feit will. Hara Lâl's eyes inflamed, and his lips trembled with anger and annoyance. "Stupid, useless one!" he exclaimed. "What even a woman might do you fail in! I go, but if the least breath of this gets about, you lose your life!"
Brahm. "Don't be anxious on that account. I shall not reveal the matter."
Hara Lâl went thence to Brahmânanda's kitchen. As a child of the house he could penetrate everywhere. In the kitchen Brahmânanda's niece, Rohini, was cooking.
We have special need of this Rohini, so we must say something of her looks and character; but description of charms is not the fashion nowadays, and as to character, it is not safe under existing laws to discuss any but one's own. Suffice it to say that Rohini was in the full glory of womanhood, and of remarkable beauty—the splendour of the full autumnal moon. She had early become a widow,[1] but had many faults unsuited to the widowed condition. For instance, she wore a black-bordered cloth, and bracelets on her arms. I rather think she ate the betel leaf too. Moreover, in cooking she equalled
- ↑ See Appendix, Note 3.
