Page:Chandra Shekhar.djvu/178

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Ramcharan Released


Ramcharan. If it is not so, how is it that you are joking with me?

Amyatt. What joke do you mean?

Ramcharan. Is it not a joke to ask me to go away anywhere I like, after breaking my leg? It shows that I have married in your family—I am a Hindu milkman's son, I shall lose my caste if I marry an Englishman's sister.

Notwithstanding the explanation of the interpreter, Amyatt could not make a head or tail of what Ramcharan had said. He thought within himself that it was a kind of Indian flattery. He concluded that as 'natives' in flattering Englishmen, called them "Father," "Mother," or "Brother," so Ramcharan was addressing him as his brother-in-law only to please him. He was rather not displeased with Ramcharan, and asked,

"What do you want?"

"Pray, order to set right my broken leg," replied Ramcharan with a fine cunningness.

"All right, you better stay with us for some time—I will give you some medicine," said Amyatt with a smile.

That was exactly what Ramcharan wanted. Pratap was then being taken away as a prisoner,

157