Page:Broken Ties and Other Stories.pdf/32

Rh Jagamohan caught hold of Purandar by his neck, and shoved him out of the room and down the stairs. He then turned to the other young man and said: ‘You are a villain and a scoundrel! You assert this cousin’s right of yours to wreck her life, not to protect her.’

The young man hurried away. But when he had got to a safe distance, he threatened Jagamohan with legal steps in order to rescue his ward.

Noni said within herself: “O Earth, open and swallow me up!’

Jagamohan called Satish, and said to him: ‘Let me leave this place and go to some upcountry town with Noni. It will kill her if this is repeated.’

Satish urged that his brother was certain to follow her when once he had got the clue.

‘Then what do you propose?’ said Jagamohan.

‘Let me marry Noni,’ was the answer.

‘Marry Noni!’

‘Yes, according to the civil marriage rites.’

Jagamohan stood up and went to Satish, and pressed him to his heart.