Page:Indira and Other Stories.pdf/113

 but so far her heart's desire had not been fulfilled. Lest, however, my reader should be scandalised, let me explain that everyone knew why this marriageable maiden had, contrary to Hindu rules of propriety, granted one private interview to her young companion. When Hiranmayi was about four, the youth now by her side was eight years old. His father, Suchisuta Chetty, was a near neighbour of Dhana Das, and so the two children used to play together. They were always in one another's company in the house of one or other of their parents. Though the maiden was now sixteen years old and the boy had become a fine stripling of twenty, the old childish familiarity and friendship endured. There had been only one impediment to the continuance of these affectionate relations. At the proper season, their parents had agreed that the young people should be joined in marriage. Even the wedding day had been fixed. But, to the surprise of all, Hiranmayi's father had suddenly announced that he would not give his daughter