Chereads / The Short Stories / Chapter 14 - 14

Chapter 14 - 14

"But the money did not come easily. If the rumour got about that he was borrowing in

the market where he was known, then he feared that his business would suffer even

more seriously. So he began to cast about to see whether he could not raise a loan

from some stranger. But, in that case, he would be bound to give some satisfactory

security.

"The best security of all is jewelry, for that saves the signing of all sorts of complicated

documents. It not only saves time but is a simple process.

"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 his wife 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 the

words stick, and the tune does not seem right, and the 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

excited 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."

"Has God given to man such forcefulness only for him to spend his time in delicate

measurement of fine-spun ideals?

"However this 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.