"I thought there would be music to-night, as usual," said her husband, "and I went and invited the Nambudiri to it. But Indulekha has locked her door and is asleep. What on earth am I to tell the Nambudiri?"
"Why, tell him exactly how it is. What else can you tell him? Say that when you spoke to him you thought there’d be music as usual, but that there isn’t any tonight and Indulekha has shut her door and gone to sleep. Say you will get up some music tomorrow. What disgrace is there in this ?"
"No, that won’t do. I told the Nambudiri more than I told you now. That’s my difficulty."
"What did you tell him?"
"It was very rash of me. Indulekha left her boudoir in a huff a little while ago, and I didn’t want the Nambudiri to be offended, and I was fool enough to tell him that there would be music to-night-at nine o’clock tonight. Now, please Lakshmi, do make it all right, and go to Indulekha’s room and call her."
"Good gracious, I won’t call her, not I. Don’t you think I know lndulekha better than that? All you can do is to get the Nambudiripad away to the room over the porter’s lodge and have his bed made there and come back here and go to sleep yourself. What are you making such a fuss for?"
"Oh dear, oh dear, I can’t possibly do that. I must go and see what Panchu Menon says about it."
"Very well, then," replied Lakshmi Kutty Amma, and Kesavan Nambudiri went in search of Panchu Menon and found him standing, talking to the Nambudiripad in the hall. Without being seen by the Nambudiripad, he beckoned from the southern room to Panchu Menon, and when the latter came, told him all that occurred. Panchu Menon angrily refused to stir in the matter and, returning to the hall, resumed his conversation with the Nambudiripad, while Kesavan Nambudiri remained stupefied where he was. After some little time he heard the Nambudiripad say, "What’s become of Karuthedam? It’s past ten, and we arranged to have music at nine." Thereupon he came forward and replied, "Here J am," looking like a ghost as he spoke. Panchu Menon now interposed and, addressing the Nambudiripad, said, "Everything is ready for your honor’s repose in the guest chamber over the porter’s lodge. J, your servant, am old and find it difficult to stand so long. Pray, therefore, allow me to take my leave now, and I will come and pay my respects in the morning." So saying he went inside the house.
The Nambudiripad was somewhat offended at the notion that he was to sleep in the usual guest chamber over the entrance, but he recovered his temper when he thought that he need retire only after the music was over. This, he imagined, would be about two or three o’clock in the morning, and he hugged himself with the idea that until then he would enjoy Indulekha’s society. "Now, then," he said, "what are we waiting for?"
"Oh nothing," said Kesavan Nambudiri.
"Then let’s be off upstairs. Come on, Cherusheri. You can listen to the music a little and then go to sleep."
Kesavan Nambudiri was unable to articulate a word for some time. At last he stammered out, "lndulekha doesn’t seem to be quite well tonight. She has gone to sleep and her door is shut."
"Well, couldn’t you call to her, Karuthedam?" said the Nambudiripad. "Go and call."
"I did."
"Call out loud and see."
"I did call loud." .
"And then ?"
"The door didn’t open."
"Did she tell you she wasn’t well?"
"Yes. "
"Did she tell you she couldn’t sing?"
"Yes. "
"Then we could have gone up and had a chat if she couldn’t sing."
"She said she wouldn’t open the door."
"Go up and try again."
"No, no," interposed Cherusheri. "That wouldn’t be right at all; Indulekha will be quite fit tomorrow. She has probably only got a headache. The best thing would be to have some music after breakfast tomorrow."
"Oh yes, that would be best, decidedly," cried Kesavan Nambudiri.
"Can’t your wife sing, Karuthedam ?" asked the Nambudiripad. "No, and she’s asleep too," was the reply. The Nambudiripad and Cherusheri then went to the guest chamber, and the former lay wide awake. Thoughts of Indulekha threw him almost into a frenzy, and at last he ordered Govindan to prepare some betel leaf and nut. Govindan obeyed, and while engaged in his task said, "My lord had no sleep last night either. I heard twelve strike a little time ago; your slave is anxious lest you become ill."
"What a fool you are," answered the Nambudiripad. "How can I sleep here when Indulekha is lying upstairs there, so near me?"
"But, my lord, you never said you wished to go to sleep upstairs. "
"What good would it have done if I had, when lndulekha is so full of English ways?" said the Nambudiripad. "It seems you have to find out her convenience before you can pay her a visit. It’s too ridiculous! If she hadn’t been so pretty, I’d have sent her to the right about with her impudence. Why, she didn’t even speak to me respectfully. She spoke just as if she were speaking to an equal, and it seemed to me that she actually thought of sitting down in my presence! Perhaps she saw I wouldn’t stand that, but I seemed to lose my senses, too. I fell madly in love with her as soon as I saw her, and forgot my dignity and talked some nonsense or other. I’m not at all sure that this didn’t make her want to tantalize me a bit and get some money out of me. When I handed her my gold watch she seemed to hanker after it badly, but I took it back sharp, I can tell you. She won’t get anything out of me so soon. But now I think of it, she probably refused those verses from you just now because I took my watch back. Well, Govindan, I’d even go so far as to make her a present of that watch; I’m awfully in love, Govindan. I’ve never been so much in love before. But I swear I’ll stand on my dignity when I see her tomorrow. I’m very wretched though, I’m regularly miserable. I don’t think I ought ever to have come here, and I shall be disgraced if I go back without Indulekha. I came because that infernal blockhead, Karuthedam, wrote to me, and it seems I shall be made a fool of after all. It’s a fraud, a fraud, a downright fraud."
Govindan listened to this harangue with great composure, and then, having supplied the Nambudiripad with betel and nut, addressed him in his usual manner and said, "Your slave has something to say, if he may say it."
"Go on, go on," replied the Nambudiripad, "I don’t feel a bit sleepy. Go on."
"Well, then, may it please you," said Govindan, "it’s only that this Indulekha has an intrigue on, and is tremendously spoony on a man already. She’s a bad lot altogether, it seems to me, and there’s no end to her impudence. Remember how she has gone in for English and all that kind of thing, and it will be a terrible job if she carries her new fangled notions into your lordship’s family house, and it will be a terrible job, too, to get rid of them. Now there’s a nice little girl here in Puvalli, Panchu Menon’s niece. Your slave saw her in the evening on her way to and from the temple. She hasn’t got any English in her, and everyone says she’s very sweet-tempered. She would fall in love with your eminence at once, and there would be no difficulty in getting your way with her. So your slave ventures to think that it would be far better for you to turn your attention to her, but of course it is as your eminence wishes."
"Oho, what a smart lad you are, Govindan! Clever fellow, good boy! I feel much happier already. So this girl doesn’t know English, doesn’t she? Are you quite sure?"
"Quite sure; she’s perfectly innocent, gentle and quiet. She’s the daughter of Sheenu Patter, who paid you so much attention when your lordship was at breakfast today."
"I see, I see. Is she nice to look at?"
"Oh, she’s very pretty."
"That’s the ticket, then," exclaimed the Nambudiripad. "If I yoked myself with that bold hussy, Indulekha, I should have no peace even for a couple of days."
"That’s very true, my lord."
"Go and call Sheenu Patter here at once."
"After daybreak, my lord, after daybreak. There’s no hurry."
"Can I have a look at the girl in the morning?" asked the Nambudiripad.
"Certainl
y, my lord, certainly," answered Govindan, and although day had dawned when this conversation ended, the Nambudiripad through sheer fatigue fell asleep.
Chapter 13
The Nambudiripad, after all, slept only for half an hour, and his sleep resembled stupor more than slumber. As soon as he woke, he rose and, calling Govindan, relieved his feelings by making Govindan repeat all he had said on the preceding night. He then asked where Cherusheri was, and whether he was awake.
"He’s gone to bathe," replied Govindan. "He slept in the room south of this. But, my lord, pray don’t say anything to him now of what I told you."
"Why not?"
"I think we had better wait and see how things turn out," said Govindan.
"What a clever lad you are, Govindan, you are really. We’ll keep the matter dark then. But I must just see Indulekha today, and if she won’t give in to me, we’ll arrange with the other little party, and go off with her very early tomorrow morning. All the outsiders think it was only for Indulekha that I came here, but let them find out the truth after we are gone. I shan’t be laughed at then, if they find out when it’s all over, so mum’s the word, Govindan. Just yarn to every one about it, and say that it’s Indulekha who is going off with me. Indeed, if I captivate Indulekha with all the gallantry I mean to show today, it’s her that I’ll take away."
"Capital, my lord, capital. Nothing could be better."
"But I want to have a look at the other girl," said the Nambudiripad. "How can I manage it?"
"I’ll go and find out," replied Govindan. "She’s sure to come to the temple for prayers and can be seen there."
"Oh you smart lad, Govindan, you sharp boy. That would be just the time. Go and find out quick," said the Nambudiripad, and Govindan went off in search of Kalliani Kutty. He found her bathing in the women’s bathing-shed, and returned with the news to the Nambudiripad, who set out for the place in hot haste. He was at the time very, scantily clad, having on only his lace-bordered waist-cloth, thrown round his chest and hanging down to his knees, and his sabots.
My readers are acquainted with Kalliani Kutty merely from the casual mention which has been made of her name in the introductory chapter, and all that is known of her so far is that she was Sheenu Patter’s daughter and was thirteen years of age. She was in truth a beautiful girl, but my readers must not suppose that she was in any way equal to Indulekha in beauty, or that she possessed a hundredth part of her grace. There is no parallel between the two cases, and Kalliani Kutty had been brought up entirely in the old Malayalam fashion. Her appearance was pleasing to the eye, but she could barely read and write; she sang a little, and these elementary accomplishments formed her sole attainments. Although girls in Malabar are sometimes mothers when they are thirteen years old, yet there was nothing in Kalliani Kutty’s figure to indicate that she had passed the stage of childhood. All that could be said of her was that she was a simpleminded girl, with an all-pervading modesty.
She was on the point of leaving the bath-house, drying her hair and running her fingers through it like a comb, in the Malayali fashion, when she met the Nambudiripad face to face, and as soon as she saw him, she retreated and hid herself from view. She never imagined that the man she met was the Nambudiripad. Indeed, how could she, considering that the Nambudiripad was a golden image when she saw him on the previous day? Hence she thought it was some stranger, and remained concealed within the recesses of the bath-house. The Nambudiripad was by no means the man to let such an opportunity pass, but pressing forward, entered the shed, and after peeping about in all directions espied the damsel standing there. "She’s a very fine girl," he said, turning round to Govindan, who at that moment caught sight of Cherusheri returning from his bath, and implored his master to come away as fast as he could. The Nambudiripad hopped out of the bathing-shed as if he had been shot out of a catapult and encountered Cherusheri.
"Hallo, what’s the matter now?" exclaimed the latter. "Is it time for your bath ?"
"Yes it is," answered the Nambudiripad.
"What? so early?"
"Yes, so early."
"Then what made you come out of the bath house like that?"
"Oh. I just went to wash my feet."
"I think your lordship had better go to the other bath house," interposed Govindan.
"All right, we’ll go there then: you go and say your prayers at the temple, Cherusheri," said the Nambudiripad, marching off with Govindan towards the big bath house and assuming a mightily consequential air.
Cherusheri did not believe a word the Nabudiripad had said. He knew that the fool did not get up, as a rule, till eight o’clock, then spent a long time in cleaning his teeth, and did not bathe until ten. On the day, however, every thing was changed. He had seen the Nambudiripad scurrying along from his sleeping quarters, and then skipping out of the women’s bath. If his object had really been to bathe, there was no necessity for him to have gone to the women’s bathing place, but he ought to have gone to the one used by men and used by himself on the preceding day. Then was it at all likely that he would have gone there merely to wash his feet, as he said, and have afterwards gone to the other building at Govindan’s suggestion, as he did ?
Putting two and two together, Cherusheri came to the conclusion that his worthy friend had some little game in view, but could not understand what it was until, after walking some distance, he looked back and saw a girl coming out of the identical bathing place and proceeding towards the temple. Then the mystery was solved, and ascertaining from a passer by that the girl in question was Panchu Menon’s niece, Cherusheri took in the situation at once.
"What a blessing! What a happy release for Indulekha, if I am right in my surmise," he said to himself as he entered the temple and sat down to pray.
Meanwhile the Nambudiripad and Govindan were engaged in a delectable conversation, and the former exclaimed, as soon as Cherusheri was out of ear-shot, "That’s just the thing for me. I’m delighted with her. I didn’t want Indulekha a bit. I don’t want to have anything to do with that ranting jade who goes in for the language of the cow-flesh eaters. But this is an awfully nice little girl, and she’s just the right age too. It’s girls of this age that I’m keen on, Govindan. Now go off and see what you can do at once. What does it matter if I refuse to see Indulekha any more?"
"My lord, my lord, what are you saying?" replied Govindan. "Have you forgotten what you said just now? You said that at any rate until you have left this place, every one must be left to think that it is Indulekha you are taking. Then what’ll happen if you talk like this? You said the thing was to be kept a dead secret."
"Oh you clever lad, Govindan, you smart fellow, cute boy! I lost my head for the minute, but I shan’t say a word about this thing to anyone; go and square matters just as you say. I’ll see Indulekha, but the only thing is I may come to grief over it. When I see her, I go mad with love and don’t seem to care for any other woman. What on earth can I do? I’d feel far happier if I could get off without seeing her. That’s what I meant to say."
"Courage, my lord, courage. You must pull yourself together. Just think how many women have thought that the mere sight of your noble form is almost too much for them!"
"Quite right, Govindan, clever boy! I will pull myself together. I don’t care two straws for Indulekha. Now go and do your level best, but keep it dark, very dark."
Govindan went away accordingly, but wandered about for some time, pondering whom he could take into his confidence, and what he could say in order to attain his object. Unprincipled scamp as he was, he had all his wits about him, and could not make up his mind to confide in anyone. His object was to let the Nambudiripad get well away before the public knew anything of their plot, and under the circumstances he was afraid of consulting Cherusheri Nambudiri.
As for the Nambudiripad, he went over, after a late breakfast, to Puvarangu in order to see Indulekha, and before proceeding further, I must put in one good word for him. In spite of all Cherusheri’s efforts he
held fast to the teaching of Govindan, and had in consequence up to that time refrained from giving the former even a hint of the alliance which he proposed for himself with Kalliani Kutty. Moreover, in one point at least, he managed to carry out his instructions, for while he was pacing the terrace of the Brahmin’s mess-house after his meal, the following conversation ensued between him and Sheenu Patter, who then happened to be in waiting:
"Well, Sheenu," he said, "If every thing is finalised today, I think I shall set off early tomorrow morning."
"No fear about that," replied Sheenu Patter. "Surely everything is settled."
Sheenu Patter knew nothing of what went on within the walls of Puvarangu, and after his recent quarrel with Panchu Menon, he had been forbidden to show his face either at Puvarangu or at Puvalli.
"Kick the low caste ruffian out, if you catch him here," had been Panchu Menon’s order, and consequently the Patter, not having set foot in Puvalli for some days, was ignorant of all that transpired.
"Yes," continued the Nambudiripad, "I think we may say that everything is settled. The only thing we have to find out is if this is the day. Well, we must make this the day."
"Yes, yes," said Sheenu Patter, "the sooner the better."
"Is there a palanquin here for Indulekha to go in ?" asked the Nambudiripad.
"O yes, there are four or five, " was the answer, and the conversation had reached this point, when Nambudiripad started for Puvarangu. Thereupon Sheenu Patter, wandering around the temple and the banks of the tank and the Brahmin mess-house, and the highways and bye-ways, repeated like a jangling bell on a crow’s neck, with many additions of his own, what the Nambudiripad had said.
Some Nambudiris and itinerant Brahmins had assembled for some religious feast at the temple and he pranced about among them, bragging that Indulekha’s hand would be bestowed on the Nambudiripad that night. The only member of that assembly who received the tidings with sorrow was Sankara Shastri.
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