Page:Indira and Other Stories.pdf/112



pair were standing in a leafy arbour in a garden. At that distant period the blue waters of the Bay of Bengal washed the feet of the ancient city of Tamluk, and the roar of its breakers could be heard in its streets. There stood a noble mansion in a suburb of Tamluk, and hard by on the seashore was a beautiful garden-house. These pleasant possessions belonged to a merchant of the name of Dhana Das. It was the merchant's lovely daughter Hiranmayi who was now conversing with a handsome youth in the arbour.

It must be admitted that Hiranmayi had passed the age at which Hindu girls are usually given in marriage. Not, be it observed, because of any reluctance on her part. Ever since her eleventh birthday, for five long years the girl had addressed her prayers to Sagareswari, the sea-goddess, to grant her the husband of her choice,