‘Then you needn't write. I shall ask my husband, and he will surely——’
‘Look here, child, I've borne a good deal from you, but if you do that, I won't stand it for a moment. Your father knows you too well for you to deceive him.’
When Mashi had left her, Mani lay down on her bed in a bad temper.
Her neighbour and friend came and asked what was the matter.
‘Look here! What a shame it is! Here's my only sister's annaprashan coming, and they don't want to let me go to it!’
‘Why! Surely you're never thinking of going, are you, with your husband so ill?’
‘I don't do anything for him, and I couldn't if I tried. It's so deadly dull in this house, that I tell you frankly I can't bear it.’
‘You are a strange woman!’
‘But I can't pretend, as you people do, and look glum lest any one should think ill of me.’