"His body is still in the well."
"Has any one seen it?"
"His cap was seen and recovered from the place where it hung about a foot above the surface of the water."
"And on the strength of that you have performed the widow rites. It appears to me that you have acted with unwarrantable harshness towards my son and his wife. There would have been time for the ceremonies when my son's body was found."
"He is dead! I assure you he is dead!" protested Sooba. "It is the firm conviction of other members of the family whom I have consulted that he is dead."
"And if it be true, is it for the wife of the younger brother to strike the bangles off the arm of the heir's widow? But I tell you she is no widow! My boy is alive; he had too much spirit to stay where he was ill-treated; and too much courage to drown himself. You were wrong to beat him as you did."
"It was with your consent."
"That a small punishment should be given to satisfy the swami lest he should curse us. You have done more; you have gone beyond your orders. Where are the jewels?"
"I have them in safe keeping, sister," he replied, beginning to tremble for the consequences. She had it in her power to turn him and his wife out of the house.
"After we have eaten you shall hand them over to me together with the moneys that have been paid in by the silk and cotton merchants."