Read Stephanie for Free Online

bearded man in a white newly pressed cotton suit. At first he thought, he hoped, they were not together but when Shyam saw him he spoke to the older man and the older man nodded.
    They were already drinking tea and munching arrowroot biscuits. Nari greeted them both and the middle-aged man was introduced to him as Mr Haji Noor Mohamed. For a moment or two Nari chatted brightly to Shyam, who was the same age as himself and was stout and pockmarked but darkly good-looking if you liked the extrovert type. Mr Mohamed had no small talk and sat silently sipping his tea and watching Nari with deep-set assessing eyes.
    No one invited Nari to take tea, so he ordered some for himself. There had been a meeting of the Congress Party yesterday – for some anniversary, and Nari wondered if Mr Mohamed had come from out of town to join the celebrations. The dress was right, but a little too richly ornamented.
    Out of the blue, as it were, quite without any good reason at all, it seemed, just when they were discussing the ill effects of smog in Bombay and what they must do to clean up the city, and the constant influx of new inhabitants – many thousands a day flocking in from the surrounding countryside – and how some firms were moving their premises to Poona where it was cheaper and cleaner and no union problems, and how lax the city council was in dealing with the matter of over-population – just when the conversation was proceeding very smoothly Shyam broke off and said: ‘Have you brought the money to repay your debt, Nari?’
    Nari looked, and felt, insulted. That they should be expected to discuss his private affairs in front of a complete stranger …
    â€˜Look, Shyam, with all the good will in the world towards you, I do not think it is suitable –’
    â€˜It is very suitable,’ interrupted Shyam. ‘ Mr Mohamed knows all about our little arrangement, for it is from him that I borrowed the money to lend to you.’
    â€˜You … borrowed the money … ?’
    â€˜From Mr Mohamed. How else would I find such money myself?’
    This was a bit of a thunderbolt, and Nari found it hard to believe that Shyam should have done any such outrageous thing. Shyam came of a good family. His father was a Brahmin and they had land somewhere in the hills between Bombay and Ahmadnagar. A bit of a thunderbolt.
    â€˜Mr Mohamed, I will tell you, is not a professional moneylender. Oh dear, no, nothing of the sort. He is a gentleman of private means whom I have known for some time, and when I told him of your predicament – your temporary predicament – he was quite willing to help – temporarily – a young lawyer in distress. That is why I have brought him with me this afternoon so that when you repay him in person you can thank him for his generosity. And only eight per cent interest! Not any of your twenty-five or thirty per cent interest such as a moneylender would charge!’
    Nari burned his lips on the scalding tea. A little went down and helped to nerve him for his exercise in apologetics.
    â€˜Alas,’ he began, ‘my life has not gone according to my plans this month. My wife, Bonni, has been ill, and you know what doctors charge. Then I have had the misfortune to have one of her relatives – an aunt – staying with us, and the old lady has eaten me out of house and home. Furthermore …’
    He listed the other misfortunes that had befallen him which unhappily made him unable to repay any of the loan this month. Next month would be far better. Next month he would not have to face again any of the expenses he had just listed which had come on him so unexpectedly and undeservedly of late.
    When he was at school the English teacher had used a quotation – was it from Shakespeare? – The lady doth protest too much , and it crossed Nari’s mind that this was what he was doing now; but he could not stop. Under the contemptuous gaze of his