Page:Tales of Bengal (Sita and Santa Chattopadhyay).djvu/114

Tales of Bengal inward one? That is something new from you. Up to now you were the greatest advocate for outward beauty, but now it seems..."

My sister-in-law left off in the middle of a sentence, and looking round at her I saw her veil her face with the end of her sari and rise from her seat as in a hurry. Astonished at her behaviour I turned my eyes to the spot, whence the surprise seemed to have come. Oh dear, someone had been sitting on the other side of the hillock, and now he had risen up at the sound of our voices.

As I was the daughter of the house I was quite unaccustomed to veil myself as my sister-in-law at once did. And to tell the truth, even if I had been, it would never have entered my mind then. The moment which stands as the One Moment of my life was not to be wasted in that manner.

Hither the word beauty had denoted to me but my own beauty, but now I looked at the beauty of another. What a wonderful face it was! To me it seemed to be even more beautiful than the face of the Greek statue which stood in the garden. To you it would be surprising that an ordinary Bengalee youth can possess such beauty. But remember that it was the first time that I looked at a man with the eyes of a woman. The rosy colour of the maiden's own heart lends the man a beauty which no man ever really possessed. So far I had been the petted and spoilt child of a wealthy house, and the men I had looked upon were but my brothers, uncles and other relations, But now had come the first Young Unknown, and as I gazed at him my childhood seemed to drop from me and was lost for ever.

He looked at me with no less wonder than I suppose I did. I thought of it later on, but not then. It was but for a moment that we looked at each other. An almost imperceptible pressure of the hand from my sister-in law Rh