INDIRA
to Maheshpur. You shall be well paid for your trouble."
They carried me to my native village. Telling the bearers and my other attendants to wait on the outskirts, I entered the village on foot. When my old home came in sight at last, I sat down in a secluded place and shed happy tears. It was long before I could muster courage to enter the house. The first person I met in our old home was my dear father. I fell at his feet in obeisance. He was beside himself with joy when he recognised his long lost daughter. But I will spare you the details of all these happenings. Indeed, how shall I tell of things so sacred, so intimate?
I refused to tell them where I had been and what I had been doing. When my father and mother pressed me, I said, "I will tell you some other time."
The next day, my father sent a letter to my father-in-law's house. To the messenger he said, "if my son-in-law is not at home, find out
45