Bimala reminisces about her mother. She resembles her mother, which she resented as a child. Bimala marries into a Rajah’s house. Her husband, Nikhil, is not fairy tale handsome, but she is happy to serve him. One morning, she tries to clean dust from his feet while he sleeps. This is done by touching one’s feet and then, quickly touching one’s head with the same hand. It is not something wives typically do for their husbands. He wakes, and she is ashamed, worried that he will think she was trying to gain favor in secret. But she simply wants to be a good wife. “It was my woman’s heart, which must worship in order to love” (3-4).

Her husband is a modern man who does not drink, even though he lives in a household ruled by his grandmother and her traditions. Because he is going to Calcutta to read for his M.A. degree, her husband brings in a teacher named Miss Gilby, who will instruct Bimala and be her companion. He writes her letters while he is away, which she treasures and keeps in a box.

Bimala’s sister-in-law, the Bari-Rana, scorns his modern ways, but he always forgives her, and she is always able to get her way with him.