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THE WRECK 161

do no harm, he reasoned, to pay one secret visit to Kalutola before he left Calcutta.

Having decided on this course he sat down and indited a letter to Hemnalini. He gave her a full and detailed account of all his relations with Kamala, and he went the length of revealing his intention of making that helpless unfortunate his wife in reality when he returned to Ghazipur. It was a message of farewell, in which he unbosomed himself to his old love before his final and complete separation from her.

He enclosed the letter in an envelope, but neither outside nor inside did he inscribe the name of the person addressed. He knew that he would find parti- sans in Annada Babu's servants, for Ramesh had a soft side for all those who surrounded Hemnalini and he had been lavish with gifts in cash and kind on the slightest excuse. He planned accordingly to visit the neighbourhood as soon as dusk had fallen and to try to obtain a glimpse of Hemnalini from a distance; he would then hand the letter to one of the servants with instructions to convey it unostentatiously to Hemna- lini, and this must be the final severance of the old ties between them.

At nightfall he sallied out with his letter and crept with quaking limbs and palpitating heart into that street of ineffaceable memories. He found the door closed, and looking up saw that all the windows were shuttered. The house was untenanted and in darkness.

He knocked at the door. At the third or fourth knock a bearer undid the bolts and opened,

"It's Sukhan, isn't it?" said Ramesh.

"Yes, sir, I'm Sukhan."

Ramesh. "Where has your master gone!"

Bearer. "He has gone up-country with the young mistress for a change of air."

Ramesh. "What place have they gone to?"

Bearer. "I don't know."