Page:Stories of Bengalee life - Prabhat Kumar Mukerji.pdf/212

200 willing to marry the girl for her own sake, he revealed the truth. I questioned him as to why he had deceived you in this way. He said—"When Mukerii Mahashoi became conscious and asked for his box, I was astonished and said truly that I had found no box. Then the doctor came and advised me not to say so as it might aggravate his illness. So I pretended that the box was safe and gave him a chance to recover. It then struck me that it would be a good stroke of business to make a further use of the pretence and getting the girl married. I would have revealed the truth to your father when the nuptial rites were over."—Chatterji Mahashoi though affable and hospitable seems to be a man of very loose moral principles. I congratulate myself that I have escaped becoming his son-in-law.

.