Page:Works of Tagore from the Modern Review, 1909-24 Segment 1.pdf/238

632 remembrance wears out life's bloom. It is only when a man has lumbago that he becomes conscious of his waist. And lumbago, in domestic affairs, is to be made conscious, by the constant imposition of love, that you have such a thing as a wife. Excessive devotion to her husband may be a merit for the wife, but not comfortable for the husband,—that is my candid opinion.

I hope I am not tiring you, sir? I live alone, you see; I am banished from the company of my wife and there are many important social questions which I have leisure to think about, but cannot discuss with my pupils. In course of conversation you will see how deeply I have thought of them."

Just as he was speaking, some jackals began to howl from a neighbouring thicket. The schoolmaster stopped for a moment the torrent of his talk. When the sound had ceased and the earth and the water relapsed into a deeper silence, he opened his glowing eyes wide in the darkness of the night and resumed the thread of his story.

"Suddenly a tangle occurred in Bhusan's complicated business. What exactly happened it is not possible for a layman like myself either to understand or to explain. Suffice it to say that, for some sudden reason, he found it difficult to get credit in the market. If only he could, by hook or by crook, raise a lakh and a half of rupees, and only for a few days rapidly flash it before the market, then his credit would be restored and he would be able to sail fair again.

So he began to cast about to see whether he could not raise a loan. But, in that case, he would be bound to give some satisfactory security, and the best security of all is jewelry.

So Bhusan went to his wife. But unfortunately he was not able to face his wife as easily as most men are. His love for her was of that kind which has to tread very carefully, and cannot speak out plainly what is in the mind; it is like the attraction of the sun for the earth, which is strong, yet which leaves immense space between them.

Still even the hero of a high class romance does sometimes, when hard pressed, have to mention to his beloved such things as mortgage deeds and promissory notes. But words stick, and the tune does not seem right, and shrinking of reluctance makes itself felt. The unfortunate Bhusan was totally powerless to say, "Look here, I am in need of money, bring out your jewels."

He did broach the subject to his wife at last, but with such extreme delicacy, that it only titilated [sic] her opposition without bending it to his own purpose. When Mani set her face hard and said nothing, he was deeply hurt, yet he was incapable of returning the hurt back to her. The reason was that he had not even a trace of that barbarity, which is the gift of the male. If any one had upbraided him for this, then most probably he would have expressed some such subtle sentiment as the following:—

'If my wife, of her own free choice, is unwilling to trust me with her jewelry, then I have no right to take them from her by force.'

What I say is, has God given to man such ferocity and strength only for him to spend his time in delicate measurement of fine-spun ideals?

However that may be, Bhusan, being too proud to touch his wife's jewels, went to Calcutta to try some other way of raising the money.

As a general rule in this world the wife knows the husband far better than the husband ever knows the wife; but extremely modern men in their subtlety of nature are altogether beyond the range of those unsophisticated instincts which womankind has acquired through ages. These men are a new race, and have become as mysterious as women themselves. Ordinary men can be divided roughly into three main classes, some of them are barbarians, some are fools, and some are blind; but these modern men do not fit into any of them.

So Mani called her counsellor for consultation. Some cousin of hers was engaged as assistant-steward on Bhusan's estate. He was not the kind of man to profit himself by dint of hard work; but by help of his position in the family he was able to save his salary, and even a little more.

Mani called him and told him what had happened. She ended up by asking him: 'Now what is your advice?'

He shook his head wisely and said: "I don't like the look of things at all." The