Page:Mashi and Other Stories.djvu/120

112 she would often say to him. "His kindness has kept us alive so long; let us depend upon him still, though he may curtail his favours. Surrender to him part of the lands as he desires."

"Oh, mother!" protested Asimuddin. "What do you know of these matters, pray?"

One by one, Asimuddin lost the cases instituted against him. The more he lost, the more his obstinacy increased. For the sake of his all, he staked all that was his.

One afternoon, Mirza Bibi collected some fruits and vegetables from her little garden, and unknown to her son went and sought an interview with Bipin Babu. She looked at him with a tenderness maternal in its intensity, and spoke: "May Allah bless you, my son. Do not destroy Asim—it wouldn't be right of you. To your charge I commit him. Take him as though he were one whom it is your duty to support—as though he were a ne'er-do-well younger brother of yours. Vast is your wealth—don't grudge him a small particle of it, my son."

This assumption of familiarity on the part of the garrulous old woman annoyed Bipin not a little. "What do you know of these things, my good woman?" he condescended to say. "If you have