Page:Mashi and Other Stories.djvu/15

Rh "Yes, I see now, my Baba, I was mistaken—but trial tests a person."

"Mashi!"

"Do try to sleep, dear!"

"Let me think a little, let me talk. Don't be vexed, Mashi!"

"Very well."

"Once, when I used to think I could not win Mani's heart, I bore it silently. But you"

"No, dear, I won't allow you to say that; I also bore it."

"Our minds, you know, are not clods of earth which you can possess by merely picking up. I felt that Mani did not know her own mind, and that one day at some great shock"

"Yes, Jotin, you are right."

"Therefore I never took much notice of her waywardness."

Mashi remained silent, suppressing a sigh. Not once, but often she had seen Jotin spending the night on the verandah wet with the splashing rain, yet not caring to go into his bedroom. Many a day he lay with a throbbing head, longing, she