NEXT morning the gale had abated somewhat, but it still blew strongly. The skipper gazed anxiously at the sky undecided whether to weigh anchor or not.
Chakrabartti paid an early visit to Ramesh in the cabin next to Kamala’s. He was still in his bunk but he sat up at once when he saw Chakrabartti. Perceiving that he had spent the night there and remembering the previous evening’s incident, the old man put two and two together. “I suppose you slept here last night?” he said inquiringly.
Ramesh evaded the question. “What a wretched morning!” he observed. “How did you sleep, Uncle?”
“Ramesh Babu,” retorted Chakrabartti, “you must have been thinking me an old fool and I certainly talk like one, but I haven’t come to my time of life without having to tackle many problems. I’ve been able to solve most of them but you’re the hardest one I’ve struck yet!”
Ramesh flushed involuntarily but he quickly regained control of his features and smiled. “It isn’t a crime to be insoluble, Uncle. Take a weird language like Telegu, for instance. We’d find it difficult to grasp even the rudiments but to a Telinga child it comes as easily as winking. You mustn’t be in a hurry to condemn what you don’t understand. When one encounters strange symbols one shouldn’t look despairingly at them and give up hope of ever being able to decipher them.”
“Forgive me, Ramesh Babu,” said the old man. “It would be presumptuous of me to try and understand a man whose confidence I don’t possess; but it so happens now and then that one meets a fellow-creature with whom one becomes intimate at first sight. I cite that fellow with the beard — our skipper — as a witness. He’ll have to admit that he looks on your little lady as a dear friend. Just ask him and if he doesn’t acknowledge it he’s no true Mussulman. When things are like that it’s very hard to be brought up suddenly against a puzzle like the Telegu language. When you come to think it over, Ramesh Babu, you won’t be offended any longer.”
“It’s because I have thought it over that I’m not offended. But whether I’m offended or not and whether I’ve hurt your feelings or not, the Telegu language remains the Telegu language. It’s a cruel law of Nature,” and Ramesh heaved a sigh.
Ramesh now began to wonder whether after all it was advisable to settle in Ghazipur. His first thought had been that their intimacy with the old man would be useful when it came to setting up house in a new place, but he now felt that there were disadvantages in having local acquaintances. If his relations with Kamala became a subject of discussion and inquiry it would go hard with her eventually. It would be safer to bury themselves in some place where all were strangers and there would be nobody to ask questions.
Accordingly on the day before the steamer was due at Ghazipur he remarked to Chakrabartti, “Uncle, I don’t think Ghazipur would suit me professionally so I intend to go on to Benares.”
The note of decision in Ramesh’s tone amused the old man. “To be constantly changing one’s plans isn’t decision at all, it’s indecision! However, for the present you’ve definitely settled on going to Benares?”
“Yes,” said Ramesh curtly.
The old man went off without a word and began to pack.
“Have you taken a dislike to me to-day, Uncle?” asked Kamala slyly.
“What can you expect when we quarrel from morning to night?” he replied. “You know I’ve never got the better of you yet!”
Kamala. “You’ve been avoiding me all morning.” Chakrabartti. “Do you dare to charge me with avoiding you? Why, it’s you who are going to run away from me altogether.”
Kamala stared at him, uncomprehending. “Hasn’t Ramesh Babu told you?” the old man went on. “It has been decided that you’re going to Benares.”
Kamala neither admitted nor denied this. “You’ll never be able to do that, Uncle,” she remarked after a short pause. “Let me pack your box for you.”
Chakrabartti was deeply hurt at Kamala’s indifference to the abandonment of the Ghazipur project. “Perhaps it’s just as well,” he said to himself. “What’s the use of forming new ties at my time of life?”
Ramesh now appeared in person to announce to Kamala his change of plan. “I was looking for you,” he remarked, whereupon she began to sort and fold Chakrabartti’s clothes.
“We’re not going to Ghazipur for the present, Kamala,” Ramesh continued. “I’ve decided to start practising in Benares instead. Are you agreed?”
“No, I’m going to Ghazipur,” replied Kamala without lifting her eyes from Chakrabartti’s trunk. “I’ve packed up everything already.”
“Are you going there alone, then?” asked Ramesh, taken aback by Kamala’s decided refusal.
“Oh, no; Uncle will be there—” this with an affectionate glance at the old man.
Chakrabartti did not altogether relish the situation. “My dear,” he observed, “if you show me such partiality you’ll make Ramesh Babu jealous,” but Kamala merely repeated, “I’m going to Ghazipur.” Her tone showed that she considered herself at liberty to act as she pleased.
“All right, Uncle,” said Ramesh, “Ghazipur let it be.”
In the evening the sky cleared after the rain and Ramesh sat till late in the moonlight meditating. “We can’t go on this way any longer,” he said to himself. “The situation will become impossible if Kamala turns rebellious. I don’t see how I’m going to live with her and yet keep my distance. I can’t keep it up any longer. After all, Kamala really is my wife. I regarded her as my wife from the first, and I need have no scruples because we did not actually recite the regular formulas. Death himself gave her to me and made us one that night on the sand-bank; surely he is more potent than any earthly priest!”
Between him and Hemnalini lay a hostile army in full panoply. He must fight his way through obstacles, doubts, and disgrace before he could stand before her with head erect, and he shrank from the contemplation of the battles before him. What hope had he of victory? How could he establish his innocence? Even if he could prove himself guiltless, society would draw up, as it were, her skirts from contact with him, and the result would be so disastrous for Kamala that this course was inconceivable. Away with cowardice and wavering! There was nothing for it but to make Kamala his wife indeed. Hemnalini must now regard him with aversion — an aversion which would have the advantage of inclining her favourably to the addresses of some other suitor. Ramesh sighed and flung his hopes of Hemnalini to the winds.