"That man was your discovery, my wife, and thou didst choose well. The poor, helpless dependant has proved his capacity, and will yet prove his faithfulness."

Gokul Das succeeded. Nobo Kumar was made manager of Birnagar and Debipur. The birth of a child late in life had also added to his joy. He called her Hemlata—the Golden Creeper—and as the girl grew up she wound the tendrils of her loving young heart round her father and her mother.

"She is my joy and my life, husband," said her mother to Nobo Kumar. "I can never part with her and live."

"I will never part with her, my wife, nor adopt a son. She will be the heiress of Debipur as Noren is the heir of Birnagar."

But troubles arose. New ambitions filled Nobo Kumar's mind. His jealousies against the House of Birnagar increased. A coldness sprang between him and his wife—a daughter of Birnagar. She asked no questions, but marked the change with a woman's insight. And for the first time she suspected Gokul Das.

Gokul Das was as profoundly respectful to his mistress as before, but he was not as open. He bowed to her humbly and spoke to her respectfully, but he consulted her no more. The boy whom she had compassioned and helped, and almost fed with her own hands in earlier days, developed into a dark schemer, prematurely old, suspiciously secret. The humble dependant was now the virtual master of two estates, determined to brush aside from his path whoever crossed it, friend or foe. The past did not exist for him, human ties and feelings had no influence