Kamala took a lantern and went downstairs. Her limbs trembled, her heart fluttered, and her hands had turned cold and clammy. She dreaded lest her perturbation should blind her vision.
She slid back the bolt, veiled her face, opened the door, and stood on the threshold confronting Nalinaksha.
"Is Mukunda Babu at home ?" he asked.
"No ; please come in," replied Kamala.
Nalinaksha entered the sitting-room and had just settled into a chair when Budhiya appeared and delivered the message that had been entrusted to Kamala.
Kamala's lungs seemed to be on the point of bursting ; she tottered to a position on the verandah which offered her a clear view of Nalinaksha and sank down there to allow the tumult in her bosom to subside. Her throbbing heart combined with the piercing cold to set her quivering from head to foot.
Kamala gazed intently at Nalinaksha sitting in the circle of light of oil lamp musing and she stood shivering in the darkness in verandah. Tears welled up incessantly clouding her vision, but she hastily wiped them away She threw her whole soul into her gaze till it seemed that its magnetic attraction must draw Nalinaksha into the focus her being. The light shone on his lofty brow and composed features. Every lineament stamped and impressed itself on Kamala's heart till her entire frame grew benumbed and appeared to melt into encircling space. There was nothing before her save his face in the circle of light. All else was unreal, everything around it seemed to fade away and resolve itself into that one countenance.
Kamala fell into a half trance from which she awoke suddenly to find that Nalinaksha had risen to his feet and was conversing with Mukunda Babu. At any moment the two men might move into the verandah and catch her eavesdropping, so she hurried away and took refuge in her kitchen. The kitchen opened on to a small courtyard through which any one leaving the house must pass.
Kamala waited with body and brain on fire. How could such a man be husband to a miserable wretch like herself ! There was something god-like in the unruffled serenity and gracious beauty of his countenance. Conscious that her sufferings had not been in vain she bowed herself again and again in thankfulness to Heaven.
Steps were heard descending the stairs and Kamala hurried across the unlighted doorway. Budhiya passed carrying a lamp with Nalinaksha following him across the courtyard. Kamala found herself apostrophizing him in the language of poets.
"My lord, thy handmaiden is a slave under a stranger's roof ; thou passest her by and wottest not of it."
She watched Mukunda Babu leave the sitting-room and she crept into the room that he had vacated. She prostrated herself before Nalinaksha's chair, touched the ground with her forehead, and kissed the dust. Alas ! that she was debarred from serving him ! Her heart was sick with the consciousness of devotion thwarted.
Next day Kamala learned that the doctor had prescribed for Mukunda Babu a prolonged stay at some health resort hundreds of miles west of Benares ; preparations for the journey had already been set on foot.
Kamala went straight to her mistress.
"I'm afraid I cannot leave Benares," she announced.
"We can ; why can't you ? You've become very devout all of a sudden !" said Nabinkali, who supposed that Kamala made religion a cloak for her reluctance to leave the holy city.
"You may say what you like, but I intend to remain here," said Kamala, "I implore you not to take me away."
"You really are a terror ! We have everything ready to start when you get some bee in your bonnet," said Nabinkali impatiently, "how on earth are we to find another cook at a short notice ? We can't possibly dispense with you."
Kamala's entreaties were of no avail ; she shut herself into her room and wept and prayed alternately.
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