Page:Broken Ties and Other Stories.pdf/31

26 from her room, kicking her in anger. Since then he had sought her in vain. When he suddenly found her in his uncle’s house, he was seized with an uncontrollable passion of jealousy. He was sure that Satish had enticed her away from him, to keep her for his own pleasure, and had then put her in the very next house to his own in order to insult him. This was more than any mortal man could bear.

Harimohan heard all about it. Indeed, Purandar never took any pains to hide these doings from his father, for his father looked upon his son’s moral aberrations with a kindly indulgence. But Harimohan thought it contrary to all notions of decency for Satish to snatch away this girl whom his elder brother, Purandar, had looked upon with favour. He devoutly hoped that Purandar would be successful in recovering his spoil.

It was the time of the Christmas holidays. Jagamohan attended Noni night and day. One evening he was translating a novel of Sir Walter Scott’s to her, when Purandar burst into the room with another young man.

When Jagamohan was about to call for the police, the young man said: ‘I am Noni’s cousin. I have come to take her away.’