Page:The Wreck.djvu/200

196

THE WRECK

mind that. You wouldn't let so eligible a catch slip out of your hands on that account, I'm sure."

Jogendra. "If I once got any one so eligible into my hands, I shouldn't worry about the rest! Do you suppose, however, that Nalinaksha would consent?"

Akshay. "I don't say he would if you sprang a proposal on him to-day : but time works marvels ! Just listen to me. Jogen. Nalinaksha is to deliver a lec- ture to-morrow. Take Hemnalini to hear him. The fellow's a real orator. There's nothing like eloquence to attract women. Poor creatures, they don't realise that a husband who can listen is infinitely preferable to one who can talk!"

Jogendra, "But look here, you must tell me Nalin- aksha's history ; I want to know more about him."

Akshay, "All right, Jogen, I'll tell you his history, but if you discover a flaw somewhere you mustn't let that worry you. A slight flaw is an advantage in my opinion; it brings within one's means an article that would otherwise be too expensive."

Nalinaksha's story, as told by Akshay, may be sum- marised as follows:

His father Rajballabh was a petty landholder in the neighbourhood of Faridpur. At the age of thirty Raj ballabh joined the Brahmo Samaj sect. His wife, how- ever, refused to embrace her husband's new faith, and she resolutely went her own way, taking every pre- caution to maintain her ceremonial purity. Naturally Rajballabh found his wife's attitude extremely unpal- atable. Their son Nalinaksha's missionary zeal and remarkable eloquence procured his admission into the fold of the Brahmo Samaj at an early age. He en- tered the provincial medical service and lived the usual nomadic life of the government servant in Bengal. Wherever he went he left behind him a reputation for upright conduct, professional skill, and fervid piety.

Then came a bolt from the blue. In his old age

    Digitized by Google