Mala, and an evening routine

The narrator thinks about his new wife, Mala, who is still in India. She is a teacher's daughter. Many men had rejected her because of her dark skin, and her parents were glad to marry her to a man who would take her far away.

They were together for only five nights before he left for America. Each night she cried for her parents, and he did not comfort her.

He remembers his mother: how she lost her mind after his father's death, and died in a small room, and how he, as the eldest son, lit her funeral fire.

Every evening, Mrs Croft makes him sit on the piano bench beside her. She announces that there is a flag on the moon, and he says 'Splendid!' Then she falls asleep. It all takes only a few minutes.

One Friday, instead of leaving the rent on the piano, he puts it into her hand. She is touched, and thanks him: 'It was very kind of you!'

Ten minutes on a bench each night is becoming a quiet friendship.