Page:The Wreck.djvu/8



Ramesh reached home he found that a bride had been chosen for him and that a day had been fixed for his marriage. In his youth Braja Mohan had fallen upon evil days and he owed his subsequent prosperity to a pleader named Ishan, a friend of his boyhood. Ishan died before his time and it was then discovered that he had left nothing but debts. His widow and her one child—a girl—suddenly found themselves destitute. This daughter, now of marriageable age, was the bride whom Braja Mohan had chosen for Ramesh. Some of the youth's well-wishers had protested, pointing out that according to report the girl was not good looking. To such criticisms Braja Mohan had but one reply. "I fail to see the point," he would say. "You may judge a flower or a butterfly by its looks, but not a human being. If the girl turns out as good a wife as her mother was, Ramesh may consider himself lucky."

Ramesh's heart sank when he heard the gossips discuss his forthcoming marriage, and he took to wandering aimlessly about, trying to devise some means of escape, but none seemed feasible. At last he plucked up courage to say to his father, "Father, I really can't marry this girl, I'm bound by a promise to some one else."

Braja Mohan. "You don't say so! Has there been a regular betrothal?"

Ramesh. "No, not exactly, but—"

Braja Mohan. "Have you spoken to the girl's people? Is it all settled?"