CHAPTER V
MY MARRIAGE
By this time I had become accustomed to talk of my marriage. Often I wondered with mingled fear and pleasure what sort of future was before me. At last a day came when I was to see the Maharajah. As my sister and I waited in my father’s room I remember she said: “He is very handsome, so I’ve been told, and very, very clever.”
When the Maharajah arrived we were called into the drawing-room. I was extremely nervous. It had been trying enough to face Mr. Dalton, but I felt more nervous now that the really critical moment had come.
MY HUSBAND.
Nripendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, Maharajah of Cooch Behar, 1887.
We sat round a big table in the drawing-room. Mr. Kneller came with the Maharajah. They both talked to us for a time. I was so shy I did not know which was the Maharajah and which Mr. Kneller. Presently a man most gorgeously dressed came into the room. He brought something which was placed on the table. After a few minutes my father said: “Sunity, this is a present from the Maharajah to you.” I looked up, and as I did so I met the Maharajah’s eyes fixed on me full of love, and I blushed. From that moment my future husband and I loved each other. He was so handsome and so charming. He told me afterwards that he had brought the present in his carriage, but wished to see me first, and if he liked me he would offer it, and it would be a token of his love.
We met several times later, but always in the presence of others. Yet I knew the Maharajah loved me.
Notwithstanding our hopes that everything would go smoothly with the preparations, there were constant worries concerning the religious rites. After some weeks, when many messages had passed between the Government, the State, and my father, my sister told me that there was a hitch about the marriage because the State people would not hear of a Brahmo alliance. I answered, “One thing is certain, I shall not change my religion. Yet, Bino, I love the Maharajah and will marry no one else.”