After reading the letter of Ramesh Babu, Nalinaksha remained in silence for a while, took leave of Annada Babu and went away with the letter. While leaving the house he saw Hemamalini standing motionless, with her face so set and calm, when a storm must be raging in her breast. He could not bring himself to speak to her as he knew that it would not be easy to obtain an answer from her. Nalinaksha went out passing close to her before reaching the carriage, in case she had any communication to make ; but she disappeared indoors.
Nalinaksha had not been long gone when Jogendra appeared.
"All alone, Jogen !" remarked his father.
"Whom were you expecting, then ?" asked Jogendra.
"Why, Ramesh," said Annada Babu.
"One reception of the kind that you gave him is enough where gentlemen are concerned ! I don't know what he has done unless he has gained everlasting bliss by throwing himself into the Ganges at Benares. I haven't seen him again, but he left a slip of paper with 'I'm off, yours, Ramesh' written on it. I never could fathom this kind of melodrama. I'll have to be off too ; my present job suits me very well," said Jogendra with a feeling of shame and disgust.
"But about Hem ? We'll have to decide --" began Annada Babu.
"What more can I do ? I should only go on making decisions and you two would continue to upset them. I don't care for that game any longer. Please don't mix me up in it any more. Things I can't understand don't agree with me. Hem's extraordinary faculty for suddenly turning incomprehensible makes me feel powerless. I'll be leaving by the morning train tomorrow," remarked Jogendra and left the room abruptly.
A day or two later Sailaja and her father visited Nalinaksha's house. Saila and Kamala sat in a side room talking in whispers while Chakrabartti conversed with Kshemankari.
"My leave is up. I have to go back to Ghazipur to-morrow. If Haridasi annoys you in any way or if you --" started Chakrabartti.
"There you go again ! My dear sir, what can you be thinking of ? Is this a plot to get your niece back again ?" asked the old lady.
"No, I'm not that sort ; I don't take back a gift ; if it's at all inconvenient to you that I should think of taking her with us," replied Chakrabartti.
"You're not straight-forward with me at all. Nothing could be more convenient than to have perfect little house-wife like Haridasi with one ; you know that as well as I do," added Kshemankari.
"Well, well, we'll say no more about it, but I'm more worried that Nalinaksha Babu may consider her an incubus. She is proud, that lass of ours ; and if Nalinaksha drops the least hint that he is annoyed with her she'll take it very much to her heart.
"My word ! Nalin annoyed ! He is incapable of it, I assure you. It would not go against the grain for my Nalin to regard her as one of the family. Don't worry any more about it, my dear sir," assured Kshemankari.
"I'm very glad to hear you say so. Still I should like to have a special talk with Nalinaksha Babu before I go. If Heaven has endowed Nalinaksha Babu the kind of virtue, piety and manliness, then I want to convey to him that he should not proceed by keeping Haridasi at a distance through false modesty ; he should accept her and regard her without constraint as a real member of the family," expressed Chakrabartti.
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