Page:Stories of Bengalee life - Prabhat Kumar Mukerji.pdf/191

Rh the youngest. As was her beauty so also was her virtue. To her charm all, even the animals and the birds, were subject. We have a cow at home named Rangi, of such an evil disposition that no one can approach it. Even if you feed it, it thrusts at you with its horns: only to the little daughter-in-law was it gracious. The young wives quarrel amongst themselves, that happens in all families, but my other daughters-in-law always regarded the little one as their very own sister. When the sad news of her death came, my eldest daughter-in-law fell to the ground from the shock. For three days and nights she did not touch food. To this day she says—I should have felt less keenly the loss of my own child."

Hrishi Kesh wept profusely. In quivering tones he said—"No more, Sir, I beseech you. What can come of dwelling upon it? Speak of something else, I beg."

Sitanath was silent. He was floored by his own ill-judged beginning. He sat cursing his own stupidity. After a while, he began to talk of different matters and then furious with himself he made a fresh attempt. Rejecting all preface he spoke to the point. In the utterance it sounded so brutal that he was himself ashamed.