Act II, Scene 4

(Home. Mano reads out to Benoy, his eldest brother, a poem composed by himself.)

MANO:

Augustest! Dearest! whom no thought can trace,
Name murmuring out of birth’s infinity,
Mother! Like Heaven’s great face is thy sweet face,
Stupendous with the mystery of me.

(Enter Auro.)

AURO: There is a letter from father. He gives a brief account of the atrocities of British rule in India. He has also sent a few cuttings from the Bengalee.

(Mano snatches away the letter and begins to read it aloud.)

AURO: We must pay the British back in their own coin.

MANO: Yes, by all means.

BENOY: What are you up to?

AURO: Freedom, freedom of India by hook or by crook. We must dedicate ourselves to set India at large. Almost all the civilised nations on the earth are free. Utterly meaningless will be our lives if we fail to make our Motherland free.