Indira and Other Stories/Radharani/Chapter 2
II.
It was much that Radharani's mother should have got the little comforts she needed. But her infirmity continued to increase. She had been a very wealthy woman. She was now reduced to dire poverty. What with bodily fatigue and mental anxiety her vitality was sapped. Her illness grew steadily worse, and at last it was plain that her end was near.
It was at this time that news came from England that the Lords of the Privy Council had decided the case in her favour. It seemed that she was to get her property back, that the law expenses and costs were to be refunded to her, the heavy costs of three successive trials in court. One Kamakhyanath Babu had been their pleader in the High Court, and this gentleman came in person to their cottage to tell them the news. On hearing this joyful news, the dying woman shed happy tears. Restraining her excitement, however, she said to her lawyer,
"You have brought oil, my friend, to a dying lamp! This good news of yours has come too late to save my life. My days are numbered. But I have this great joy, that my little daughter need not die of starvation when I am gone. And yet, how can I be sure of that? She is but a child, poor dear! Who will defend her rights and her property? In you, my friend, is my only hope. Grant a dying woman her last request. Promise to be a father and guardian to my child."
Kamakhyanath Babu was not only the kindest but most trustworthy of men, and an old friend of Radharani's father. When misfortune befell the family, he had begged Radharani's mother to take up her abode with him till the appeal was decided. In Hindu phrase, he offered to make her his adopted mother. But the old lady was too proud to accept her lawyer's hospitality. Finally the good man was driven to offer a monthly subvention to their needs, but his client heroically declared that she had enough money in hand for present needs, and would come to him if she were in real need. The gift they had accepted from Rukmini Kumar was the first and last charity they had received from anyone! Hence it was that their lawyer was unaware to what straits they had been reduced. When he found them in abject poverty, he was much vexed and grieved. He was greatly moved when his client, once more made a fresh prayer of him with joined palms of entreaty.
"Madam," he said, "you have only to order, it is for me to carry out your instructions. I will faithfully attend to all your lightest wishes."
"The time is come for me to depart," she said, "and I leave my girl behind me. The courts have now confirmed my father-in-law's genuine will, and Radharani is heiress to a great estate. I beseech you to have care of her; treat her as your daughter; protect her from those who prey on the wealthy. This is my dying request to you. If you will promise me this, my friend, I can die in peace."
Her lawyer replied, "I swear to you by all that is holy that Radharani shall be to me more than a daughter. I promise this with all my heart, and you may trust to me to do my duty by my young ward."
The dying woman looked at him, and seeing the tears in his eyes, gladly accepted his assurance. A flickering smile of pleasure shone for a moment on her parched and fevered lips. This smile told the experienced lawyer that the poor woman knew that she was doomed. Kamakhya Babu now renewed his entreaties to his client to take up her abode under his roof. She might move to her old home, he said, when the legal formalities had been concluded. Her old pride and reluctance to accept obligations were due to poverty. While she was still poor, she was too proud to accept the hospitality of richer people. Now that she was restored to riches, her fierce independence had disappeared. She very gently and kindly accepted her old friend's offer, and the lawyer with the utmost care and tenderness conveyed the sick woman and her daughter to his home.
All that medical skill could do was attempted in vain, and the widow died very shortly after the restoration of her fortunes. Radharani's lawyer took the necessary steps to have the heiress put in possession of her property. But seeing that she was but a child still, he retained her as his guest and did not send her to her ancestral home. The Collector of the district, who in India takes the place of the Court of Chancery, was desirous of putting the estate under the Court of Wards, but Kamakhya Babu was of opinion that he would be a better guardian of the girl's interests than any government official. His legal astuteness defeated the Collector's well-meant plans and he found himself free to defend his ward's interests without official interference. His most serious responsibility was the need of finding a suitable husband for the heiress. Fortunately the good lawyer was a man of modern ideas and no advocate of infant marriages. He reflected, too, that the girl had no old-fashioned relatives who would imagine that her caste was in danger if she were not married in childhood. He made up his mind, therefore, that the question might be shelved till Radharani herself began to think about a husband. In the meanwhile let her have a suitably liberal education. Holding these opinions, the excellent man made no effort whatever to find a husband for his ward, but devoted all his efforts to securing her the best teachers.