99
THE WRECK
He had only taken one or two mouthfuls when he
exclaimed, "I say, how splendidly you cook!"
"You needn't try to be funny!" protested Kamala in confusion.
"I'm not being funny ; you'll see for yourself when your turn comes," and he very soon polished off his plateful and asked for more. Kamala gave him a much larger helping this time.
"What are you doing?" he exclaimed, "have you left enough for yourself?"
"Oh, that's all right! there's plenty left." She was delighted to see Ramesh enjoying his food.
"What are you going to eat off?" he asked next.
"Why, the lid of course," she replied, serene in her belief that as his wife she might use his plate.
"Oh, no, you mustn't do that," cried Ramesh in horror.
"Why not?" asked Kamala surprised.
"It would never do at all."
"Of course it would ; I know what I'm about. What are you going to eat off, Umesh?"
"There's a confectioner selling;- sweets below decks; I'll get some sál leaves from him to use as a plate," said Umesh.
"If you're going to use that lid," Ramesh went on, "give it to me and I'll wash it thoroughly first"
"What a fuss about nothing!" was her comment on his officiousness.
A few minutes later she exclaimed, "You never brought me any pan, so I can't get any ready for you to chew."
"There's a man selling it below," remarked Ramesh; and so their modest requirements were soon satisfied. Ramesh's reflections, however, were profoundly dis- turbing. "How on earth am I to get this idea that we're man and wife out of her head?" he asked himself.
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