VI. STORY OF THE NORTH STAR
Summer came and passed, and the copious rains of July and August flooded the rivers and nourished the rice-fields of Bengal. Hemlata was now thirteen, and on the very threshold of her youth, for youth comes early in the Tropics. Fathers in India seldom keep their daughters unmarried after that age, but Nobo Kumar had determined in his own mind that the happy wedding of his only child should not take place until he had recovered his ancient estate of Debipur. And few there were who could venture to offer him counsel when his purpose was fixed.
But though Hemlata remained still unmarried she was no longer the gay child who played on the sands a year or two before. Custom imposed upon her a certain restraint at the very threshold of her youth, and she was more gentle and retiring, more lovely and bashful. She seldom left the inner apartments of the house except with her mother, when she went to bathe in the river or offer flowers at some distant temple.
Hemlata met Sirish only on rare occasions when the young dependant was admitted into the inner apartments of Zemindar's house. On such occasions he would come to Hemlata with his unfailing tenderness for the girl, sit by her and take her hand into his, inquire about her health and her occupations, and sometimes talk with her of olden days. Hemlata heard much of this strong, gentle, sedate youth, and
60
