Haralal lay down on the floor of the same room, with the key under his
pillow, and went to sleep. He dreamt that Venu's mother was loudly
reproaching him from behind the curtain. Her words were indistinct, but
rays of different colours from the jewels on her body kept piercing the
curtain like needles and violently vibrating. Haralal struggled to call
Venu, but his voice seemed to forsake him. At last, with a noise, the
curtain fell down. Haralal started up from his sleep and found darkness
piled up round about him. A sudden gust of wind had flung open the
window and put out the light. Haralal's whole body was wet with
perspiration. He relighted the lamp and saw, by the clock, that it was
four in the morning. There was no time to sleep again; for he had to get
ready to start.
After Haralal had washed his face and hands his mother called from her
own room,--"Baba, why are you up so soon?"
It was the habit of Haralal to see his mother's face the first thing in
the morning in order to bring a blessing upon the day. His mother said
to him: "I was dreaming that you were going out to bring back a bride
for yourself." Haralal went to his own bedroom and began to take out the
bags containing the silver and the currency notes.
Suddenly his heart stopped beating. Three of the bags appeared to be
empty. He knocked them against the iron safe, but this only proved his
fear to be true. He opened them and shook them with all his might. Two
letters from Venu dropped out from one of the bags. One was addressed to
his father and one to Haralal.
Haralal tore open his own letter and began reading. The words seemed to
run into one another. He trimmed the lamp, but felt as if he could not
understand what he read. Yet the purport of the letter was clear. Venu
had taken three thousand rupees, in currency notes, and had started for
England. The steamer was to sail before day-break that very morning. The
letter ended with the words: "I am explaining everything in a letter to
my father. He will pay off the debt; and then, again, my mother's
ornaments, which I have left in your care, will more than cover the
amount I have taken."
Haralal locked up his room and hired a carriage and went with all haste
to the jetty. But he did not know even the name of the steamer which
Venu had taken. He ran the whole length of the wharves from Prinsep's
Ghat to Metiaburuj. He found that two steamers had started on their
voyage to England early that morning. It was impossible for him to know
which of them carried Venu, or how to reach him.
When Haralal got home, the sun was strong and the whole of Calcutta was
awake. Everything before his eyes seemed blurred. He felt as if he were
pushing against a fearful obstacle which was bodiless and without pity.
His mother came on the verandah to ask him anxiously where he had gone.
With a dry laugh he said to her,--"To bring home a bride for myself,"
and then he fainted away.
On opening his eyes after a while, Haralal asked his mother to leave
him. Entering his room he shut the door from the inside while his mother
remained seated on the floor of the verandah in the fierce glare of the
sun. She kept calling to him fitfully, almost mechanically,--"Baba,
Baba!"
The servant came from the Manager's office and knocked at the door,
saying that they would miss the train if they did not start out at once.
Haralal called from inside, "It will not be possible for me to start
this morning."
"Then where are we to go, Sir?"
"I will tell you later on."
The servant went downstairs with a gesture of impatience.
Suddenly Haralal thought of the ornaments which Venu had left behind. Up
till now he had completely forgotten about them, but with the thought
came instant relief. He took the leather bag containing them, and also
Venu's letter to his father, and left the house.
Before he reached Adharlal's house he could hear the bands playing for
the wedding, yet on entering he could feel that there had been some
disturbance. Haralal was told that there had been a theft the night
before and one or two servants were suspected. Adhar Babu was sitting in
the upper verandah flushed with anger and Ratikanta was smoking his
hookah. Haralal said to Adhar Babu, "I have something private to tell
you." Adharlal flared up, "I have no time now!" He was afraid that
Haralal had come to borrow money or to ask his help. Ratikanta suggested
that if there was any delicacy in making the request in his presence he
would leave the place. Adharlal told him angrily to sit where he was.
Then Haralal handed over the bag which Venu had left behind. Adharlal
asked what was inside it and Haralal opened it and gave the contents
into his hands.
Then Adhar Babu said with a sneer: "It's a paying business that you two
have started--you and your former pupil! You were certain that the
stolen property would be traced, and so you come along with it to me to
claim a reward!"
Haralal presented the letter which Venu had written to his father. This
only made Adharlal all the more furious.
"What's all this?" he shouted, "I'll call for the police! My son has not
yet come of age,--and _you_ have smuggled him out of the country! I'll
bet my soul you've lent him a few hundred rupees, and then taken a note
of hand for three thousand! But I am not going to be bound by _this_!"
"I never advanced him any money at all," said Haralal.
"Then how did he find it?" said Adharlal, "Do you mean to tell me he
broke open your safe and stole it?"
Haralal stood silent.
Ratikanta sarcastically remarked: "I don't believe this fellow ever set
hands on as much as three thousand rupees in his life."
When Haralal left the house he seemed to have lost the power of dreading
anything, or even of being anxious. His mind seemed to refuse to work.
Directly he entered the lane he saw a carriage waiting before his own
lodging. For a moment he felt certain that it was Venu's. It was
impossible to believe that his calamity could be so hopelessly final.
Haralal went up quickly, but found an English assistant from the firm
sitting inside the carriage. The man came out when he saw Haralal and
took him by the hand and asked him: "Why didn't you go out by train this
morning?" The servant had told the Manager his suspicions and he had
sent this man to find out.
Haralal answered: "Notes to the amount of three thousand rupees are
missing."
The man asked how that could have happened.
Haralal remained silent.
The man said to Haralal: "Let us go upstairs together and see where you
keep your money." They went up to the room and counted the money and
made a thorough search of the house.
When the mother saw this she could not contain herself any longer. She
came out before the stranger and said: "Baba, what has happened?" He
answered in broken Hindustani that some money had been stolen.
"Stolen!" the mother cried, "Why! How could it be stolen? Who could do
such a dastardly thing?" Haralal said to her: "Mother, don't say a
word."
The man collected the remainder of the money and told Haralal to come
with him to the Manager. The mother barred the way and said:
"Sir, where are you taking my son? I have brought him up, starving and
straining to do honest work. My son would never touch money belonging to
others."
The Englishman, not knowing Bengali, said, "Achcha! Achcha!" Haralal
told his mother not to be anxious; he would explain it all to the
Manager and soon be back again. The mother entreated him, with a
distressed voice,
"Baba, you haven't taken a morsel of food all morning." Haralal stepped
into the carriage and drove away, and the mother sank to the ground in
the anguish of her heart.