Knowing that his party had insulted Kalipada almost every day, Sailen
felt reluctant to keep him in the lodging house with them. So he rented
another suitable house and kept him there. Bhavani came down in haste to
Calcutta the moment he received a letter from Sailen informing him of
his son's illness. Rashmani parted with all her savings giving
instructions to her husband to spare no expense upon her son. It was not
considered proper for the daughters of the great Chowdhuri family to
leave their home and go to Calcutta unless absolutely obliged, and
therefore she had to remain behind offering prayers to all the tutelary
gods. When Bhavani Charan arrived he found Kalipada still unconscious
and delirious. It nearly broke Bhavani's heart when he heard himself
called 'Master Mashai.' Kalipada often called him in his delirium and he
tried to make himself recognized by his son, but in vain.
The doctor came again and said the fever was getting less. He thought
the case was taking a more favourable turn. For Bhavani, it was an
impossibility to imagine that his son would not recover. He _must_
live: it was his destiny to live. Bhavani was much struck with the
behaviour of Sailen. It was difficult to believe that he was not of
their own kith and kin. He supposed all this kindness to be due to the
town training which Sailen had received. Bhavani spoke to Sailen
disparagingly of the country habits which village people like himself
got into.
Gradually the fever went down and Kalipada recovered consciousness. He
was astonished beyond measure when he saw his father sitting in the room
beside him. His first anxiety was lest he should discover the miserable
state in which he had been living. But what would be harder still to
bear was, if his father with his rustic manners became the butt of the
people upstairs. He looked round him, but could not recognize his own
room and wondered if he had been dreaming. But he found himself too weak
to think.
He supposed that it had been his father who had removed him to this
better lodging, but he had no power to calculate how he could possibly
bear the expense. The only thing that concerned him at that moment was
that he felt he must live, and for that he had a claim upon the world.
Once when his father was absent Sailen came in with a plate of grapes in
his hand. Kalipada could not understand this at all and wondered if
there was some practical joke behind it. He at once became excited and
wondered how he could save his father from annoyance. Sailen set the
plate down on the table and touched Kalipada's feet humbly and said: "My
offence has been great: pray forgive me."
Kalipada started and sat up on his bed. He could see that Sailen's
repentance was sincere and he was greatly moved.
When Kalipada had first come to the students' lodging house he had felt
strongly drawn towards this handsome youth. He never missed a chance of
looking at his face when Sailen passed by his room on his way upstairs.
He would have given all the world to be friends with him, but the
barrier was too great to overcome. Now to-day when Sailen brought him
the grapes and asked his forgiveness, he silently looked at his face and
silently accepted the grapes which spoke of his repentance.
It amused Kalipada greatly when he noticed the intimacy that had sprung
up between his father and Sailen. Sailen used to call Bhavani Charan
"grandfather" and exercised to the full the grandchild's privilege of
joking with him. The principal object of the jokes was the absent
"grandmother." Sailen made the confession that he had taken the
opportunity of Kalipada's illness to steal all the delicious chutnies
which his "grandmother" had made with her own hand. The news of his act
of "thieving" gave Kalipada very great joy. He found it easy to deprive
himself, if he could find any one who could appreciate the good things
made by his mother. Thus this time of his convalescence became the
happiest period in the whole of Kalipada's life.
There was only one flaw in this unalloyed happiness. Kalipada had a
fierce pride in his poverty which prevented him ever speaking about his
family's better days. Therefore when his father used to talk of his
former prosperity Kalipada winced. Bhavani could not keep to himself the
one great event of his life,--the theft of that will which he was
absolutely certain that he would some day recover. Kalipada had always
regarded this as a kind of mania of his father's, and in collusion with
his mother he had often humoured his father concerning this amiable
weakness. But he shrank in shame when his father talked about this to
Sailen. He noticed particularly that Sailen did not relish such
conversation and that he often tried to prove, with a certain amount of
feeling, its absurdity. But Bhavani, who was ready to give in to others
in matters much more serious, in this matter was adamant. Kalipada tried
to pacify him by saying that there was no great need to worry about it,
because those who were enjoying its benefit were almost the same as his
own children, since they were his nephews.
Such talk Sailen could not bear for long and he used to leave the room.
This pained Kalipada, because he thought that Sailen might get quite a
wrong conception of his father and imagine him to be a grasping worldly
old man. Sailen would have revealed his own relationship to Kalipada and
his father long before, but this discussion about the theft of the will
prevented him. It was hard for him to believe that his grandfather or
father had stolen the will; on the other hand he could not but think
that some cruel injustice had been done in depriving Bhavani of his
share of the ancestral property. Therefore he gave up arguing when the
subject was brought forward and took some occasion to leave as soon as
possible.
Though Kalipada still had headaches in the evening, with a slight rise
in temperature, he did not take it at all seriously. He became anxious
to resume his studies because he felt it would be a calamity to him if
he again missed his scholarship. He secretly began to read once more,
without taking any notice of the strict orders of the doctor. Kalipada
asked his father to return home, assuring him that he was in the best of
health. Bhavani had been all his life fed and nourished and cooked for
by his wife; he was pining to get back. He did not therefore wait to be
pressed.
On the morning of his intended departure, when he went to say good-bye
to Kalipada, he found him very ill indeed, his face red with fever and
his whole body burning. He had been committing to memory page after page
of his text book of Logic half through the night, and for the remainder
he could not sleep at all. The doctor took Sailen aside. "This relapse,"
he said, "is fatal." Sailen came to Bhavani and said, "The patient
requires a mother's nursing: she must be brought to Calcutta."
It was evening when Rashmani came, and she only saw her son alive for a
few hours. Not knowing how her husband could survive such a terrible
shock she altogether suppressed her own sorrow. Her son was merged in
her husband again, and she took up this burden of the dead and the
living on her own aching heart. She said to her God,--"It is too much
for me to bear." But she did bear it.
V
It was midnight. With the very weariness of her sorrow Rashmani had
fallen asleep soon after reaching her own home in the village. But
Bhavani had no sleep that night. Tossing on his bed for hours he heaved
a deep sigh saying,--"Merciful God!" Then he got up from his bed and
went out. He entered the room where Kalipada had been wont to do his
lessons in his childhood. The lamp shook as he held it in his hand. On
the wooden settle there was still the torn, ink-stained quilt, made long
ago by Rashmani herself. On the wall were figures of Euclid and Algebra
drawn in charcoal. The remains of a Royal Reader No. III and a few
exercise books were lying about; and the one odd slipper of his infancy,
which had evaded notice so long, was keeping its place in the dusty
obscurity of the corner of the room. To-day it had become so important
that nothing in the world, however great, could keep it hidden any
longer. Bhavani put the lamp in the niche on the wall and silently sat
on the settle; his eyes were dry, but he felt choked as if with want of
breath.
Bhavani opened the shutters on the eastern side and stood still,
grasping the iron bars, gazing into the darkness. Through the drizzling
rain he could see the outline of the clump of trees at the end of the
outer wall. At this spot Kalipada had made his own garden. The passion
flowers which he had planted with his own hand had grown densely thick.
While he gazed at this Bhavani felt his heart come up into his throat
with choking pain. There was nobody now to wait for and expect daily.
The summer vacation had come, but no one would come back home to fill
the vacant room and use its old familiar furniture.
"O Baba mine!" he cried, "O Baba! O Baba mine!"
He sat down. The rain came faster. A sound of footsteps was heard among
the grass and withered leaves. Bhavani's heart stood still. He hoped it
was ... that which was beyond all hope. He thought it was Kalipada
himself come to see his own garden,--and in this downpour of rain how
wet he would be! Anxiety about this made him restless. Then somebody
stood for a moment in front of the iron window bars. The cloak round his
head made it impossible for Bhavani to see his face clearly, but his
height was the same as that of Kalipada.
"Darling!" cried Bhavani, "You have come!" and he rushed to open the
door.
But when he came outside to the spot where the figure had stood, there
was no one to be seen. He walked up and down in the garden through the
drenching rain, but no one was there. He stood still for a moment
raising his voice and calling,--"Kalipada," but no answer came. The
servant, Noto, who was sleeping in the cowshed, heard his cry and came
out and coaxed him back to his room.
Next day, in the morning, Noto, while sweeping the room found a bundle
just underneath the grated window. He brought it to Bhavani who opened
it and found it was an old document. He put on his spectacles and after
reading a few lines came rushing in to Rashmani and gave the paper into
her hand.