"The result of this was that Mani looked upon her husband as a mere machine for
turning out her Dacca muslins and her bangles—so perfect a machine, indeed, that
never for a single day did she need to oil its wheels.
"Though Bhusan's birthplace was Phulbere, here was his place of business, where, for
the sake of his work, he spent most of his time. At his Phulbere house he had no
mother, but had plenty of aunts and uncles and other relatives, from which distraction
he brought away his wife to this house and kept her to himself alone. But there is this
difference between a wife and one's other possessions, that by keeping her to oneself
one may lose her beyond recovery.
"Bhusan's wife did not talk very much, nor did she mix much with her neighbours. To
feed Brahmans in obedience to a sacred vow, or to give a few pice to a religious
mendicant, was not her way. In her hands nothing was ever lost; whatever she got she
saved up most carefully, with the one exception of the memory of her husband's
caresses. The extraordinary thing was that she did not seem to lose the least atom of
her youthful beauty. People said that whatever her age was, she never looked older
than sixteen. I suppose youth is best preserved with the aid of a heart that is an ice-box.
"But as far as work was concerned Mani was very efficient. She never kept more
servants than were absolutely necessary. She thought that to pay wages to any one to
do work which she herself could do was like playing the pickpocket with her own money.
"Not being anxious about any one, never being distracted by love, always working and
saving, she was never sick nor sorry.
"For the majority of husbands this is quite sufficient,—not only sufficient, but fortunate.
For the loving wife is a wife who makes it difficult for her husband to forget her, and the
fatigue of perpetual 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.