Page:The Wreck.djvu/136

THE WRECK

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Run away now and wash your hands ; it's nearly break- fast-time. I'll finish what cooking there is to be done. Now don't be nervous; I've had plenty of experience. My wife has always been delicate and I've learned how to prepare buttermilk from making it for her to tempt her appetite. You're laughing at the old man, but I'm not joking, it's the honest truth!"

"You'll have to teach me how to make it," said Kamala, smiling.

"Steady on! I can't impart knowledge as readily as all that! The goddess of learning will look askance at me if I impair the dignity of knowledge by com- municating it on the first day of our acquaintance. You'll have to flatter the old man for three or four days first. You won't have to puzzle your brains to find out how to satisfy me, I'll explain that to you my- self. Rule No. I is : I'm very fond of pan but I don't like to take my betel nuts whole. It's not easy to make a conquest of me but you've accomplished a lot al- ready, my dear, with that sweet face of yours. Hullo you! what's your name?" but Umesh made no re- sponse; he was not at all pleased at the old man's advent, for he did not relish the idea of a rival in Kamala's affections.

"A nice boy I" continued the old man, "he doesn't let you know all at once what's going on in his mind, but I'm sure he and I'll get on capitally together. Now we mustn't waste any more time, I must hurry up with my cooking."

The old man's society served to fill up the blank in Kamala's existence, while his appearance on the scene was a relief to Ramesh also. The pronounced con- trast between Ramesh's present manner and the unre- strained intimacy which had characterised their rela- tions in the first few months, when he had believed Kamala to be his wedded wife, had inevitably wounded the girl's feelings. Anything that would tend to divert

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