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“ The eloquence of the eyes of one who has, from her birth, no other language than the expression of the face, is unlimited, unfathomable, deep and vast—much like the transparent sky, the silent stage of the rising and setting of the bright orbs, of light and shade. In this speechless creature there was a lonesome majesty as that of Great Nature herself. ”

“ Nature, too, on that moon-light-night sat like her waking, companionless, brooding over the sleeping world—she had reached, as it were, the utmost limit of the illimitable stillness—nay beyond that—and was shimmering with the mystery of her youth, with mirth and pensiveness, and could not utter a single syllable. ”

“ Her two elder sisters were called Sukeshini and Suhásini, and for the sake of alliteration the father gave the name of Subhâsini to his youngest daughter. And people abbreviated the name into Subhà.
The two elder girls had been matched at great expense and after a mighty hunt for a bridegroom; now the youngest one weighed heavily upon the oppressed heart of her parents.
It does not come home to every one that one who cannot speak, is capable of feeling; and so, everybody gave vent to their sense of dark misgivings with regard to her future in her very presence. ”

“ Subha managed to pick up another companion from among creatures belonging to a higher scale in creation; but the exact nature of the relation between them is rather difficult to ascertain, for he was a creature gifted with the power of speech and so they had between them, no common language.
He was Protap, the youngest scion of the Goswami family. He was a hopeless ne'er-do-well. After many efforts his parents had given up the hope that he would ever exert himself to better the condition of the family by some work or other. ”

“ Worthless people have this advantage that though their own kith and kin become disgusted with them, they become favourite with aliens, for being tied to nothing they become public property, so to say. ”

“ They always come handy whenever a hand falls short in a festivity or a ceremony.
Angling was Protap's main hobby. It easily killed a great deal of time. In the afternoon he was often found engaged in this occupation by the river-side, and on these occasions he often met Subha. In whatever work he might be engaged, Protap liked to have a companion; and a silent companion is the best during angling; hence Protap appreciated Subha's worth. For this reason, he called her Su with an extra dose of fondness, though everybody else called her Subha. ”

“ She was ever-present in her parents' minds.
Especially, her mother looked upon her in the light of a defect of her own self. For, a mother often deems her daughter to be more closely a part of herself than her son, and any imperfection in the daughter is considered by her to be an occasion for her own disgrace. The father Banikantha rather loved Subha more than his other daughters ”