Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/670

Rh even gesture in any manner encourage or even countenance the proceedings. * * * I whiled away my time as best I could tell. About half past twelve or one O'clock, when dinner was ready, I finished my meal as hastily as possible, ran to the Bytuckhana before every other member of the party and locked myself up alone in a separate room for the rest of the night."

We have already said, that Vidyasagar did not visit Benares for some length of time after his mother's death. By the latter end of 1875, he received a letter from his father, who was living in the holy shrine, to the following effect:—

'My best blessings on you!—

'I am now 83 years old; in this my decrepit state, my memory generally fails me. You are the eldest of my descendants; you have been providing for my maintenance and defraying other expenses. I now wish to see your face. I would therefore ask you to come to me without much loss of time, if you are in sound health.

'Your well-wisher

Sd. Thakurdas Deva-Sarma.'

Vidyasagar at once proceeded to Benares, where he stayed with his father for a few days, and after providing for every comfort and ease of his old parent, returned to Calcutta. On the 26th March, 1876, information reached him that his father was seriously ill. He hastened to Benares, and the other inmates of his family followed him one by one.