INDIRA AND OTHER STORIES
Finally, as the women were retiring to rest, she suddenly asked, "Amala, has the young merchant a wife?"
Amala replied, "No, he is not married."
A strange commotion came over Hiranmayi's spirits. For a moment she thought—but no, she would ask no more questions. She retired silently to rest.
VI
Some time after, Amala came to Hiranmayi with a good-natured grin on her homely face and said, "Well, young woman, what am I to think of your manners and morals now?"
Hiranmayi asked, "What have I been doing now?"
"Why did you not tell me all this time?"
"What was there to tell?"
"That you were such a dear friend of Purandar Chetty, to be sure!"
Hiranmayi's face flushed with shame at this sudden imputation. She said, however, "Well, they were neighbours of ours when
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