We took our leave. We didn’t have to make our way back through the bank. There was a back door to the house, with stairs leading down. These brought us straight onto the main road. We were passing by the market when I suddenly remembered that we were out of cigarettes. I said, ‘Come this way, I have to buy a tin of cigarettes.’

Byomkesh was a little preoccupied. Suddenly he came awake and said, ‘Oh yes! I have to buy something as well.’

We entered a large variety store. I went in one direction to purchase the cigarettes and Byomkesh headed the other way. As I was buying my cigarettes, from the corner of my eye I saw Byomkesh buying a bottle of expensive perfume and putting it into his pocket.

I laughed to myself. I had no idea why these people fell out with each other and why they patched things up again. Conjugal life remained a comical enigma to me.

That afternoon, after lunch, I stretched out on the bed for a short nap. When I woke up, it was three-thirty.

There were murmurs coming from the direction of Byomkesh’s room. I peeped in and saw that Byomkesh was sitting on a chair. Satyaboti stood behind it, with her arms around his neck, whispering softly in his ears. There were smiles on both their faces.

I moved aside and raised my voice, ‘Hello there, love- birds—if you’re going to take long, I guess I should look into getting us all some tea.’

Embarrassed, Satyaboti came out immediately, with her face partially covered by a corner of her sari. She hurried away into the kitchen. A little later, Byomkesh emerged, puffing on a cigarette. I was surprised, ‘What’s up? You’re smoking like a chimney!’

Byomkesh gave a broad grin and said, ‘I have been granted permission—as many as I want from this day on.’

I realized that in the marital equation, what mattered was not only the heart’s workings, but the calculativeness of the brain as well.

After tea, I went upstairs to look in on our ailing landlady. Some social obligations were unavoidable.

Professor Shome looked worried. Malati Devi’s condition had deteriorated, but it wasn’t beyond all hope. Both the lungs were affected and oxygen was being administered externally. The fever was running pretty high and the patient was slipping into delirium periodically. A nurse had been employed to look after her.

As you make your bed, so shall you lie. I conveyed my sympathies and came back downstairs. A little while later, Dr Ghatok arrived.

The doctor’s demeanour was different now. He was a little chary, a little suspicious and a little self-absorbed. From time to time he looked at Byomkesh as if the latter was becoming a cause for concern.

The conversation that ensued was commonplace. Ghatok had gone to Mahidharbabu’s in the morning and taken a look at Phalguni’s body. Byomkesh asked, ‘What did you see? Is the cause of death known yet?’

After