Srikanta
me 'baiji', you know at the bottom of your heart that Rajlakshmi could never desert you if you wanted her help. It would have been a good thing, perhaps, if I could: I might have taught you a lesson. What a stupid race women are! If they've loved once, they are done for.'
'Piari,' I said, 'do you know why even the best sannyasis don't get alms?'[1]
'Yes,' said Piari, 'I know. But your joke is not pointed enough to wound me. My love is my treasure from the hand of God. It belonged to me before I could tell right from wrong. It is not the growth of a day.'
'Very well, then,' I replied, softened, 'I hope that something may happen to me to-night, so that you may have a clear test of your "treasure from the hand of God".'
'Holy Durga!'[2] she cried in sudden terror, 'you should be ashamed to say such things. May you come back as you are! I want no "clear test". What have I done to deserve the good fortune of nursing you back to health and strength with my own hands if you should happen to fall ill? If that glad service were ever awarded me I should have at least one act of my life to be proud of!' She turned her face away, but in the dim light of the lantern I could see her tears.
'I can only hope that some day your wish may be fulfilled,' I said, as I left the tent. I little knew in what
- ↑ Because the whole profession is distrusted. The garb of sannyasi is often a cloak for laziness or greed, or is used by a man whom the police want. Srikanta is here reminding Piari that though she may be sincere in her words, she belongs to a class who make their living by traffic in 'love'.
- ↑ A name of Parvati, Shiva's consort; taken to ward off evils and to make an undertaking auspicious.
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