Page:Stories of Bengalee life - Prabhat Kumar Mukerji.pdf/139

Rh In the meantime Girindra came and asked his wife for thirty rupees in order to pay off his bazaar accounts.

"Thirty rupees! But I haven't got it"—Maloti exclaimed.

"Didn't I bring you eighty rupees the other day?—Surely we couldn't have spent all that."

"Well—let me see how much is left. You had fifty rupees to buy things for the dinner and last evening when your guests arrived you took away the remainder on two or three different occasions for fresh bottles to entertain your company." Having said this, Maloti opened her box and found that it contained two rupees and fourteen annas in all.

"Bless me—what am I to do now?"—ejaculated Girindra.

"You have yourself to thank for it"—said Maloti after a short silence. "Your drink will be the ruin of you some day. You never stop to think then—you simply clamour for money."

Girindra did not pay much heed to his wife's well-intentioned sermon. Preparing to go out he said—"I must get somebody to lend me the amount."

The Benares lady, who was standing outside and could hear everything that was passing, now called Maloti to her and said—"Would your