At the Counsellor’s House Navinchandra started taking his morning and evening meals at the Counsellor’s house. Shathrai’s household was uncaring of its guests, their attitude being: ‘Dump the guest in the godown’. Those who ate in the Karbhari’s house felt as if they were fed scraps, like dogs. Shathrai would neither talk nor sit with his guests, and they invariably felt slighted. As a young man, Buddhidhan had also felt unwelcome in Shathrai’s house. However, if one did not accept the Karbhari’s invitation, and this came to his notice, one would also be considered swollen-headed. Sometimes, Shathrai would taunt his guests or ridicule them so, it would singe his visitors. Buddhidhan had always looked for reasons to steal away from that house. But this was in the past. Buddhidhan did, however, still remember it. And so he took care to ensure that no one felt slighted under his roof. He had therefore trained his children as well as his servants in the art of humility and civility. Navinchandra ate alongside Buddhidhan. There was not the slightest discrimination. Buddhidhan treated even a wandering wayfarer as an equal, in thought, word and deed. The honoured and loved Counsellor of the Ruler of Suvarnapur conversed interestedly with his guests, encouraged even the quiet and the reticent to speak up and engage in debates. In such discussions, he betrayed not a trace of pride and arrogance. Pramaddhan would also join in at mealtimes and ensure that the guests were comfortable. Saubhagya Devi, Alak Kishori and Kumud Sundari would quietly sit in a group and roll betel-nut leaves.

In Shathrai’s house, Buddhidhan had observed very different demeanour. Khalaknanda and Rupali would walk around noisily, talk loudly, laugh with the servants one moment and scold them the next. They were wealthy, wore ornaments in excess and behaved ostentatiously. But their sense of their own importance extended only to such display. Neither of them knew how to look after or manage the household. They never covered their heads. Sometimes their unkempt hair would come loose. At times their backs were uncovered, and they moved around the house without wearing a blouse sometimes. Petticoats seemed cumbersome to them, and the women did not care what happened to their garments when they sat down, got up, or moved about. Unknown men around the house did not feel the need to caution them, and if they did, felt ashamed in pointing such things out to women. The men of the house fooled around with other women and neglected their own household. As a result, visitors to the Karbhari’s residence could cultivate undesirable proximity with these women. Buddhidhan had observed this, and he felt a strong revulsion. He took care to ensure that such goings on would never transpire in his own house. In his caste, it was not customary for women to cover their faces. But the women took care not to appear before elderly men. Navinchandra was not considered an elder; he was a caste-fellow, and so the women