Page:Stories of Bengalee life - Prabhat Kumar Mukerji.pdf/81

Rh She looked at her husband's face—pale and haggard—and at once divined his mental condition. In a moment, her heart became overwhelmed with loving sympathy for her husband in his mental agony. She approached him, and said in a tone sweetly sad—"When do you return?"

"To-morrow morning, I think"—said Nagendra Babu, without looking at his wife.

"You won't be away longer, would you?"

"Suppose I did,—you wouldn't be sorry."

This drew tears from Charusila's eyes. She hid her face in her husband's breast and sobbed.

"What's this?—Oh Charu!—don't go on like that, dear,"—said Nagendra Babu, lovingly raising up his wife's face with both hands.

But her sobs did not abate. At last Nagendra Babu said—"I cannot bear your grief any longer. Do tell me what you want me to do—what would please you—and it shall be done."

Charusila looked at her husband with an earnest gaze for a few moments. Then she slowly said—"Will you fulfil my wishes?"

"Tell me what they are."

"I wish you would retire from service—a service which compels you to sacrifice your conscience for its sake. I do not want your three hundred rupees a month. I do not want all the gold and silver—the comforts and the