Page:The Home and the World.djvu/211

210 The box had not escaped his eyes. I remained firm. 'If I could have told you, it would have been made over to him in your presence!'

'So you think Amulya will not tell me?'

'No, he will not.'

Sandip could not conceal his anger any longer. 'You think you will gain the mastery over me?' he blazed out. 'That shall never be. Amulya, there, would die a happy death if I deigned to trample him under foot. I will never, so long as I live, allow you to bring him to your feet!'

Oh, the weak! the weak! At last Sandip has realized that he is weak before me! That is why there is this sudden outburst of anger. He has understood that he cannot meet the power that I wield, with mere strength. With a glance I can crumble his strongest fortifications. So he must needs resort to bluster. I simply smiled in contemptuous silence. At last have I come to a level above him. I must never lose this vantage ground; never descend lower again. Amidst all my degradation this bit of dignity must remain to me!

'I know,' said Sandip, after a pause, 'it was your jewel-case.'

'You may guess as you please,' said I, 'but you will get nothing out of me.'

'So you trust Amulya more than you trust me? Do you know that the boy is the shadow of my shadow, the echo of my echo,—that he is nothing if I am not at his side?'