II

Shyama Charan's treachery pierced the heart of the widow like an

assassin's knife. To the end of her life, almost every day she would

heave a sigh and say that God would never suffer such an injustice to be

done. She was quite firm in her faith when she said to Bhavani, "I do

not know your law or your law courts, but I am certain that my husband's

true will and testament will someday be recovered. You will find it

again."

Because Bhavani was helpless in worldly matters such assurances as these

gave him great consolation. He settled down in his inactivity, certain

in his own mind that his pious mother's prophecy could never remain

unfulfilled. After his mother's death his faith became all the stronger,

since the memory of her piety acquired greater radiance through death's

mystery. He felt quite unconcerned about the stress of their poverty

which became more and more formidable as the years went by. The

necessities of life and the maintenance of family traditions,--these

seemed to him like play acting on a temporary stage, not real things.

When his former expensive clothing was outworn and he had to buy cheap

materials in the shop, this amused him almost like a joke. He smiled and

said to himself,--"These people do not know that this is only a passing

phase of my fortune. Their surprise will be all the greater, when some

day I shall celebrate the Puja Festival with unwonted magnificence."

This certainty of future prodigality was so clear to his mind's eye that

present penury escaped his attention. His servant, Noto, was the

principal companion with whom he had discussions about these things.

They used to have animated conversations, in which sometimes his opinion

differed from his master's, as to the propriety of bringing down a

theatrical troupe from Calcutta for these future occasions. Noto used to

get reprimands from Bhavani for his natural miserliness in these items

of future expenditure.

While Bhavani's one anxiety was about the absence of an heir, who could

inherit his vast possible wealth, a son was born to him. The horoscope

plainly indicated that the lost property would come back to this boy.

From the time of the birth of his son, Bhavani's attitude was changed.

It became cruelly difficult for him now to bear his poverty with his old

amused equanimity, because he felt that he had a duty towards this new

representative of the illustrious house of Saniari, who had such a

glorious future before him. That the traditional extravagance could not

be maintained on the occasion of the birth of his child gave him the

keenest sorrow. He felt as if he were cheating his own son. So he

compensated his boy with an inordinate amount of spoiling.

Bhavani's wife, Rashmani, had a different temperament from her husband.

She never felt any anxiety about the family traditions of the Chowdhuris

of Saniari. Bhavani was quite aware of the fact and indulgently smiled

to himself, as though nothing better could be expected from a woman who

came from a Vaishnava family of very humble lineage. Rashmani frankly

acknowledged that she could not share the family sentiments: what

concerned her most was the welfare of her own child.

There was hardly an acquaintance in the neighbourhood with whom Bhavani

did not discuss the question of the lost will; but he never spoke a word

about it to his wife. Once or twice he had tried, but her perfect

unconcern had made him drop the subject. She neither paid attention to

the past greatness of the family, nor to its future glories,--she kept

her mind busy with the actual necessities of the present, and those

necessities were not small in number or quality.

When the Goddess of Fortune deserts a house, she usually leaves some of

her burdens behind, and this ancient family was still encumbered with

its host of dependents, though its own shelter was nearly crumbling to

dust. These parasites take it to be an insult if they are asked to do

any service. They get head-aches at the least touch of the kitchen

smoke. They are visited with sudden rheumatism the moment they are asked

to run errands. Therefore all the responsibilities of maintaining the

family were laid upon Rashmani herself. Women lose their delicacy of

refinement, when they are compelled night and day to haggle with their

destiny over things which are pitifully small, and for this they are

blamed by those for whom they toil.

Besides her household affairs Rashmani had to keep all the accounts of

the little landed property which remained and also to make arrangements

for collecting rents. Never before was the estate managed with such

strictness. Bhavani had been quite incapable of collecting his dues:

Rashmani never made any remission of the least fraction of rent. The

tenants, and even her own agents, reviled her behind her back for the

meanness of the family from which she came. Even her husband

occasionally used to enter his protest against the harsh economy which

went against the grain of the world-famed house of Saniari.

Rashmani quite ungrudgingly took the blame of all this upon herself and

openly confessed the poverty of her parents. Tying the end of her _sari_

tightly round her waist she went on with her household duties in her own

vigorous fashion and made herself thoroughly disagreeable both to the

inmates of the house and to her neighbours. But nobody ever had the

courage to interfere. Only one thing she carefully avoided. She never

asked her husband to help her in any work and she was nervously afraid

of his taking up any responsibilities. Indeed she was always furiously

engaged in keeping her husband idle; and because he had received the

best possible training in this direction she was wholly successful in

her mission.

Rashmani had attained middle age before her son came. Up to this time

all the pent-up tenderness of the mother in her and all the love of the

wife had their centre of devotion in this simple-hearted

good-for-nothing husband. Bhavani was a child grown up by mistake beyond

its natural age. This was the reason why, after the death of her

husband's mother, she had to assume the position of mother and mistress

in one.

In order to protect her husband from invasions of Bagala, the son of the

_guru_, and other calamities, Rashmani adopted such a stern demeanour,

that the companions of her husband used to be terribly afraid of her.

She never had the opportunity, which a woman usually has, of keeping

her fierceness hidden and of softening the keen edge of her

words,--maintaining a dignified reserve towards men such as is proper

for a woman.

Bhavani meekly accepted his wife's authority with regard to himself, but

it became extremely hard for him to obey her when it related to

Kalipada, his son. The reason was, that Rashmani never regarded

Bhavani's son from the point of view of Bhavani himself. In her heart

she pitied her husband and said, "Poor man, it was no fault of his, but

his misfortune, to be born into a rich family." That is why she never

could expect her husband to be deprived of any comfort to which he had

been accustomed. Whatever might be the condition of the household

finance, she tried hard to keep him in his habitual ease and luxury.

Under her rA(C)gime all expense was strictly limited except in the case of

Bhavani. She would never allow him to notice if some inevitable gap

occurred in the preparation of his meals or his apparel. She would blame

some imaginary dog for spoiling dishes that were never made and would

blame herself for her carelessness. She would attack Noto for letting

some fictitious article of dress be stolen or lost. This had the usual

effect of rousing Bhavani's sympathy on behalf of his favourite servant

and he would take up his defence. Indeed it had often happened that

Bhavani had confessed with bare-faced shamelessness that he had used the

dress which had never been bought, and for whose loss Noto was blamed;

but what happened afterwards, he had not the power to invent and was

obliged to rely upon the fertile imagination of his wife who was also

the accuser!

Thus Rashmani treated her husband, but she never put her son in the same

category. For he was her own child and why should he be allowed to give

himself airs? Kalipada had to be content for his breakfast with a few

handfuls of puffed rice and some treacle. During the cold weather he had

to wrap his body as well as his head with a thick rough cotton

_chaddar_. She would call his teacher before her and warn him never to

spare her boy, if he was the least neglectful with his lessons. This

treatment of his own son was the hardest blow that Bhavani Charan

suffered since the days of his destitution. But as he had always

acknowledged defeat at the hands of the powerful, he had not the spirit

to stand up against his wife in her method of dealing with the boy.

The dress which Rashmani provided for her son, during the Puja

festivities, was made of such poor material that in former days the very

servants of the house would have rebelled if it had been offered to

them. But Rashmani more than once tried her best to explain to her

husband that Kalipada, being the most recent addition to the Chowdhuri

family, had never known their former splendour and so was quite glad to

get what was given to him. But this pathetic innocence of the boy about

his own destiny hurt Bhavani more than anything else, and he could not

forgive himself for deceiving the child. When Kalipada would dance for

joy and rush to him to show him some present from his mother, which was

ridiculously trivial, Bhavani's heart would suffer torture.

Bagala, the _guru's_ son, was now in an affluent condition owing to his

agency in the law suit which had brought about the ruin of Bhavani. With

the money which he had in hand he used to buy cheap tinsel wares from

Calcutta before the Puja holidays. Invisible ink,--absurd combinations

of stick, fishing-rod and umbrella,--letter-paper with pictures in the

corner,--silk fabrics bought at auctions, and other things of this kind,

attractive to the simple villagers,--these were his stock in trade. All

the forward young men of the village vied with one another in rising

above their rusticity by purchasing these sweepings of the Calcutta

market which, they were told, were absolutely necessary for the city

gentry.

Once Bagala had bought a wonderful toy,--a doll in the form of a foreign

woman,--which, when wound up, would rise from her chair and begin to fan

herself with sudden alacrity. Kalipada was fascinated by it. He had a

very good reason to avoid asking his mother about the toy; so he went

straight to his father and begged him to purchase it for him. Bhavani

answered "yes" at once, but when he heard the price his face fell.

Rashmani kept all the money and he went to her as a timid beggar. He

began with all sorts of irrelevant remarks and then took a desperate

plunge into the subject with startling incoherence.

Rashmani briefly remarked: "Are you mad?" Bhavani Charan sat silent

revolving in his mind what to say next.

"Look here," he exclaimed, "I don't think I need milk pudding daily with

my dinner."

"Who told you?" said Rashmani sharply.

"The doctor says it's very bad for biliousness."

"The doctor's a fool!"

"But I'm sure that rice agrees with me better than your _luchis_. They

are too indigestible."

"I've never seen the least sign of indigestion in you. You have been

accustomed to them all your life!"

Bhavani Charan was ready enough to make sacrifices, but there his

passage was barred. Butter might rise in price, but the number of his

_luchis_ never diminished. Milk was quite enough for him at his midday

meal, but curds also had to be supplied because that was the family

tradition. Rashmani could not have borne seeing him sit down to his

meal, if curds were not supplied. Therefore all his attempts to make a

breach in his daily provisions, through which the fanning foreign woman

might enter, were an utter failure.

Then Bhavani paid a visit to Bagala for no reason whatever, and after a

great deal of round about talk asked concerning the foreign doll. Of

course his straightened circumstances had long been known to Bagala, yet

it was a perfect misery to Bhavani to have to hesitate to buy this doll

for his son owing to want of ready money. Swallowing his pride, he

brought out from under his arm an expensive old Kashmir shawl, and said

in a husky voice: "My circumstances are bad just at present and I

haven't got much cash. So I have determined to mortgage this shawl and

buy that doll for Kalipada."

If the object offered had been less expensive than this Kashmir shawl,

Bagala would at once have closed the bargain. But knowing that it would

not be possible for him to take possession of this shawl in face of the

village opinion, and still more in face of Rashmani's watchfulness, he

refused to accept it; and Bhavani had to go back home disappointed with

the Kashmir shawl hidden under his arm.

Kalipada asked every day for that foreign fanning toy, and Bhavani

smiled every day and said,--"Wait, a bit, my boy, till the seventh day

of the moon comes round." But every new day it became more and more

difficult to keep up that smile.

On the fourth day of the moon Bhavani made a sudden inroad upon his wife

and said:

"I've noticed that there's something wrong with Kalipada,--something the

matter with his health."

"Nonsense," said Rashmani, "he's in the best of health."

"Haven't you noticed him sitting silent for hours together?"

"I should be very greatly relieved if he could sit still for as many

minutes."

When all his arrows had missed their mark, and no impression had been

made, Bhavani Charan heaved a deep sigh and passing his fingers through

his hair went away and sat down on the verandah and began to smoke with

fearful assiduity.

On the fifth day, at his morning meal, Bhavani passed by the curds and

the milk pudding without touching them. In the evening he simply took

one single piece of _sandesh_. The _luchis_ were left unheeded. He

complained of want of appetite. This time a considerable breach was made

in the fortifications.

On the sixth day, Rashmani took Kalipada into the room and sweetly

calling him by his pet name said, "Betu, you are old enough to know that

it is the halfway house to stealing to desire that which you can't

have."

Kalipada whimpered and said, "What do I know about it? Father promised

to give me that doll."

Rashmani sat down to explain to him how much lay behind his father's

promise,--how much pain, how much affection, how much loss and

privation. Rashmani had never in her life before talked thus to

Kalipada, because it was her habit to give short and sharp commands. It

filled the boy with amazement when he found his mother coaxing him and

explaining things at such a length, and mere child though he was, he

could fathom something of the deep suffering of his mother's heart. Yet

at the same time it will be easily understood, that it was hard for this

boy to turn his mind away altogether from that captivating foreign

fanning woman. He pulled a long face and began to scratch the ground.

This made Rashmani's heart at once hard, and she said in her severe

tone: "Yes, you may weep and cry, or become angry, but you shall never

get that which is not for you to have." And she hastened away without

another word.

Kalipada went out. Bhavani Charan was still smoking his hookah. Noticing

Kalipada from a distance he got up and walked in the opposite direction

as if he had some urgent business. Kalipada ran to him and said,--"But

that doll?" Bhavani could not raise a smile that day. He put his arm

round Kalipada's neck and said:

"Baba, wait a little. I have some pressing business to get through. Let

me finish it first, and then we will talk about it." Saying this, he

went out of his house.

Kalipada saw him brush a tear from his eyes. He stood at the door and

watched his father, and it was quite evident, even to this boy, that he

was going nowhere in particular, and that he was dragging the weight of

a despair which could not be relieved.

Kalipada at once went back to his mother and said:

"Mother, I don't want that foreign doll."

That morning Bhavani Charan returned late. When he sat down to his meal,

after his bath, it was quite evident, by the look on his face, that the

curds and the milk pudding would fare no better with him than on the day

before, and that the best part of the fish would go to the cat.

Just at this critical juncture Rashmani brought in a card-board box,

bound round with twine, and set it before her husband. Her intention had

been to reveal the mystery of this packet to her husband when he went to

take his nap after his meal. But in order to remove the undeserved

neglect of the curds and the milk and the fish, she had to disclose its

contents before the time. So the foreign doll came out of the box and

without more ado began to fan itself vigorously.

After this, the cat had to go away disappointed. Bhavani remarked to his

wife that the cooking was the best he had ever tasted. The fish soup was

incomparable: the curds had set themselves with an exactness that was

rarely attained, and the milk pudding was superb.

On the seventh day of the moon, Kalipada got the toy for which he had

been pining. During the whole of that day he allowed the foreigner to go

on fanning herself and thereby made his boy companions jealous. In any

other case this performance would have seemed to him monotonously

tiresome, but knowing that on the following day he would have to give

the toy back, his constancy to it on that single occasion remained

unabated. At the rental of two rupees per diem Rashmani had hired it

from Bagala.

On the eighth day of the moon, Kalipada heaved a deep sigh and returned

the toy, along with the box and twine, to Bagala with his own hands.

From that day forward Kalipada began to share the confidences of his

mother, and it became so absurdly easy for Bhavani to give expensive

presents every year, that it surprised even himself.

When, with the help of his mother, Kalipada came to know that nothing

in this world could be gained without paying for it with the inevitable

price of suffering, he rapidly grew up in his mind and became a valued

assistant to his mother in her daily tasks. It come to be a natural rule

of life with him that no one should add to the burden of the world, but

that each should try to lighten it.

When Kalipada won a scholarship at the Vernacular examination, Bhavani

proposed that he should give up his studies and take in hand the

supervision of the estate. Kalipada went to his mother and said,--"I

shall never be a man, if I do not complete my education."