and that simple glance are carried away by the current of time—he goes about the world for her, but finds nothing but recollection! Early love, it seems, is cursed.
Shaibalini thought she would be married to Pratap. But Pratap knew, it was not to be. Shaibalini was the daughter of one of Pratap's kindreds. The relation was, no doubt, distant, but still they had the same blood in them. This was Shaibalini's first mistake.
Shaibalini was a poor man's daughter. She had none but her mother. They had nothing but a cottage and Shaibalini's immense beauty. Pratap too was very poor.
Shaibalini was growing in years. Her beauty was every day increasing like the new moon, till she reached the height of her glory; but she could not be married. Marriage meant expense, and who would bear it? Who would discover, and pick up, as priceless, that beauty in that wilderness?
Gradually with her years, Shaibalini grew wiser. She felt that without Pratap there was no happiness in this world. She realised that she had no chance of getting Pratap in this life as her husband.
5
