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THE WRECK

"Mother," he said, "I'm going to present you with a daughter-in-law after your own heart, a dutiful little girl with whom you will never find yourself out of har- mony and whose conduct will never cause you a pang;" and he departed for Bengal in search of a bride.

As to what happened after that, accounts were di- vergent. One story was that he made a secret expedi- tion to some country place and married an orphan girl who died immediately afterwards; but other chron- iclers cast doubts on this version. Personally, Akshay believed that he had been on the point of marrying but had changed his mind at the eleventh hour.

However that might be, Akshay was of opinion that Nalinaksha's mother would raise no objections to the proposed match, in fact she would be delighted if he married the girl of his heart, and so charming a bride as Hemnalini would be far to seek. Moreover Hem's lovable disposition would inevitably impel her to treat her mother-in-law with the respect that was her due and to avoid carefully any cause of offence. A very short acquaintance with Hem would convince Nalin- aksha that she possessed the necessary qualifications.

Akshay 's advice accordingly was to introduce the young people to each other as early as possible.

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