Page:The Wreck.djvu/162

THE WRECK

"I never sent for you!" rqieated Kamala with re- doubled emphasis.

"Very well then, I have come without being in- vited. You won't surely send me away in disgrace on that account?"

"They'll know that you've come and they'll be angry. Please go away at once. I didn't send for you."

"All right," said Ramesh, taking her by the hand, "you come to my room instead; there's no one else there"

Trembling in every limb Kamala tore her hand from his grasp, fled into the adjoining room, and shut the door.

Ramesh understood now what had happened; the whole thing had been a scheme concocted by one of

the womenfolk. With all his nerves on edge he re- turned to the outer room. He lay down again, took up the Pioneer, and ran his eye up and down the ad- vertisements, but he took nothing in. One perturbing thought after another coursed through his mind like clouds scurrying before the wind.

Sailaja knocked at the door that Kamala had bolted but there was no response. She thrust her hand through the Venetians, pulled back the bolt, and entered the room. To her astonishment she found Kamala prostrate on the floor, her face buried in her hands, weeping. Unable to conceive what had reduced Kamala to this pass Saila plumped down beside her and murmured gently, "Whai is it, dear? What's the matter? Why are you crying?"

"Oh, why did you send for him? It was very wrong of you!"

Kamala, no more than any one else, could assign a reason for her sudden and violent outburst of grief. No one knew of the hidden sorrow that she had been cherishing for days past.

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