Krishnakanta's Will (Chatterjee, Roy)/Part 1/Chapter 11
CHAPTER XI.
Coming away Gobindalal walked to the office. Krishnakanta's office was on the ground-floor in the outer division of his house. It was a spacious room, the carpeted floor of which was covered with a clean sheet. In the office there were racks for holding account books and records, and there were boxes in which cash and documents and other important papers were kept.
At the usual time in the morning Krishnakanta was in his office. He was seated, as usual, on a bed, his back resting on a bolster, at a little distance from where his clerks were at their work, and smoking his curly pipe. Near by outside the office was standing Rohini. Her face was partially veiled, and her eyes were bent to the ground. Gobindalal was the pet of his uncle. He looked at Rohini; and she at him through her veil as if she wished to remind him of the kind promise he had made to her. "What's the matter, uncle?" he asked as he entered the office.
Krishnakanta detailed the matter, and concluded by saying that he was determined not to let her go unpunished. But while his uncle was speaking Gobindalal was not listening. He was in brown-study. Evidently he was thinking of Rohini, and the promise he had recently made to her on the landing stairs of the Baruni tank. So he said again, "What has she done, uncle?"
"Ah!" he thought to himself, "I wonder what has come over the boy. The girl, it seems, has cast a spell over him, and he has been thinking of her pretty face."
"Why," said he, "where has your mind been wandering, boy? But I don't mind telling over again."
When he had finished speaking, Gobindalal said, "What do you intend to do with her, uncle? You are not going to hand her over to the police, of course?"
"Police!" said Krishnakanta. "What have I to do with the police? I am the police, I am the magistrate, I am the judge. What I will do is this. I will see her head shaven in the presence of all my men, and then have her sent out of my jurisdiction."
"Rohini," said Gobindalal, turning to her, "where did you get the forged will?"
"I found it in the drawer," said Rohini.
"Mark her rascality!" said Krishnakanta.
"Who put it there? You know of course, else what business had you to meddle with the drawer?"
"She won't tell you that," said Krishnakanta. "But I can see perfectly well what is really the matter. It is as clear as noon-day. The forged will was of Haralal's preparing. She was bribed by him to steal my will and put the false will in its place. But as she couldn't do that, being found out, she burned up the forged will. That's the fact I tell you, though she won't confess to it."
"Rohini," said Gobindalal, "you have heard what your punishment will be. But if you will tell the truth without mincing any part of it, I will try and obtain pardon for you."
"I will not sue for pardon if the punishment is deserved by me," said Rohini.
"How defiant!" cried Krishnakanta.
"Will you let me alone with her, uncle, say for an hour?" asked Gobindalal.
"What for?" said his uncle.
"I want to get the truth out of her," said he. "Maybe she has her reasons for not wishing to tell it here."
"Well, I have no objection," said his uncle. "You may take her to your room and see if you can get the whole truth out of her."
Krishnakanta ordered a servant-maid to take Rohini to Gobindalal's wife and keep guard over her.
When Gobindalal had gone, "Bad boy!" said Krishnakanta to himself. "I am greatly mistaken if he has not taken a fancy to that girl."