of picnic they'd have if left to themselves without you!"
Binodini.—"Why not join us Vihari Babu? If you come, I'll go too."
Vihari.—"Splendid! But 'tis for the master to command. What says the master of the house?"
Both master and mistress felt aggrieved that Vihari should have met with better success than they. Mahendra lost half his interest in the idea at the prospect of Vihari's company. He had consistently tried to impress on his friend that Binodini resented his presence. After this there would be no holding Vihari back.
"Good idea. Why not?" replied Mahendra without enthusiasm. "But look here, Vihari, you always do make such a fuss wherever you go. You'll be gathering all the village boys round us, or picking a quarrel with some drunken soldier, for all we know."
"That's what makes the world so interesting, you never know what you're likely to be in for next," replied Vihari, with a smile at Mahendra's ill-concealed unwillingness to have him.—"We must be starting early, Sister Binod; I'll turn up in good time."
Early on Sunday morning a hackney carriage of the inferior class had been engaged for the servants and things, and one of the superior class for the family. Vihari punctually made his appearance with a big hamper.
"What on earth is that for?" complained Mahendra. "There's no more room in the servant's carriage."
"Don't worry yourself, Dada," said Vihari, "I'll see to all that."
Binodini and Asha stepped into their carriage. Mahendra hesitated, not quite certain what to do about Vihari. Vihari solved the problem by hoisting his hamper on to the roof of the carriage and himself mounting the coach box.[1]
Mahendra breathed a sigh of relief. Vihari was quite capable, he had feared, of offering to come inside with them.
Binodini was concerned: "I hope Vihari Babu is quite safe up there," she exclaimed.
This reached Vihari, who replied, "Don't trouble about me. The falling-down-in-a-swoon business is not in my line."
"If you're feeling so anxious about him," said Mahendra after the carriage had started, "let me go up and send Vihari in."
Asha took him seriously, and nervously clutching the end of his muslin scarf said, "No, no, you shan't do anything of the kind!"
"You're not used to roughing it," slyly added Binodini, "why take the risk?"
"Risk!" exclaimed Mahendra excitedly, "you think I'm clumsy enough to fall off?" And he rose from his seat as though to jump out of the carriage.
"Talk of Vihari Babu making a fuss!" remarked Binodini caustically. "Who's making a fuss now?"
Mahendra sulked the whole way to Dum-dum. At last they arrived at the villa. The servant's party, which had started long before their's, had not yet turned up.
It was a delicious autumn morning. The dew had just dried in the rays of the sun, and the washed foliage was glistening in the clear light. The walk under the row of Sephali trees against the garden wall was carpeted and perfumed with the scattered blossoms.[2]
Asha, freed from the bondage of brick and mortar, frisked about like a wild gazelle. With Binodini she gathered heaps of the strewn flowers, picked and ate custard apples off the trees, and then the two friends indulged in a prolonged bath in the little artificial lake. The artless merriment of the girls seemed to infect and gladden the rustling leaves and waving blossoms, the changing lights and shadows of the groves, and the rippling wavelets.
They returned to the house after their bath to find that the servants had not yet arrived. Mahendra was lolling on an easy chair in the verandah with a far from cheerful countenance, apparently studying a shop catalogue.
"Where is Vihari Babu?" inquired Binodini.
"I don't know," was Mahendra's laconic reply.
Binodini.—"Let's go and look for him."
Mahendra.—"There's no fear of his
- ↑ The Bengal hackney carriage has room for four inside. The difficulty is in the nice adjustments which are required in different situations, with regard to intimate friends who are treated as, but actually are not, members of the family, where ladies of the house are concerned.
- ↑ The Sephali flower has snow-white petals with a brilliant orange stem and a sweet and powerful scent. The flower drops off the calyx as soon as full-blown, and remains sweet and fresh for a considerable time after falling on the ground.
