12

One day Mahendra, much annoyed, called his mother and said, "Is this right? What is the need to take in a young widow from another household and burden ourselves with the responsibility? I am not in favour of it --- who knows what complications may arise."

"But she is Bipin's wife," said Rajlakshmi.

"I do not think of her as a stranger."

"No, Ma," said Mahendra.

"This is not right. In my opinion she ought not to stay." Rajlakshmi knew well enough that it was no easy matter to override Mahendra's wishes.

She sent for Bihari and said, "Bihari, dear, go and reason with Mahin. It is because Bipin's wife is here that I get any rest at all in my old age. A stranger she may be, whatever you like to call her, but I have never received such attentive service from my own people." Bihari, without answering Rajlakshmi, went to Mahendra and said, "Mahinada, are you thinking about Binodini?" Mahendra laughed and said, "Thinking about her keeps me awake at night. Ask your sister-in-law --- these days my thoughts of Binodini have driven out every other thought." From beneath the fold of her veil, Asha silently reproached Mahendra with her eyes.

"Good heavens!" said Bihari.

"A second Poison-Tree!"

"Precisely," said Mahendra.

"And now Chuni is fretting to have her sent away." From beneath her veil, Asha's eyes again rained reproaches.

"Even if you send her away, what is to stop her returning?" said Bihari.

"Get the widow married --- that will draw the venom once and for all."

"Kunda was married off too," said Mahendra.

"Leave that comparison alone for now," said Bihari.

"I think about Binodini sometimes. She cannot stay in your house for ever. And then to send her back to that wilderness for the rest of her life --- that too is a very harsh sentence." Mahendra had not yet set eyes on Binodini, but Bihari had seen her.

Bihari had grasped this much --- that this was not a woman to be abandoned in the jungle. But a flame burns in one fashion as a lamp within a home, and in another fashion when it sets a house on fire --- that fear too was present in Bihari's mind. Mahendra jested at length with Bihari on the subject, and Bihari gave as good as he got. But in his heart he knew: this was not a woman to be played with, nor could she be disregarded. Rajlakshmi summoned Binodini and cautioned her.

She said, "Now listen, child --- don't be always pulling and tugging at the bride so. You have lived in a village household --- you don't know the ways of the city. You are a clever girl; conduct yourself with understanding." After this, Binodini took elaborate care to keep Asha at a distance.

She said, "Who am I, after all? A person in my position who does not know how to guard her own honour --- who can say what trouble may come of it." Asha pleaded and wept in desperation --- but Binodini remained firm in her resolve.

Asha's heart brimmed to overflowing with things she wished to say, but Binodini paid her no heed. Meanwhile, the ardour of Mahendra's embrace was slackening, and his enraptured gaze seemed to be clouding with a kind of fatigue. The small disorders and irregularities that had once seemed charming to him now began, little by little, to grate upon him. Asha's inexperience in household matters irritated him from time to time, though he did not say so aloud. And yet, without his saying anything, Asha felt it inwardly --- she sensed that in their unbroken intimacy the dignity of love was growing dim.

There was a false note in Mahendra's tenderness, a quality of forced exaggeration, a measure of self-deception. There was no remedy but flight, no medicine but separation. By the instinct natural to women, Asha had lately been making efforts to withdraw from Mahendra. But where could she go, if not to Binodini? Mahendra, opening his eyes in the heat of the bridal chamber, turned gradually back toward the world --- toward his studies, his daily round. He retrieved his medical books from all manner of improbable places, dusted them off, and made some move toward airing his coats and trousers in the sun.