Page:Indira and Other Stories.pdf/56

 was, "It will take at least a fortnight for you to go to Kaladighi and return. I shall die of weariness in all that time. I will go with you."

I clapped my hands and said, "That is just what I wanted! But where will you stay in a place like Kaladighi?"

"How long do you want to be at home?" he asked.

"If I cannot see you," I replied, "five days will be the longest time I can stay away from you."

"In that case," he said, "I shall go to my own home for five days. On the fifth day, remember, I shall come and take you away."

This arrrangement [sic] having been arrived at, in due course we mounted in our respective palanquins and started on our journey. After we had passed the lake of unhappy memory and were in the village of Kaladighi, my husband left me and wended his way homewards.

When his back was turned, I said to my bearers, "I want to go to Mahespur first. I will come back to Kaladighi afterwards. Take me