Page:Broken Ties and Other Stories.pdf/218

 Having finished his story, the schoolmaster was silent for a little. Suddenly, the moment he stopped, I realised that except for him the whole world had become silent and still. For a long time I also remained speechless, and in the darkness he was unable to see from my face what was its expression.

At last he asked me: ‘Don’t you believe this story?’

I asked : ‘Do you?’

He said: ‘No; and I can give you one or two reasons why. In the first place, Dame Nature does not write novels, she has enough to do without’

I interrupted him and said: ‘And, in the second place, my name happens to be Bhusan Saha.’

The schoolmaster, without the least sign of discomfiture, said: ‘I guessed as much. And what was your wife’s name?’

I answered: ‘Nitya Kali.’