Hemamalini fled from Ramesh's presence into her room, closed the door, and sat down to compose herself. She experienced shame after the initial excitement of seeing Ramesh subsided. "Why was I unable to meet Ramesh Babu without loosing my composure ?" she pondered. "Why when the unexpected happened, did I make such a sorry exhibition of myself ? It takes away all confidence in my power to control emotion. I must never exhibit such instability again" ; and set out for another encounter with Ramesh Babu, saying to herself, "I will not run away this time ; I will control my feelings."
She slipped on the bangles that Kshemankari had gifted her, nerved herself for the fray, and marched out into the garden with her head erect. She met her father there and asked, "isn't Ramesh Babu here ? Isn't Jogen here ?"
"No, they've both gone," answered Annada Babu.
Hemamalini was relieved of the test of her self-controlling of her emotions that she would have been subjected to. She reminded her father of their visit to Kshemankari's house for the breakfast. When she finished her bath and dressed, asked her father if the carriage was ready, Annada Babu experienced uneasiness of eagerness of meeting the hosts and sat on the verandah rubbing his head.
It was only half-past ten when they reached Nalinaksha's house and the doctor had not returned from his rounds, so it fell to Kshemankari to entertain her guests.
The old lady, to her surprise, couldn't see the cheerfulness and gaiety on the girl's face. Kshemankari had a sensitive nature and Hemamalini's cheerless expression damped her spirits. "Most girls," she thought, "would consider themselves very lucky to get Nalin, but apparently over-education has turned this one's head and thinks herself too good for him ; the fault is mine ; I arranged for Nalin to marry a girl who is no longer a child and I made no attempt to discover her real character. The pity is that I had so little time to make her acquaintance ; but alas ! the call has already sounded for me to wind up my worldly affairs." These reflections distracted Kshemankari and found it difficult to carry on conversation with Annada Babu and she did not desire her guests to carry away the impression that her son was overjoyed at the prospect of the match. "After all," she said, "they are both of age and can exercise their own judgement ; it wouldn't do for us to press them."
In their visit of Kshemankari, Hemamalini had started feeling of terror to tread in the life stretched out before her mental vision and turned to complete lassitude. As the elders continued to exchange courtesies she became a prey to doubts of her own constancy ; and the result was that two different emotions contended within her when Kshemankari showed signs of cooling from the marriage project. On the one hand, a speedy consummation of the marriage would give her the early release that she desired from her present state of distraction and vacillation and for that reason she longed to see a definite compact made about her engagement ; and yet the hint of an abandonment of the scheme was a momentary relief to her.
After making her momentous pronouncement Kshemankari glanced at Hemamalini's face and noted the effect of her words. It seemed to her that at last the girl's expression was calmer, and in that instant her heart hardened against Hemamalini. "I was prepared to sell my Nalin very cheaply," she thought, and rejoiced that he was late in putting in an appearance.
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