Page:Broken Ties and Other Stories.pdf/159

 returning home with their purchases: baskets full of vegetables, tin trunks filled with new shoes, umbrellas and clothes for the children, scents and soap, the latest story-books, and perfumed oil for the wives.

The light of the autumn sun filled the cloudless sky with the gladness of festival, and the ripe paddy fields shimmered in the sun, while the cocoa-nut leaves washed by the rains rustled in the fresh cool breeze.

The children, getting up very early, went to see the image of the goddess which was being prepared in the courtyard of the neighbouring house. When it was their meal-time, the maid-servant had to come and drag them away by force. At that time Baidyanath was brooding over the futility of his own life, amidst this universal stir of merriment in the neighbourhood. Taking his two children from the servant, he drew them towards him, and asked the elder one: ‘ Well, Obu, tell me what do you want for a present this time?’

Obu replied without a moment's hesitation: ‘Give me a toy boat, father.’

The younger one, not wishing to be behindhand with his brother, said: ‘Oh, father, do give me a toy boat too.’