" Nevertheless, ayah exercised an influence over her
husband as decided as it was wholesome; she did not hesitate to rebuke
him when occasion required; and in all that related to the moral
government of her children she was free to dispute his authority, and
try parental conclusions with him,--kindly but firmly. As for "the
tyrannical immuring of the Oriental female," the cruel caging of the
pretty birds who are supposed to be forever longing and pining for the
gossip of the _ghaut_ and the bustle of the bazaar, the only fault she
had to find with it was that she did not get enough of it. The
well-trained Hindoo woman has been taught to regard such seclusion as
her most charming compliment, and a precious proof of her husband's
affection; to be kept jealously veiled from the staring world, is
associated in her mind with ideas of wealth and rank,--it is the very
aristocracy of fashion.
According to the Code of Menyu, "a believer in Scripture may receive
pure knowledge even from a soodra, a lesson of the highest virtue even
from a chandala, and a woman bright as a gem even from the lowest
family." So if Karlee's wife, instead of being of the same social rank
as himself, had come of basest caste, she would still have been a
treasure.
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