outrage my wife's feelings by calling in a blacksmith and having the box broken open?"
Sitanath with distorted face, screamed out—"No, such a conduct does not become me. It becomes you to cheat a Brahman. Will you give them, or will you not, Sir? Speak plainly. If you will not give them, I will snap my sacred thread and depart, cursing you.[1] It shall be your ruin and that before the third night shall expire."
Hrishi Kesh, looking at the convulsed features of Sitanath, felt highly insulted. He went himself to call in a smith, took him to the upper story and had the box broken open. The mother seeing this cruel piece of work, rolled on the ground in an agony of grief.
The father-in-law having departed with the jewels, Hrishi Kesh also laid himself down upon his bed. On that day neither husband nor wife touched food again.
III
We are now at Nobogram, on the bank of the Bhagirathi, surrounded by trees. It is early dawn. The birds have not yet begun their morning song. Wearing a tattered quilt around his person and a turban round his head, Sitanath walked very
- ↑ A Brahman's curse, accompanied with the snapping of his holy thread, is believed to be particularly dangerous.
