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 CHAPTER X

DISILLUSIONED

Mr. Gandhi discovered that his mother was dead. His friends, wishing to spare him, had not told him of this before he left England, and even on landing, but for his determination to go at once to Rajkot. they would have still preserved silence. The news was a great shock when it came. His mother, with her stern principles and unwavering adherence to the old way, would doubtless have felt the subtle, inexplicable change in her son. But the tie between them was too close and tender to have been disturbed. As it was, Rajkot was shorn of its chief charm. and the home-coming was a painful one.

It had been the elder brother's intention to get the young barrister away to a quiet spot, for the process of ceremonial cleansing according to custom, before his appearance in Rajkot. Probably this influenced his silence regarding the mother's death. Now the cleansing must follow. It was a purely ceremonial observance, and so far as Mr. Gandhi was concerned, had no religious significance. It was