Mukhi’s father, he went to her house.  At her instigation Nagendra opened a school in the village, and Tara Charan was appointed master.  Nowadays, by means of the grant-in-aid system in many villages, sleek-haired, song-singing, harmless Master Babus appear; but at that time such a being as a Master Babu was scarcely to be seen.  Consequently, Tara Charan appeared as one of the village gods; especially as it was known in the bazaar that he had read the Citizen of the World, the Spectator, and three books of Euclid.  On account of these gifts he was received into the Brahmo Samaj of Debendra Babu, the zemindar of Debipur, and reckoned as one of that Babu’s retinue.

Tara Charan wrote many essays on widow-marriage, on the education of women, and against idol-worship; read them weekly in the Samaj, and delivered many discourses beginning with “Oh, most merciful God!” Some of these he took from the Tattwa Bodhini,[3] and some he caused to be written for him by the school pandit.  He was forever preaching:  “Abandon idol-worship, give choice in marriage, give women education; why do you keep them shut up in a cage? let women come out.”  There was a special cause for this liberality on the subject of women, inasmuch as in his own house there was no woman.  Up to this time he had not married.  Surja Mukhi had made great efforts to get him married, but as his mother’s story was known in Govindpur, no respectable Kaystha consented to give him his daughter.  Many a common, disreputable Kaystha girl he might have had; but Surja Mukhi, regarding Tara Charan as a brother, would not give her consent, since she did not choose to call such a girl sister-in-law.  While she was seeking for a respectable Kaystha girl, Nagendra’s letter came, describing Kunda Nandini’s gifts and beauty.  She resolved to give her to Tara Charan in marriage.

[Footnote 3:  A religious periodical published in Calcutta.]

CHAPTER V.

OH!  LOTUS-EYED, WHO ART THOU?

Kunda arrived safely with Nagendra at Govindpur.  At the sight of Nagendra’s dwelling she became speechless with wonder, for she had never seen one so grand.  There were three divisions without and three within.  Each division was a large city.  The outer mahal (division) was entered by an iron gate, and was surrounded on all sides by a handsome lofty iron railing.  From the gate a broad, red, well-metalled path extended, on each side of which were beds of fresh grass that would have formed a paradise for cows.  In the midst of each plat was a circle of shrubs, all blooming with variously coloured flowers.  In front rose the lofty demi-upper-roomed boita khana (reception-hall), approached by a broad flight of steps, the verandah of which was supported by massive fluted pillars.  The floor of the lower part of this house was of marble.  Above the parapet, in its centre, an enormous clay