Page:Tales of Bengal (Sita and Santa Chattopadhyay).djvu/117

Rh looking up once. Another person, too, just looked up at that very moment.

My mother signed to us to come back as soon as we had passed along the whole row once.

The joyous festive week went on, but it had very little attention from me. Kamalini and my sister-in-law went on making jokes for a day or two, then they forgot everything about it.

A great musical performance was held on the last day of the week. A famous band of professional singers had been engaged for that purpose. The ladies took their seats behind silken curtains, while the friends of my brother sat down in front of them, so as to keep a bit apart from the older folk.

The ladies went on feeding their babies and taking stock of one another's dresses and ornaments as they listened to the singing. I, too, did not pay undivided attention to the music, but neither to the small talk around me.

A great shout of approval went up as a song came to to an end. My grandfather threw his own shawl on the singer and others followed suit with many rich gifts.

Such unexpected good luck made the man greedy. He turned round to the ladies in an expectant attitude with joined palms. My mother gave me two golden "mohurs" and requested me to throw it out to him. I tied the two coins in my silk handkerchief, so that they might not get lost in the crowd, and putting out my hand from behind the curtains I threw it out in the direction of the singer.

But, as good or bad luck would have it, the handkerchief, instead of falling before the singer, fell down among that crowd of young men, who had been sitting in front of us. One of them picked it up, and untying the coins Rh