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THE WRECK

"Excuse me, let me have that cup! I've finished mine."

Jogendra rose and took the cup from Hemnalini, then, turning to his father, he said, "1 am sorry, please forgive me,"

Annada could not command his voice sufficiently to reply and tears gathered in his eyes. Jogendra and Akshay slipped quietly out of the room. After a few mouthfuls Annada Babu also rose, took his daugh- ter's arm, and tottered upstairs.

That night he had an attack of acute pain. The doctor was called in and announced that the patient was suffering from internal inflammation; a stay of a year, or six months at least, in some bracing locality up-country might restore his health completely.

"Hem, dear," said the old man when the pain was easier and the doctor had departed, "let us go to Benares and stay there for a while."

The same idea had simultaneously occurred to Hem- nalini.

Since Nalinaksha's departure she had become con- scious of a certain weakening in her devotions. So long as he was at hand she had found her austerities an unfailing solace, and the glow of steadfast piety and tranquil kindliness that illuminated his face had served, as it were, to confirm her faith.

In his absence it seemed as though her zeal had suffered an eclipse, albeit on the day after his de- parture she had striven hard against her own inclina- tions and had attempted to follow his precepts with redoubled keenness. Lassitude had however inevitably set in and generated such despair that she could re- strain her tears no longer.

At the tea-table she had nerved herself to the exer- cise of hospitality, but a weight had been pressing on her heart and the pain of the old memories reasserted itself in a still more formidable guise. The conscious-

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