The next
morning, before I had left my room, my father informed me that Shunah
Shoo, with his family, had left Benares early the preceding evening; but
whither they had gone, he had not learnt.
"I rose, and immediately set about discovering their course; but all I
could learn was, that they had embarked in one of the passage-boats
which ply on the Ganges, and that Shunah had taken his palanquins and
many of his servants with him: and, as Balty Mahu had suddenly absented
himself from college at the same time, I did not doubt that he had aided
in executing the plan which he had also probably formed. My father, who
saw what I suffered, spared no pains to discover the place of their
retreat; but our endeavours were all ineffectual.
"At the end of three months, in which time my anxiety increased rather
than diminished, the mystery was dispelled. It was now trumpeted through
the city, that Shunah Shoo had returned to Benares in great pomp,
accompanied by a wealthy Omrah of a neighbouring district, to whom he
had given, or rather sold, his daughter. The news came upon me like a
clap of thunder. My previous state of suspense was happiness compared
with what I now felt, when I knew she was in the arms of another. In the
first transports of my grief and rage, I could have freely put to death
the father, daughter, husband, and myself. I was particularly desirous
of seeing Veenah, and venting on her the bitterest reproaches.
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