Page:Gora - Rabindranath Tagore.pdf/19

Rh him from finishing his sentence, but made it certain that he would have to accept the cost of the doctor's visit.

When the old man protested against sending for the brandy, his daughter insisted: "But, father, the doctor ordered it!"

To this he replied: "Doctors have a bad habit of ordering brandy on the slightest pretext. A glass of milk will be quite enough for my little weakness" And after drinking some milk he turned to Binoy and said: "Now we must be going. We have put you to a lot of trouble, I'm afraid."

The girl now asked for a cab, but her father exclaimed diffidently: "Why put him to more inconvenience? Our house is so close that I can easily walk."

But she refused to allow this, and as her father did not persist, Binoy himself went to call a cab.

Before leaving, the old gentleman asked the name of his host, and on being told" Binoy-bhusan Chatterji: he gave his own in return as "Paresh-chandra Bhattacharya." saying that he lived close by, at No. 78 in the same street. He added: " Whenever you have time to spare, we shall be delighted if you will call." And the eyes of the girl gave a silent consent to this invitation.

Binoy felt that he wanted to accompany them home then and there, but as he was not quite sure whether that would be good manners, he stood hesitation, and just as their carriage was about to start, the girl gave a slight bow, which took Binoy so unawares hat in is confusion he omitted to return the salutation,

Back in his room, Binoy reproached himself again and again for this trifling omission. He mentally reviewed every detail of his behaviour from the time he had met them to the moment of parting, and he felt that from start to finish his manners had been atrocious. What he ought to have done and what he ought not to have done, what he ought to have said and what he ought not to have said, in the different situation, he was trying in vain to settle in his mind, when his eyes suddenly fell on a handkerchief which the girl had been using and had left lying on the bed. AS he hurriedly snatched it up the refrain of the Baul's song haunted him:

The hours passed and the sun's hear became intense. The stream of gharries began to flow swiftly officewards, but