Page:Tales of Bengal (Sita and Santa Chattopadhyay).djvu/86

Tales of Bengal lot fell the judgeship that was to have been mine! As for the diamond wristlets, I saw them on the wrists of someone but she was not my wife. But nothing could shake the faith of my mother; to the last, she could not believe that fate could prove so unjust and niggardly to her wonderful son.

An old tottering house, a pond and a number of poor relations, these were the sole inheritance of my father from his. To be allowed to live in our house and to eat our food never made these relations the least bit grateful to us, for they too had inherited these rights from their predecessors. We also never dreamt of expecting gratitude from them. My father worked hard and earned some money, my mother worked harder to make two ends meet within our limited means. The rest were content to eat and look on. My parents could not afford my college expenses at Calcutta. But mother would not hear of her son doing without the training which befitted a future judge. So with a happy smile on her face she took out her bits of ornaments and handed them over to me. With these as my only means of support I ventured forth in quest of education. At that time I had hoped that I should be able to return these ornaments to my mother one day and with interest on them. But my mother has now no need of them. And I console myself with the thought that if she had worn them, I would certainly have returned them to her.

The first part of my youth was spent in the damp rooms of a three-storied house, which stood in a narrow lane. Some of my fellow-boarders had the power of money behind them. They would and did take their pleasures in pleasant places, but those who came like me from poor homes, could afford to have very few recreations except speaking in disparaging terms about their more fortunate companions and expressing their valuable opinion about every earthly thing. It is easy for the rich to forget Rh