Act VIII, Scene 4
(Patriot Krishna Kumar Mitra’s residence. Enter a friend of Mrs. Mitra.)FRIEND (addressing Mrs. Mitra): Sister, a thought has just occurred to me and I have come to tell it to you.
MRS. MITRA: Yes, I am all ears.
FRIEND: Aurobindo Babu is in your house. The Intelligence Department knows it. Krishna-da is in detention in Agra Jail. The I.B.'s report, that you are harbouring the terror of the British Government in your own house, will spell disaster. Who knows that your house will not be a centre of the watch-dogs? For your friends and relatives to visit your house will certainly be to risk their safety. You can never want your neighbours, friends and relatives to be the objects of the I.B.'s attentions. Harassment of innocents, I am sure, is the last thing you could think of. Over and above all this, there is the case of Krishna-da. If he is detained simply on suspicion, Aurobindo Babu’s stay in your house will confirm it. All this will surely mean his indefinite detention.
MRS. MITRA (smiling): Now…
FRIEND: Now for your safety and for the safety of all else concerned as well as for an early release of Krishna-da I should like you to request Aurobindo Babu to remove to some other place apart from his relatives.
MRS. MITRA: I appreciate your goodwill and your concern for our well-being. But, dear sister, to be on God’s earth and at the same time to be in constant fear of danger to personal safety and personal interest, without believing in His Protection, is it not sacrilege? (In a choking voice.) Auro is more than my Auro. He is Mother India’s chosen child. If my friends and relatives dare not visit my house, I shall be sorry for them. Mother India needs her children to be of sterner stuff. If they cannot rise to the occasion, I repeat, I shall be sorry for them. But I cannot do otherwise. My heart revolts against the very idea of seeing Auro off from his beloved uncle’s house. And what would your Dada think of me? I know him, perhaps, more intimately than anybody else. His love of truth, his love of country are the same in substance and in spirit as his love for Auro. So, my sister…
FRIEND: A true consort of a true leader. I feel ennobled by your lofty stand. I leave you and your darling Auro in the hands of Divine Providence in whom you have such flaming faith.
