inner apartments; then began to make inroads at night upon my father's library, which was situated in the outer apartments.
It was the custom of our family to marry the girls very early. My sisters-in-law too had been married in their childhood. But the old order changed in my case. As I was the only daughter of our house, neither my mother nor my grandmother could live without me a single day. If anybody asked any questions about my age they always gave me out to be three or four years younger than I really was and never failed to remark, "We give our girls in marriage early, not because we must, but because we will. Nobody would dare to object if we did otherwise. We are a great Kulin family, many daughters of our house had remained unmarried their whole lives and nobody had anything to say."
So I was growing up, without any thought of my marriage. My grandmother sometimes reminded others it was high time to think of my marriage, but she received but scant hearing. I used to hear that a suitable bridegroom was being sought for, but nobody seemed to be very energetic about it. As the people around us were mostly our tenants, they never said anything to our faces, and if they said anything behind our backs, nobody brought it to our notice.
My eldest brother's marriage had taken place even before my birth; my second brother too had been married when I was quite small. My third brother was considerably younger than the elder ones, and now his marriage was about to be solemnised. My grandfather wished it to be a very grand affair, as he was doubtful whether he would live to see any other festive ceremony of the family.
The bride-elect was the daughter of a poor house, but as she was reported to be supremely beautiful, my
