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40 "Well and good. But when the people would come and ask whose wife she is what answer would you give?"

Nabokumar mused again and added "You must tell me that and I will say to each and every one accordingly."

"Good. But how is it possible for a young man and a young maid to go together alone on a fortnight's journey? what will men say to all this? How would you explain it to your friends and relatives? Besides, when I have called this girl my mother, does it behove me to pack her off to a far-off country in company of stranger?"

The prince of match-makers was not ill-adept in match-making.

"Be pleased then to come with us" urged Nabokumar.

"Indeed! Then who would offer Pujah to the Goddess Bhowani?"

Nabokumar was at a quandary and replied "Can't you point then to any solution to this riddle?"

"There may be one and only one solution that waits upon your generosity."

"What might it be? In what do I not acquiesce in? Please tell me the way out."

"Listen. She is the daughter of a Brahmin father. In her infancy, she was carried away by the wicked pirates but was abandoned on the sea-coast due to ship-wreck. You will have the details from her later on. Chance had given her over to the Kapalik who nursed