convinced that Hemamalini heard the lecture with such a great attention that she appreciated the lecture and she would be prepared to bestow her hand on the lecturer.
        "I tell you Jogen," remarked Akshay, "if you produce any one else Hemamalini will contrast him with Ramesh and he won't come well out of the comparison. Now Nalinaksha is not like an ordinary person-it would never occur to one to compare him with any one else. If you can invent some pretext for bringing Nalinaksha here and introducing him to her she'll she will suspect nothing. Then from respectful admiration to an engagement the transition will be gradual and easy."
        "See Akshay, " came out Jogendra, "at the outset I'm not greatly impressed by the fellow. The fact of the matter is, I find Nalinaksha a trifle mysterious. I'm nervous of dealing with that kind of person. It may be a case of 'out of the frying-pan into the fire."
        Akshay gave a lecture to Jogedra to prepare him for the task :
        "Well, old man, if you get burnt it'll be your own fault. You tremble at a shadow these days. Where Ramesh was concerned you people were blind from the start. You thought the world of Ramesh-he was incapable of deceit, the greatest philosopher since Sankaracharya, the most gifted writer of the century, and so on. Personally, I never took to Ramesh ; I've seen lots like him in my time, people with the loftiest ideals. But I never dared open my mouth ; you wouldn't have believed that a worthless incompetent like myself could have any motive but jealousy in criticizing such a genius. I dare say you realize by this time that these supermen are best worshiped from afar ; it's hardly safe to betroth one's sister to them. However, to return to the main issue, remember the Sanskrit proverb, 'One thorn drives out another'. What I propose is the only course open to us at present, and you mustn't cavil at it."


   

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          Annada Babu regretted his outburst at the tea-table and temporary loss of his usual composer ; and when Jogendra went upstairs he greeted Jogendra accordingly with more than his customary heartiness.
         "Come along, Jogedra, come and sit down, lad !"
         "Look here , dad," began Jogendra, "you and Hemamalini never seem to stir out of the house nowadays. Staying indoors all day can't be good for you."
        "Well,well," replied Annada, "we've always been stay-at-home folk. Besides, one has to cudgel one's brains for an excuse to take Hem out."   
     "Come now, dad," put in Hemamalini, "you mustn't put the blame on me. You know I'm quite ready to go  anywhere with you." She tried to have them believe that she took a lively interest in all that happened outside.
       "Well,dad, " said Jogendra, "there's to be a meeting to-morrow ; you had better take Hem to it."
       Annada Babu was aware of Hemamalini's constitutional distaste for crowded public assemblies, and instead of answering he looked across at his daughter for guidance.
      "A meeting !" she cried, with a forced animation. "Who is the speaker to be ?"
      "Doctor Nalinaksha. He is a remarkably fine speaker, and what's more he has a most extraoridinary history. Such self-denial ! Such constancy ! He's a man in a million," told Jogendra, and yet two hours before he had known nothing of Nalinaksha save one vague rumor !
     "Well, dad," said Hemamalini, with a display of alacrity, "we must certainly go and hear this paragon."
      Annada was by no means convinced by Hemamalini's show of eagerness ; still he was sensible of a certain relief and Hemamalini would regain her normal tone. The society of one's fellow-men is the surest remedy for mental disorders.
        "All right," he said, "you take us to the meeting to-morrow and see that we're there in good time ; but tell me what you know about Nalinaksha. One hears so many different stories about him."
       Jogendra commenced with a tirade against scandal-mongers in general.
       "The ultra-religious," he began, "believe that Heaven entrusted them at birth with a licence to slander and abuse their fellow-men indiscriminately. There's no one more uncharitable and malevolent than these piety-merchants !" and Jogendra's indignation boiled over.
       "I'm with you ; I'm with you," repeated Annada soothingly. "To be always discussing his neighbors'failings makes a man sour, narrow-minded, and suspicious."
       "Hello, dad !" exclaimed Jogendra, "are you having a dig at me ? I'm not like these pious folk, you know ; I can praise as well as blame. I'm quite prepared to tell a man my opinion of him to his face and back it up with my fists if necessary !"
       "Don't be foolish, Jogen," Annada hastened to reply ; "of course, I wasn't thinking of you. Surely I know you by this time !"
        Jogen now launched forth into the story of Nalinaksha, lavishing on his subject all the eulogy at his command.
        "It was to make his mother happy," he concluded, "that Nlinaksha subdued his natural insticts and went live in Benares ; and all these friends of yours, dad, have seized the opportunity to invent scandalous stories about him. Personally, I admire his conduct. What do you say Hem ?"
        "I'm of your opinion," said Hemamalini.
        "I knew that Hem would approve of his action," resumed Jogendra. "I haven't the least doubt that if the occasion arose she would exercise equal self-denial to make her father happy."
        Annada cast an affectionate glance at his daughter. Hem's face turned crimson, and she dropped her eyes in confusion.    

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            In his old age Rajballabh formed a sudden resolve to marry a certain widow of his acquaintance, and nothing would alter his determination. His invariable answer to protests was : "My present wife is not my true consort, for she does not share my faith ; it would be positively wrong to abstain from marrying a woman who, in conduct and religion, in heart and mind, will be one with me."
          In spite of a general chorus of disapproval Rajballabh insisted on marrying the widow according to Hindu rites.
         Nalinaksha's mother prepared to leave her husband and migrate to Benares. Nalinaksha was then in private practice at Rangpur. He at once threw up his practice and announced to his mother his intention of accompanying her to the holy city.
        "My son," said the old lady with tears in her eyes, "our ideas are at variance. Why should you put yourself to unnecessary discomfort."
         "There will be no variance," replied Nalinaksha, who felt keenly the stigma cast on his mother by his father's betrayal and had determined to make her happiness his prime object. He accompanied her to Benares accordingly. At an early opportunity she inquired if he did not intend to marry.
          Nalinaksha was in a quandary : "Why should I, mother ?" he asked. "I'm very well as I am."
          The mother's intuition divined the cause of his hesitation. In cutting himself off from his former circle he had renounced much, but he was not prepared to go the length of marrying outside the Brahmo connection.
         Anxious not to stand in his way, she replied, "My dear boy, you can't take a vow of celibacy on my account. Marry whomsoever you please ; you need not fear opposition from me."
        Nalinaksha thought the matter over for a day or two, then announced his decision.
        "Mother," he said, "I'm going to present you with a daughter-in-law after your own heart, a dutiful little girl with whom you will never find yourself out of harmony and whose conduct will never cause you a pang"; and he departed for Bengal in search of a bride.
       As to what happened after that, accounts were divergent. One story was that he made a secret expedition to some country place and married an orphan girl who died immediately afterwards ; but other chroniclers cast doubts on this version. Personally, Akshay believed that he had been on the point of marrying, but had changed his mind at the eleventh hour.
      However that might be, Akshay was of opinion that Nalinaksha's mother would raise no objectons to the proposed match, in fact she would be delighted if he married the girl of his heart, and so charming a bride as Hemamalini would be far to seek. Moreover Hem's lovable disposition would inevitably impel her to treat her mother-in-law with respect that was her due and to avoid carefully any cause of offence. With very short acquaintance with Hem wold convince Nalinaksha that she possessed the ncessary qualifications.
    Akshay's advice accordingly was to introduce the young people to each other as early as possible.      

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            Having got the impression that Hemamalini was not inclined to the proposal of himself to be the person for her husband Akshay came with a suggestion :
            "Well, we needn't assume that I'm the only marriageable young man in the world. Of course if you were your sister things would be different and my ancestors would not be anxiously counting the days till I cease to be a bachelor. But as it is , what we really want is a suitor who will meet her taste-not one on whose appearance she flies off to air the clothes !"
        " One can't go into a shop and order a bridegroom," expressed Jogen.
         "You're very easily discouraged. Though our real object is to find a husband for Hemamalini still, if you are too precipitate, the whole thing will end in smoke. You mustn't broach the subject of marriage prematurely or you'll scare both parties away.Let their acquaintance ripen gradually and watch your opportunity to make a proposal," suggested Akshay.
        "Sound tactics," admitted Jogendra, "but tell me his name."
        "You don't know him well, but you've seen him-Doctor Nalinaksha !" said Akshay.
         "Nalinaksha !" wondered Jogen.
        "You seem surprised ! There is some scandal about him in the Brahmo Samaj, but never mind that. You wouldn't so eligible a catch slip out of your hands on that count, I'm sure," suggested Akshay.
         "If I once got any one so eligible into my hands, I shouldn't worry about the rest ! Do you suppose, however, that Nalinaksha would consent ?" doubted Jogendra.
          Akshay came with a proposal, "You know, Nalinaksha is to deliver a lecture to-marrow. Take Hemamalini to hear him. The fellow is a real orator. There's nothing like eloquence to attract women. I don't say he would if you sprang a proposal on him to-day ; but time works marvels !"
         "But look here, you must tell me Nalinaksha's history ; I want to know more about him," said Jogendra.
          "All right, Jogen, I'll tell you his history, but if you discover a flaw somewhere you mustn't let that worry you. A slight flaw is an advantage in my opinion ; it brings within one's means an article that would otherwise be too expensive," told Akshay.
           Nalinaksha's story, as told by Akshay, may be summarized as follows:
           His father Rajballabh was a petty landholder in the neighborhood of Faridpur. At the age of thirty Rajballabh joined the Brahmo Samaj sect. His wife, however, refused to embrace her husband's new faith, and she resolutely went her own way, taking every precaution to maintain her ceremonial purity. Naturally Rajballabh found his wife's attitude extremely unpalatable. Their son Nalinaksha's missionary zeal and remarkable eloquence procured his admission into the fold of the Brahmo Samaj at an early age. He entered the provincial medical service and lived the usual nomadic life of the government servant in Bengal. Wherever he went he left behind him a reputation for upright conduct, professional skill, and fervid piety.
 

  

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           Jogendra threw a shawl round his shoulder and made straight for Akshay's house, where he found his friend immersed in an English work on book-keeping. Jogendra flung the book aside, "Never mind that just now ; we have to fix a day for your wedding."
          "Good Lord !" exclaimed Akshay.
          Next morning when Annada Babu descended the stairs, boiling water was ready for preparing the morning tea.  He started sipping his tea with his usual deliberation while he smacked his lips over the flavor and chatted to his daughter and began to drain his cup with unnecessary haste.
        "Are you in a hurry to go out, dad?" asked Hemamalini in surprise.
        "Oh no ! when the weather is cold I like to drink my tea straight off ; the hot tea brings out the sweat and does one good," replied her father ; but before the desired perspiration appeared Jogendra entered the room with Akshay at his heels.
        Akshay had bestowed special attention on his toilet ; in his left hand he carried a book in a brown paper wrapping ; and a handsome watch-chain adorned his bosom. Instead of taking his usual place at the table he drew a chair up beside Hemamalini's and observed with a smirk, "Your clock is fast to-day."
        Hemamalini neither looked in his direction nor vouchsafed any reply.
        "Hem, dear, let us go upstairs," said Annada Babu, "we must put my winter clothes out in the sun."
        "You needn't be in such a hurry, dad," expostulated Jogedra, "the sun won't run away. Hem, won't you pour out a cup of tea for Akshay ? I want some too, but visitors first, you know !"
         Akshay laughed and turned to Hemamalini. "Did you ever see such self-sacrifice ? He's a regular Sir Philip Sidney !"
         Without taking the slightest notice of Akshay's facetiousness Hemamalini poured out two cups of tea, handed one to Jogendra, pushed the other towards Akshay, and caught her father's eye.
         "If we wait any longer it'll be too hot on the roof," said Annada Babu. "Come along Hem, we had better go upstairs at once."
          "Oh, bother the clothes !" exclaimed Jogendra, "Akshay came to --"
          Annada Babu's anger blazed up. "You two are just trying to bully us ! When a person is suffering mental tortures you have no right to try to browbeat her into compliance with your wishes. I have endured it without protest for days on end, but I can stand it no longer. Hem, dear, in future you and I will have our tea together upstairs."
        He essayed to draw Hem out of the room, but she interposed quietly, "Don't go just yet, dad. You haven't finished your tea. Akshay Babu, may I inquire what the contents of that mysterious parcel are ?"
        "Not only may you ask , but you may solve the mystery for yourself," and Akshay held the package to her.
         Hem removed the wrapper and disclosed a copy of Tennyson bound in morocco. She started as if struck and turned pale. Once before had she received just such a present. Unknown to others , she treasured in a drawer upstairs a copy of the same edition of Tennyson in identical binding.
        Jogendra smiled. "The mystery has not been entirely solved yet," and he opened the book at the title page and showed it to his sister ; on the page was written : "To Srimathi Hemamalini as a token of Akshay's esteem."
        Hemamalini dropped the book like a hot potato and averted eyes from it. "Come, dad, " she said, and  father and daughter left the room.
        Jogendra's eyes blazed. "I can't stay a moment longer under this roof !" he exclaimed. "I'll clear out and earn my living as a school-master somewhere."
        "You're taking it too much to heart, old man," said Akshay. "I told you, you know, that in my opinion  you were mistaken. I yielded to your insistence, but I'm convinced now that Hemamalini will never care for me. You must put that idea out of your head. If we want to do the right thing, our next task must be to make her forget Ramesh."
        "That's true enough ; how are we to proceed though ?" 

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          On hearing the reply of Hemamalini Jogendra's tone softened at once. "Hem, dear,you mustn't be angry with me. We know one another since we were children, and I'm quite aware how sensitive you are and how fond you are of dad." And he departed in quest of his father.
        Annada Babu was sitting in his room. His conscience had been troubling him as he pictured Jogendra bullying his sister, and he had been on the point of rising to interrupt their conversation when Jogendra entered. He waited his son to begin.
       "Dad, Hem has agreed to marry," Jogendra began. "Perhaps you think that I put a good deal of pressure on her to obtain her consent, but I didn't as a matter of fact . She won't object now to marry Akshay if only you tell her distinctly that she must do it."
        "Am I to tell her ?"
        "Yes ; you can hardly expect her to come of her own accord and say, 'Am I to marry Akshay ?' If you hesitate to speak to her yourself you can authorize me to communicate your orders to her."
        "Certainly not !" exclaimed Annada Babu at once. "I'll say to her myself what there is to be said ; but why are you in such a hurry ? I think we should wait for a few days."
        "No dad ; if we wait, something is sure to come in the way. We can't go on like this any longer."
         None of the family could cope with Jogendra when he was in earnest ; he would never take his hand from the plough, and even Annada Babu went in inward fear of him.
         "All right, I'll speak to her ," he said, with the idea of shelving the question.
         "No time like the present, dad," said Jogendra ; "she's sitting there waiting for you. Try to get it settled to-day."
          "Well, wait here, Jogen, and I'll see her alone."
         "All right, you'll find me here when you come back."
         Annada Babu found Hemamalini sitting alone in darkness in the room and she rose hurriedly from a chair. In a moment or two a tearful voice said, "The lamp went out, dad. Shall I tell the bearer to light it ?" but Annada knew full well that the lamp had not been extinguished accidentally.
        "Never mind, dear," he said, "we don't need a light" ; and he groped his way to a chair beside his daughter's.
        "You are not taking enough care of yourself, dad," said Hemamalini.
        "And with good reason, dear. My health is alright, so it needs no care. It's you that ought to take care of yourself." He further added, "you know what is in my thoughts just as though you were my own mother ; and you've always done what I wanted without being told. If a father's wholehearted blessing is of any avail you will be happy all your days."
        "Won't you keep me with you, dad ?" asked Hem.
        "Of course I will."
        Hemamalini pleadingly asked, "May I stay with you as long as Jogen remains unmarried anyway ? Who is going to look after you if I'm not there ?"
       "Look after me ? Never mind that,dear. I'm not worth it."
       "The room is very dark, dad ; I must fetch a light. We've been so upset the last few days that you haven't had the newspaper read to you, "she interrupted from the discussion," I shall read now to you."
        Annada Babu got up . "All right, dear ; just wait a minute ; you'll read it to me when I come back," and he returned to Jogendra. What he intended to say was ; "I couldn't mention it to-day ; we had better wait till to-morrow" ; but when Jogendra burst out, Well, dad, what happened ? Did you speak to her about getting married ?" he hastened to reply, "Yes, I've spoken to her" ; he was afraid that otherwise Jogendra would renew the attack on Hemamalini.
       "She consented of course ?"
        "Yes, in a way."
        "Well, I'll go and tell Akshay," cried Jogendra.
        "No, no, don't say anything to Akshay yet !" said his father hurriedly. "We plan to go up-country till she is mentally unburdened from the disturbing thoughts of her marriage ; it'll be better to keep the things in abeyance till we return."