INDIRA AND OTHER STORIES
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
64
