Page:An Unfinished Song.djvu/148

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AN UNFINISHED SONG
143

to me so much alike that unless one was particularly familiar to me, it was difficult for me to recognise it. Again, if I entered a shop to make a purchase worth a penny, I found myself five pounds poorer when going over my cash account that evening, simply on account of the importunity of the shopkeeper. It is necessary to learn to say 'no' in that land, or there is no end of danger. I finally learned to stand erect on English soil, but Heaven alone knows how often I tripped before I accomplished it."

"At last you became master of the situation?" asked my sister.

"I cannot even say that, madame. My Bengali friends used to tell me I was hopelessly green up to the last."

"How long did you know Romanath there?" asked my brother-in-law.

"I met him at the house of a mutual friend only a few days before I left England."

"Was he really engaged to be married?"

The doctor looked taken aback. He hesitated for a while and then replied, "I heard so, but—I am afraid this is not a fit subject for the dinner table."

"You are right," replied my brother-in-