ANNADA BABU looked up anxiously as Ramesh reentered the room.
“If you give me the list of guests,” said Ramesh, “I’ll write to them all to-day about the change of date.”
“Then you’re determined to put it off?”
“Yes, there’s nothing else for it.”
“Well, look here, lad,” said Annada Babu, “remember I wash my hands of this. You must make all the arrangements yourself; I decline to make myself a laughing-stock. If you choose to make the business of marriage a sort of children’s game, then a man of my age can have nothing to do with it. Here’s your list of guests. I’ve spent a good deal of money already, and much of it will be wasted. I can’t afford to throw away money like that.”
Ramesh declared himself quite ready to bear all expenses and to make all arrangements.
He made as if to rise, when Annada Babu went on: “Have you decided where to practise after you’re married, Ramesh? Not in Calcutta, I suppose?”
“No, I want to find some suitable place up-country.”
Annada Babu. “Up-country? That’s a sound idea. Etawah isn’t a bad place at all. The climate suits one’s digestion very well. I spent a month there once and I found I could eat twice as much as I can here. You see, lad, she’s my only daughter, and we should never be happy apart. That’s why I want you to choose a healthy place.”
Ramesh having offended him, Annada Babu took the opportunity to press certain of his own somewhat exacting demands. In his present frame of mind Ramesh would have readily agreed to migrate to Cherra Punji or the Garo Hills, or any such mist-drenched mountain-top, if Annada Babu had suggested it instead of Etawah.
“Very good,” he said, “I’ll join the Etawah bar,” and he departed after undertaking to countermand the invitations.
No sooner had he gone than Akshay appeared and learned from Annada Babu that Ramesh had postponed his wedding for a week.
Akshay. “Really? He can’t do that! Why, it’s to be the day after to-morrow.”
Annada. “He shouldn’t be able to do it. Ordinary people don’t do that sort of thing; but with you modern young men anything is possible!”
Akshay assumed an air of portentous gravity, and his mind began to work rapidly. At length he went on:
“When you think you’ve found a good husband for Hemnalini you shut your eyes to all possibilities. Everything should be ascertained about the man a daughter is to be entrusted to for life. No caution can be dispensed with, even if he be an angel from Heaven.”
Annada. “If a lad like Ramesh has to be suspected, then no one in the world can be trusted.”
Akshay. “Has he given you any reason for the postponement?”
“No, he gave us no reason,” said Annada Babu, rubbing his head. “When I asked him he said he had important business.”
Akshay turned away to hide a smirk. “He has given his reason to your daughter, I suppose?”
Annada. “I suppose he has.”
Akshay. “Wouldn’t it be as well to have her in and make sure?”
“It would,” and Annada Babu shouted for Hemnalini. When she came in and saw who was present she took up a position behind her father where Akshay could not see her face.
“Has Ramesh given you any reason for putting off the wedding?” asked Annada Babu.
“No,” and Hemnalini shook her head.
Annada Babu. “Didn’t you ask him?”
Hemnalini. “I did not.”
Annada Babu. “What an extraordinary thing! You’re just a pair! He comes in and says, ‘I haven’t time to be married yet,’ and you say, ‘All right, we’ll be married some other day,’ and then you drop the subject.”
Akshay now ranged himself on Hemnalini’s side. “After all,” he said, “when a person clearly indicates that he doesn’t want to give his reasons one can hardly question him further. If it had been anything that he could divulge, Ramesh would have told you of his own accord.”
Hemnalini flushed angrily. “I don’t want to hear third parties’ opinions on the subject. Personally, I am quite satisfied with things as they are,” and she hurried out of the room.
Akshay turned green, but he forced a smile. “That’s the way of the world — try to do a friend a service and a scolding is your reward. It only illustrates what a priceless thing true friendship is. I consider it my duty as a friend to express my suspicions of Ramesh, however much you dislike me and revile me for so doing. I can’t rest easy when I see any trouble threatening you. It’s a weakness of mine, I must admit. However, Jogendra will be here to-morrow. If after he has heard the whole story he has no anxiety on his sister’s account, then I won’t say another word.”
Annada Babu fully realised that this was the psychological moment for asking Akshay what Ramesh’s conduct really meant; but he who probes a mystery may let loose a whirlwind, and the old gentleman was constitutionally averse to such an operation.
He vented his feelings on his visitor. “You’re too suspicious, Akshay! When you have no proof why should you—”
Akshay had remarkable power of self-control, but successive rebuffs had at last worn out his patience. “Look here, Annada Babu,” he burst out, “you’re imputing all sorts of vile motives to me! You insinuate that I bear a grudge against your future son-in-law and that I’m suspecting an innocent man. I’m not clever enough to teach ladies philosophy, and I can’t boast of any ability to discuss poetry with them; I’m quite an ordinary sort of fellow; but I’ve always been fond of and devoted to you and your family. Though I can’t vie with Ramesh Babu in any other respect, I pride myself on never having had anything to conceal from you. I am capable of displaying rags to you and begging for a copper, but not of burgling your house. You’ll know to-morrow what I mean.”