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26o

THE WRECK

with which the bridegroom's upper garment had been knotted during the ceremony — unknown to Kamala, it was the cheapest that Tarini Chaturjye could procure — she had never troubled to preserve.

The letter that Ramesh had written to Hemnalini was still fastened into the comer of her dress. She drew it out and sitting on the sand reread one of the sheets in the twilight. It was the portion of the letter which mentioned her husband — there were no details, only the fact that his name was Nalinaksha Chattopadhyay, that he had been a doctor at Rangpur, and that Ramesh could find no trace of him there. She searched for the remaining sheets but they were miss- ing.

Nalinaksha! the name was balm to the wound in her soul It seemed to fill her heart to overflowing, to take to itself an impalpable body and pervade her

whole being. Tears flowed freely, melting the crust of her resolution and lightening the intolerable bur- den of her sorrow. A voice within her spoke: "The void is filled, the darkness has lifted; now I know that I too am part of the living world;" and she cried fervently, "If I would be a true wife to him I must live to prostrate myself at his feet. Nothing will rob me of this guerdon. While life endures he is not lost to me. The Lord has preserved me from death that I may serve him!"

She took the bunch of keys from the kerchief in which they were wrapped and flung them from her. Then she recollected that she wore as a fastening a brooch that Ramesh had given her, and this too she hastily undid and cast into the stream. Then turn- ing westward she set forth. Whither she was bound and how she would set about her quest she had no clear conception. She only knew that she must go forward, that she could not tarry a moment longer where she was.

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