20
THE WRECK
In any case he could not, without being uncivil, delay answering Annada Babu's letter; so he wrote:
Please forgive me for not calling on you; I have been prevented from doing so by circumstances over which I have no control
But he did not give his new address.
The day after he had posted his reply he donned the traditional headgear of the pleader and set out to make his first appearance at the Alipore Courts.
One day he had walked part of the way back from the Courts and was on the point of hiring a cab to take him home when he heard a well-known voice exclaim: "Dad, there's Ramesh Babu!" "Stop, driver, stop," cried a man's voice, and a carriage drew up close to where Ramesh was standing. Annada Babu and his daughter were returning from a picnic at the Alipore Zoo, hence this unexpected meeting.
No sooner had Ramesh set eyes on Hemnalini in the carriage — Hemnalini with her sweet, serene face, her dress and her hair arranged in the distinctive style so familiar to him, the plain bangles and the gold bracelets cut in facets on her wrists — than a wave of emotion surged up in his breast and choked his utterance.
"So it's Ramesh!" exclaimed Annada Babu. "What luck meeting you like this in the street! You've stopped writing to us nowadays, or if you do write you don't give your address. Where are you off to now? Doing anything in particular?"
"No, just coming back from Court," said Ramesh.
"Come along then and have tea with us."
Ramesh's heart was full, and there was no room in it for hesitation. He took his seat in the carriage and overcoming his diffidence by a tremendous effort asked Hemnalini how she was.
