Page:Indira and Other Stories.pdf/132

 Finally, as the women were retiring to rest, she suddenly asked, "Amala, has the young merchant a wife?"

Amala replied, "No, he is not married."

A strange commotion came over Hiranmayi's spirits. For a moment she thought—but no, she would ask no more questions. She retired silently to rest.

  Some time after, Amala came to Hiranmayi with a good-natured grin on her homely face and said, "Well, young woman, what am I to think of your manners and morals now?"

Hiranmayi asked, "What have I been doing now?"

"Why did you not tell me all this time?"

"What was there to tell?"

"That you were such a dear friend of Purandar Chetty, to be sure!"

Hiranmayi's face flushed with shame at this sudden imputation. She said, however, "Well, they were neighbours of ours when