WHEN Hemnalini returned from Kshemankari’s she found a large thick envelope addressed to her on the sitting-room table. She knew by the handwriting that it was from Ramesh. Her heart beat fast as she took it to her bedroom, shut the door, and read the contents. —
Ramesh had given her the whole story of his connection with Kamala, keeping nothing back. In conclusion he had written: “Circumstances have severed the tie with which Heaven linked your life and mine. You have now given your heart to another. For that I do not blame you at all, but neither must you blame me. Although Kamala and I never lived for a single day together as man and wife still I ought to confess to you that as time went on I became more and more drawn to her. Precisely what the state of my feelings is now I do not myself know. If you had not cast me off my heart would have found its sure haven in your love. It was with that hope that in my distracted state I hastened to you. But when you so obviously avoided me because you no longer cared for me, and when I heard that you had consented to marry another, then all my doubts and distraction returned.
“I found that I could not forget Kamala altogether. But whether I forget or not, no one in the world except myself will suffer for it. Why, indeed, should I suffer either? I can never forget the only two women who have ever found a place in my heart, and to cherish their memory all my life will be an inestimable boon to me.
“The momentary glimpse that I had of you this morning so affected me that I returned to my quarters commiserating myself as an unfortunate wretch; but I shall never do that again. It is with a composed and indeed a cheerful mind that I bid you farewell; and I take my leave of you with a full heart. Thanks to you both and thanks to Providence I feel no misery at this hour of parting. I wish you all happiness and prosperity. Do not think harshly of me, for I have given you no cause to do so.”
Annada was disturbed at his reading by Hemnalini’s sudden entrance.
“Are you quite well, Hem?” he asked.
“Yes, dad, I’m quite well; I have had a letter from Ramesh Babu. Please take it and read it, then let me have it back;” and handing him the letter she left the room.
Annada Babu put on his spectacles and read the letter through twice. Then he returned it to Hemnalini through a servant and sat down to think. His final comment was: “Not a bad thing in a way! Nalinaksha is a much better match than Ramesh. It’s just as well that Ramesh has left the field clear.”
Next minute Nalinaksha was shown in. Annada Babu was a little surprised to see him and wondered what business had brought him, inasmuch as they had parted only a few hours before, after a long conversation. He decided that Nalinaksha must be really in love with Hemnalini, and smiled inwardly at the thought.
He was just planning to bring the young people together and then to retire on some pretext or other when Nalinaksha came straight to the point.
“Annada Babu, there is a proposal that I should marry your daughter. Before we go any further I want to tell you something which you ought to know.”
“Very well; in that case you ought to tell it.”
“You did not know that I am married already!”
“Yes, I knew, but—”
Nalinaksha. “I’m surprised to hear that you knew it already. Anyhow the point is that you suppose my first wife to be dead; but there’s no certainty about that. In fact I believe myself that she is alive.”
“I pray Heaven that may be true. Hem! Hem!”
“Yes, dad?” and Hemnalini entered the room. Annada Babu. “There’s something in that letter that Ramesh wrote to you—”
Hemnalini handed the letter to Nalinaksha. “He ought to know the whole of it,” she said, and left the room again.
Nalinaksha read the letter through. Amazement deprived him of the power of speech and he could offer no comment.
“It’s one of the saddest stories one could imagine,” Annada Babu went on. “You must have found the letter painful reading; but it would not have been right for us to keep it back from you.”
After a few moments’ silence Nalinaksha rose and took leave of Annada Babu. As he went out he noticed Hemnalini standing in the northern verandah a short distance off. The sight of her caused him a distinct shock. He wondered how she could stand there immovable, with her face so set and calm, when a storm must be raging in her breast. Her expression did not betray the workings of her mind in the slightest degree. He could not bring himself to ask her if she had any need of him and he knew that it would not be easy to obtain an answer from her. “Can I give her any consolation or not?” he asked his troubled heart. “No, the barriers set up between one human soul and another are impenetrable. What a fearfully lonely thing the soul is!”
Nalinaksha decided to go out of his way so as to pass close to her before gaining his carriage, in case she had any communication to make; but as he passed her verandah she disappeared indoors. “It is not easy for soul to meet soul,” he thought; “the tie between one human being and another is a complex thing;” and he made for his carriage with a heavy heart.
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.
Jogendra. “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. A headmaster’s work is all clear and straightforward; none of these half-lights in it!”
“But about Hem? We’ll have to decide—” began Annada Babu.
Jogendra. “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 to-morrow; I’ll have to stop at Bankipore on the way,” and he left the room abruptly.
There was nothing for Annada Babu to do but to stroke his head and ruminate; his world was again full of riddles that he could not solve.