the inventor of it is? Would yon believe me? They name your wife. I was astonished to hear it, for I never dreamed of any harm from your quarter. I am a poor man and have ever lived under the protection of your uncle. I communicate my grievance to you, and I earnestly hope that you will do justice in the matter.
Yours sincerely
Gobindalal was amazed. Bhramar had fabricated this? Was it possible? The more he pondered over it the more perplexed he was. At length he decided that he must at once start for home. So he told his naib, and, through him, his tenantry that he was going home the next day, the pretext put forward being that the climate of the place did not agree with his health. Accordingly a boat was got ready, and on the following day Gobindalal started homeward with his attendants.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Why had she, thought Bhramar, let her husband go? If he had stayed at home the mystery of this disgraceful rumour would have been easily solved and she would have been spared the cruel anxiety she was labouring under. She was in a passion with her husband, for the proofs she had of his illicit love for Rohini seemed to speak very strongly against him. This troubled her very much making her miserable and taking the sweetness out of her daily bread.
On the very day that Gobindalal left to return home the naib sent by post an intimation of his departure to Krishnakanta. The letter reached him four or five days before Gobindalal arrived. When Bhramar heard that her husband was coming home, she wrote a letter to her mother, which she secretly sent by a woman of a low caste, for her native village was only a few miles off from Haridragram. She pretended she was in the worst of health, and asked her mother to send for her immediately on receipt of her letter. She warned her at the same time that in the letter they would write they were to make no mention of the state of her health.
When her mother received her letter, she naturally became very anxious. Had it been any other person he might have suspected that there was something wrong. But the mother easily swallowed what her daughter wrote. She wept and showed the letter to her husband, who at her instance sent a palanquin and bearers the next day with a letter in which he made a pretext of his wife's illness to request Krishnakanta to send their daughter to their house for a few days.
Krishnakanta was in a fix. It did not seem to him right to allow his daughter-in-law to go to her father's house, since Gobindalal was coming home and would arrive shortly. Nevertheless he ought not, he thought, to refuse to let her go, considering that her mother was ill and wished to see her. He reflected for a while and decided that she might go only for four days.
On his return home Gobindalal heard that his wife had gone to her father's, but that a palanquin and bearers should be sent that day to bring her. He was greatly annoyed. Did she not know him better than to believe a flying rumour and conclude that he was in the guilt? If she did not care to have the slightest regard for his feelings why should he have any for hers? She was certainly going to extremes. She would be sorry for it one day! He expressly told his mother not to bring her; and Krishnakanta said nothing, but allowed his nephew to have his own will.
CHAPTER XXV.
After Gobindalal's return home some days had passed, and Bhramar came not, for no one went for her. Gobindalal thought that she was going farther than she had a right to, that her attitude was defiant and that he must teach her a lesson. Nevertheless he felt a pang whenever he looked around the vacant room. How very strange it seemed to him that there could be any misunderstanding between himself and his wife. The very thought of it would bring tears into his eyes. However painful the separation from her was, at times he would feel very angry when he thought that her behaviour was most unbecoming. Why did she not tell her suspicions to him? Sometimes he allowed himself to be so carried away by his passion that he thought he would never see her face again.
Days went by, and Gobindalal felt so sad and lonely that at length he resolved to get over his trouble by giving himself up to the thought of Rohini. He had tried to forget Rohini while he had been away, but
