ANNADA BABU prayed most fervently that Jogendra would bring back good tidings and that the whole misunderstanding would be cleared up. He looked up nervously when Jogendra and Akshay entered the room.
“Well, dad,” began his son, “I could never have believed that you would let Ramesh go so far. I shouldn’t have introduced him to you if I had foreseen what would happen.”
Annada Babu. “You’ve often told me yourself how pleased you would be if Ramesh married Hemnalini. If you wanted to prevent it, why — ?”
Jogendra. “Naturally I never thought of trying to prevent it, still—”
Annada Babu. “I don’t see how there can be any ‘still’ about it! One had either to let it go on or to stop it; there’s no middle course.”
Jogendra. “Still, to let it go so far—”
Akshay now broke in with a smirk, “There are some things that go forward of their own momentum; one doesn’t need to push them. They go on swelling till they’re ready to burst. Still, it’s no good crying over spilt milk. We had better decide now what to do next.”
“Did you see Ramesh?” asked Annada Babu anxiously.
Jogendra. “We did indeed. We saw him in the bosom of his family and actually made his wife’s acquaintance.”
Annada Babu was thunderstruck. “Made his wife’s acquaintance?” he repeated when he found his voice.
Jogendra. “Yes, Ramesh’s wife.”
Annada Babu. “I don’t quite understand. What Ramesh’s wife?”
Jogendra. “Our Ramesh’s! It was to be married that he went home that time.”
Annada Babu. “I thought his father’s death had knocked that on the head.”
Jogendra. “He was married before his father died.”
Annada Babu sat stroking his head, quite dumb-foundered. “In that case he can’t marry our Hem!” he said after a while.
Jogendra. “And so we want to say—”
Annada Babu. “Say what you like, the fact remains that the preparations for the wedding are almost complete. We wrote to every one saying that it couldn’t take place this Sunday and had been put off to the following Sunday. I suppose we’ll have to write now and say that it’s off altogether?”
“We needn’t put it off again; we need only make one change and our arrangements will hold good in every other respect,” said Jogendra.
“What change could you make?” asked Annada Babu in astonishment.
Jogendra. “Surely it’s obvious enough. We must substitute another bridegroom for Ramesh and carry through the ceremony next Sunday as planned. Otherwise we shan’t be able to show our faces in public,” and Jogendra glanced at Akshay.
Akshay’s eyes were bent modestly to the ground.
Annada Babu. “How are you going to find a bridegroom so soon?”
Jogendra. “You needn’t be anxious on that score.”
Annada Babu. “But you’ll need to get Hem’s consent.”
Jogendra. “She’s certain to consent when she hears how Ramesh has behaved.”
Annada Bobu. “Very well, do what you think best, but it is a pity all the same. Ramesh was quite well off and he had good brains and education as well as means. Only yesterday we settled that he should go and practise at Etawah after they were married, and look what has happened since!”
Jogendra. “Well, you needn’t trouble about that any more, dad. Let Ramesh go and practise at Etawah if he likes. I had better call in Hem at once. There isn’t much time to lose.”
He went out and returned in a minute or two with Hemnalini. Akshay took cover behind a bookcase in the corner.
“Sit down, Hem,” said Jogendra, “we have something to say to you.”
Hem took a chair without a word and resigned herself to an inquisition.
“Haven’t you noticed anything suspicious about Ramesh’s behaviour?” began Jogendra by way of breaking the news gently to her.
Hemnalini merely shook her head.
“He had the marriage postponed for a week; what reason could he have had that he could not disclose to us?”
“There must have been some reason,” said Hemnalini without raising her eyes.
“You’re perfectly right; there was a reason, but isn’t that suspicious enough in itself?”
Hemnalini signified by a shake of the head that she did not think so.
The implicit faith in Ramesh displayed by his relatives irritated Jogendra. He made no further attempt to mince matters but broke out harshly: “You remember when Ramesh went home with his father? We did not hear from him for a long time after that and naturally we thought his conduct strange. You know, too, that in the old days he lived next door to us and used to drop in twice a day, while after he returned to Calcutta he burrowed somewhere miles away and never even called. Even then you two continued to believe in him and you invited him back on the old footing. Such a thing could never have happened if I had been here.”
Still Hemnalini did not open her mouth.
Jogendra. “Did either of you make any attempt to fathom the meaning of his extraordinary behaviour? Did you never feel the slightest curiosity about it? You seem to have had very strong faith in him.”
Still Hemnalini said nothing.
Jogendra. “Very good. One is driven to the conclusion that you have a natural disinclination to suspect any one. I hope you’ll believe what I’m going to tell you now. I went personally to the girls’ school and found that Ramesh has a wife who is a boarder there, and he had arranged to leave her there for the holidays. Two or three days ago came a bolt from the blue in the shape of a letter from the headmistress saying that she couldn’t keep Kamala — that’s Ramesh’s wife — there during the vacation. The school broke up to-day, and Kamala was deposited by the school omnibus at their old rooms in Darjjipara. I went there myself and found Kamala peeling and cutting up an apple with a chopper while Ramesh was sitting on the floor in front of her taking the pieces from her and putting them in his mouth. I asked Ramesh for an explanation and he said he would tell us nothing. If he had made the least attempt to deny that Kamala was his wife we should have accepted his word and should have endeavoured to allay our suspicions, but he would neither affirm nor deny it. Can you continue to trust Ramesh after that?”
Jogendra waited for an answer with eyes on his sister’s face. She had turned strangely pale and was gripping the arms of the chair with all her strength.
Next moment her head fell forward, and she sank unconscious to the ground.
Annada Babu’s distress was pitiful. He raised his daughter’s head from the floor and laid it on his breast exclaiming, “What is it, dear, what is it? Don’t believe a word they say! It’s all a lie.”
Jogendra thrust his father aside and at once lifted Hemnalini on to the sofa. A jug of water was handy and he sprinkled drops on her face, while Akshay fanned her vigorously with a hand punkah.
Hemnalini soon opened her eyes and started up in consternation. She turned to her father crying, “Daddy, daddy, do tell Akshay Babu to go away.” Akshay promptly put the punkah down and went out into the passage.
Annada Babu sat down on the sofa beside Hemnalini and gently stroked her head and neck. He could only sigh and ejaculate, “My dear, my dear!”
Suddenly her eyes filled with tears and her bosom began to heave. She leaned her breast against her father’s knee in an attempt to repress her uncontrollable grief.
“Never mind, dear, never mind,” murmured Annada Babu in broken accents. “I know Ramesh well and he would never deceive us. Jogen must have made a mistake.”
Jogendra’s patience was at an end. “Don’t delude her with false hopes, dad,” he exclaimed. “If you try to spare her feelings now it’ll only be the worse for her in the end. Give her a chance to think it over.” Hemnalini raised her head from her father’s knee, sat up, and looked Jogendra in the face. “I tell you plainly that I’ll never believe it till I hear it from his own lips,” and she staggered to her feet. Annada Babu sprang up with an exclamation and saved her from falling.
Hemnalini took his arm and he supported her to her own room.
“Please leave me to myself for a little, dad, and I’ll go to sleep,” she said as she lay down.
“Shall I send up your old nurse to fan you?” asked her father.
“No, thank you, I should prefer to be alone.”
Annada Babu retired into the room adjoining hers. His thoughts went back to Hem’s mother, who had died when the girl was three years old, and he recalled her devotion, her patience, and her unfailing cheerfulness. His heart was torn with anxiety for the daughter for whom he had endeavoured all these years to take a mother’s place and who had grown up to be the image of the lost one. His mind pierced the physical barrier of the partition between them and he found himself mentally addressing the prostrate girl. “Dear, I pray that Heaven may remove all obstacles from your path and that you may be happy all the rest of your life. I pray that before I join your mother I may see you blissful and contented, safely installed by the hearth of a man whom you love!” and he wiped his moist eyes with the fringe of his coat.
Jogendra had always rated women’s intelligence low and the day’s events only confirmed him in his estimate. How could one cope with a sex that disregarded the clearest evidence? A woman is quite ready to deny that two and two make four if a question of individual happiness is concerned. If reason tells her that black is black and love tells her that black is white, poor reason is soundly rated. How in spite of woman the world manages to conduct its affairs Jogendra could not imagine!
He hailed Akshay.
Akshay sidled into the room. “You’ve heard everything. What is to be done now?” asked Jogendra.
“Why do you drag me into it, old man? It’s no concern of mine. I’ve kept quiet all these days. It was hardly fair play to involve me in the mess!” Jogendra. “All right, your complaint will be attended to later. In the meantime I don’t see what can be done unless we can persuade Ramesh to make a full confession to Hemnalini herself.”
Akshay. “Are you mad? Can you expect a man to — ?”
Jogendra. “It would be still better if we could induce him to write to her. That’ll be a job for you. But you’ll have to set to work at once.”
Akshay. “I’ll see what I can do.”