‘No, Beybey, it is I—Nooran. Chacha Imam Baksh’s daughter,’ answered the girl timidly.

‘Nooro? What brings you here at this hour?’ the old woman asked angrily.

‘Has Jugga come back?’

‘What have you to do with Jugga?’ his mother snapped. ‘You have sent him to jail. You have made him a budmash. Does your father know you go about to strangers’ houses at midnight like a tart?’

Nooran began to cry. ‘We are going away tomorrow.’

That did not soften the old woman’s heart.

‘What relation are you to us that you want to come and see us? You can go where you like.’

Nooran played her last card. ‘I cannot leave. Jugga has promised to marry me.’

‘Get out, you bitch!’ the old woman hissed. ‘You, a Muslim weaver’s daughter, marry a Sikh peasant! Get out, or I will go and tell your father and the whole village. Go to Pakistan! Leave my Jugga alone.’

Nooran felt heavy and lifeless. ‘All right, Beybey, I will go. Don’t be angry with me. When Jugga comes back just tell him I came to say ‘Sat Sri Akal’. The girl went down on her knees, clasped the old woman’s legs and began to sob. ‘Beybey, I am going away and will never come back again. Don’t be harsh to me just when I am leaving.’

Jugga’s mother stood stiff, without a trace of emotion on her face. Inside her, she felt a little weak and soft. ‘I will tell Jugga.’

Nooran stopped crying. Her sobs came at long intervals. She still held onto Jugga’s mother. Her head sank lower and lower till it touched the old woman’s feet.

‘Beybey.’

‘What have you to say now?’ She had a premonition of what was coming.

‘Beybey.’

‘Beybey! Beybey! Why don’t you say something?’ asked the woman, pushing Nooran away. ‘What is it?’

The girl swallowed the spittle in her mouth.

‘Beybey, I have Jugga’s child inside me. If I go to Pakistan they will kill it when they know it has a Sikh father.’

The old woman let Nooran’s head drop back on her feet. Nooran clutched them hard and began to cry again.

‘How long have you had it?’

‘I have just found out. It is the second month.’

Jugga’s mother helped Nooran up and the two sat down on the charpoy. Nooran stopped sobbing.

‘I cannot keep you here,’ said the old woman at last. ‘I have enough trouble with the police already. When all this is over and Jugga comes back, he will go and get you from wherever you are. Does your father know?’

‘No! If he finds out he will marry me off to someone or murder me.’ She started crying again.