Page:Indira and Other Stories.pdf/131

 Again she thought, "I am nothing else but a wanton. Else why, being a married woman, do I think about Purandar at all?"

Amala asked, "Do you mean to say you have forgotten young Purandar? I mean Purandar, the son of Suchisuta Chetty."

Hiranmayi replied, "I remember him."

"Well, then," continued Amala, "he has come back, with ships full of treasure that cannot be counted. They say he has brought back more riches than have ever been seen in Tamluk before."

A strange pang of something like envy came into Hiranmayi's heart. She remembered her own poverty, and the old arrangement that she was to be Purandar's wife. The pain of poverty is a thing grievous to be borne, and all these riches of which Amala spoke might have been hers. There are few women who would not have felt the contrast between her actual state and what might have been. For a while Hiranmayi remained wrapped in thought. Then she turned the conversation to other matters.