Indira and Other Stories/The Two Rings/Chapter 2
II.
No one knew why Dhana Das had forbidden his daughter's marriage to Purandar. He had not communicated his reasons to any of his intimates. If any one asked him, he simply answered, "I know what I am about." The curious thing was that though numerous proposals were made for Hiranmayi's hand, he rejected them all. He simply refused to discuss the matter. His wife reproached him with allowing the proper time for marriage to slip by, but he paid no attention. He merely said, "Let our Spiritual Instructor come. When he arrives we can talk about it."
Purandar departed for Ceylon. Two years passed without any occurrence worth mentioning. But Purandar did not return, and no arrangements were made for Hiranmayi's marriage. Yet the girl, now in her eighteenth year, was as lovely and attractive as a mangoe tree in full bloom in the spring time.
Not that Hiranmayi was any longer distressed at her prolonged maidenhood. If any question of marriage arose, her thoughts flew to Purandar. Her mind dwelt on his happy smiling face, fair as a flower, and set off by the crisp curling black hair around it; she thought of the brave blue cloak with gold embroidery that hung so gallantly from his manly shoulder; she remembered the brilliant rings on his fingers. She knew that she would have to marry in obedience to her father's wishes. But that would be a death in life. And yet, whether she were pleased or not at her father's reluctance to part with her, she was certainly puzzled. It was not the custom to keep girls unmarried at her age; even if no actual ceremony was performed, it was usual to settle the preliminaries. Why was it that her father would not even listen to proposals? One day, by an accident, she secured a clue to his reasons.
In the course of trade Dhana Das had got possession of a beautiful Chinese casket. It was bigger than such caskets usually are, and his wife used to keep her jewels in it. It happened that the merchant had had several new ornaments prepared as a present for his wife, who gave her old jewels, with the casket, to her daughter. When Hiranmayi was wrapping up her new acquisitions and potting them away, she found half of a torn piece of paper in the casket.
Hiranmayi was well educated and could read. At the first glance at the paper, she was astonished to see her own name. She looked at the fragment, but could make no sense of what was written on it, nor could she guess the writer or recipient of the communication. Nevertheless a strange sense of fear came over her as she read the mysterious words before her. The writing was to the following effect:
By examination of the stars I obs
a golden image such as Hiranmayi
age would cause terrible misfortune.
years see one another
they may be.
A fear of some unknown and impending misfortune filled the girl's mind. She put the scrap of paper away carefully without telling any one of her discovery.