Chapter V

It was midnight. With the very weariness of her sorrow Rashmani had fallen asleep soon after reaching her own home in the village. But Bhavani had no sleep that night. Tossing on his bed for hours he heaved a deep sigh saying,--"Merciful God!" Then he got up from his bed and went out. He entered the room where Kalipada had been wont to do his lessons in his childhood. The lamp shook as he held it in his hand. On the wooden settle there was still the torn, ink-stained quilt, made long ago by Rashmani herself. On the wall were figures of Euclid and Algebra drawn in charcoal. The remains of a Royal Reader No. III and a few exercise books were lying about; and the one odd slipper of his infancy, which had evaded notice so long, was keeping its place in the dusty obscurity of the corner of the room. To-day it had become so important that nothing in the world, however great, could keep it hidden any longer. Bhavani put the lamp in the niche on the wall and silently sat on the settle; his eyes were dry, but he felt choked as if with want of breath.

Bhavani opened the shutters on the eastern side and stood still, grasping the iron bars, gazing into the darkness. Through the drizzling rain he could see the outline of the clump of trees at the end of the outer wall. At this spot Kalipada had made his own garden. The passion flowers which he had planted with his own hand had grown densely thick. While he gazed at this Bhavani felt his heart come up into his throat with choking pain. There was nobody now to wait for and expect daily. The summer vacation had come, but no one would come back home to fill the vacant room and use its old familiar furniture.

"O Baba mine!" he cried, "O Baba! O Baba mine!"

He sat down. The rain came faster. A sound of footsteps was heard among the grass and withered leaves. Bhavani's heart stood still. He hoped it was ... that which was beyond all hope. He thought it was Kalipada himself come to see his own garden,--and in this downpour of rain how wet he would be! Anxiety about this made him restless. Then somebody stood for a moment in front of the iron window bars. The cloak round his head made it impossible for Bhavani to see his face clearly, but his height was the same as that of Kalipada.

"Darling!" cried Bhavani, "You have come!" and he rushed to open the door.

But when he came outside to the spot where the figure had stood, there was no one to be seen. He walked up and down in the garden through the drenching rain, but no one was there. He stood still for a moment raising his voice and calling,--"Kalipada," but no answer came. The servant, Noto, who was sleeping in the cowshed, heard his cry and came out and coaxed him back to his room.

Next day, in the morning, Noto, while sweeping the room found a bundle just underneath the grated window. He brought it to Bhavani who opened it and found it was an old document. He put on his spectacles and after reading a few lines came rushing in to Rashmani and gave the paper into her hand.

Rashmani asked, "What is it?"

Bhavani replied, "It is the will!"

"Who gave it you?"

"He himself came last night to give it to me."

"What are you going to do with it?"

Bhavani said: "I have no need of it now." And he tore the will to pieces.

When the news reached the village Bagala proudly nodded his head and said: "Didn't I prophesy that the will would be recovered through Kalipada?"

But the grocer Ramcharan replied: "Last night when the ten o'clock train reached the Station a handsome looking young man came to my shop and asked the way to the Chowdhuri's house and I thought he had some kind of bundle in his hand."

"Absurd," said Bagala.

WORDS TO BE STUDIED

=detailed.= From the French "tailler," to cut. Compare _tailor_,
_entail_, _retail_.

=patrimony.= From the Latin "pater," a father. Compare _paternal_,
_patriarch_, _patriot_. The ending -mony is from the Latin
-monium. Compare _testimony_, _matrimony_, _sanctimony_.

=revert.= From the Latin "vertere," to turn. Compare _convert_,
_subvert_, _divert_, _invert_, _advert_, _version_, _conversion_,
_adverse_.

=amazement.= This word is of doubtful origin. We have the simpler form
"maze" but do not know how it has come into English.

=preposterous.= The Latin word "pre" means "before," and the Latin
word "posterus" behind. The literal meaning, therefore, is
"before-behind" and so "absurd," "outrageous."

=treachery.= This comes from the Old French "treacher," to trick. It
is to be distinguished from the word "traitor," which comes from
the Latin "traditor," one who gives up another. Compare
_intricate_, _trickery_, _trick_, _intrigue_.

=parasites.= From the Greek word "sitos," food,--one who feeds on
another.

=property.= From the Latin "proprius," meaning "one's own." Compare
_proper_, _appropriate_, _improper_.

=haggle.= This is an Old Norwegian word which has come into English,
meaning literally to chop.

=good-for-nothing.= Such "phrase" words as these are not very common
in English. They are more common in French. Compare the English
_ne'er-do-well_, _lazybones_, _out-of-the-way_, and the French
_coup-d'A(C)tat_, _nom-de-plume_, _fin-de-siA(C)cle_. On the other hand,
adjectives made up of two words are quite common in English.
Compare _simple-hearted_, _middle-aged._

=rA(C)gime.= This word still retains its French form and accent and
pronunciation. Little by little such French words become
pronounced and spelt in an English form and take a permanent place
in the language. For instance, the French word "morale" with
accent on the last syllable is now becoming a common English word.
In time it will probably be accented on the first syllable like
ordinary English words and will drop its final "e."

=gap.= This is another Old Norwegian word meaning a wide opening.
Compare _gape_. These Norwegian words came into English somewhat
plentifully at the time of the Danish Conquest.

=sympathy.= From the Greek "syn" with, and "pathos" suffering. It
should be noted that the word "compassion" from the Latin "cum"
with, and "passio" suffering, has the same root meaning, viz.
"suffering _with_ another."

=law-suit.= The English word "suit" comes from the Latin "sequi," to
follow, which in French becomes "suivre." We have two English
forms, one form directly from the Latin, the other from the
French. From the Latin _prosecute_, _persecute_, _consecutive_,
_execute_. From the French _pursue_, _ensue_, _sue_.

A "suit" in a game of cards means the cards that follow one
another in a sequence.

A "suit" of clothes means the trousers, coat, waistcoat,
following the same pattern. Compare also the French word _suite_
which has now been taken into English, e.g. a _suite_ of rooms, a
_suite_ of furniture (pronounced like "sweet").

=incoherence.= From the Latin "haerere," to stick. Compare _adhere_,
_cohere_, _inherent_, _coherence_.

=foreign.= From the Old French "forain," out of doors. The letter "g"
has become wrongly inserted in this word as also in "sovereign."

=bargain.= From the late Latin "barca," a boat, because trade was
carried on by boats along the rivers. Compare _barque_, _barge_,
_bark_.

=husky.= From the noun husk,--as dry as a husk.

=shawl.= From the Persian word "shAel." A considerable number of words
are coming into use in English now from the East. One of the most
curious recent ones is Blighty which is a corruption of wilayati,
bilaiti. For words introduced into English compare _karma_,
_sanyasi_, _fakir_, _brahmin_, _ghat_, _puggaree_, _pyjama_,
_pucca_, _curry_, _chutney_, _chintz_, _cummerbund_, _khaki_,
_rupee_, _durrie_, _turban_, _sepoy_.

=doll.= This is a shortened form of the English girl's name Dorothy,
Dolly, Doll. Compare _poll-parrot_ from Polly or Poll.

=soup.= This word still retains its French form, without the final "e"
(French _soupe_), but the English words _sup_, _supper_ have
dropped their French spelling altogether.

=ticket.= From the Old French "estiquette," meaning something fixed
like a bill on the wall. (Compare the English word to "stick"
which comes from the same root.)

We have here a case of a French word branching off into two quite
distinct English words,--"etiquette" and "ticket," each having its
own meaning.

=jersey.= One of the islands in the English Channel called Jersey
first made this special form of woollen vest. Many English words
are thus taken from the names of places. Compare _currant_
(Corinth), _argosy_ (Ragusa), _calico_ (Calicut), _bronze_
(Brundusium), _gipsy_ (Egyptian), _cashmere_ (Kashmir).

=impertinence.= Originally this word means that which is not
"pertinent," and so something "out-of-place." Later on it got the
present meaning of something insolent.

=mosquito.= From the Spanish. The word is the diminutive of the Latin
"musca," a fly.

=scruple.= From the Latin "scrupulus," a small sharp stone. This word
meant first in English a very small weight of twenty grains; then
it came to mean a slight weight on the mind or conscience. In the
Trial Scene of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice we have the
original sense used,--"the twentieth part of one poor scruple."

=exuberant.= From the Latin "uber," udder. Thus it comes to mean
"flowing from the udder" and so "overflowing."

=handkerchief.= "Kerchief" came from two French words "couvre," to
cover, and "chef," the head. It meant a head cloth. Then a smaller
cloth was used in the hand and this was called a hand-kerchief.

=lunacy.= From the Latin "luna," the moon. In former times Europeans
used to think that madness was due to some influence of the moon.
Compare the word _moonstruck_.

=algebra.= This is one of the many words from Arabic beginning with
"al," the. Compare _alkali_, _albatross_, _alcohol_, _alembic_,
_alchemy_, _alcove_.

=Euclid.= This word was originally the name of a great Greek
mathematical writer. His writings were called "Books of Euclid."
Now the subject is usually called Geometry.

=absurd.= From the Latin "surdus," deaf. Deaf people generally appear
stupid to those who can hear. So this word has come to mean
foolish or ridiculous.

=topsy-turvy.= This probably is a shortened form of
topside-turvy,--"turvy" being a colloquial corruption for "turned"
or "turned over."

THE BABUS OF NAYANJORE