Page:The Enchanted Parrot.djvu/51

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THE ENCHANTED PARROT
47


ished when he saw her returning home with a strange young man, but she came up to him and said, " Let me introduce this gentleman to you."

" And pray," said he, " who may he be ? "

" He is my brother," she answered, " I have not seen him since we were quite children; he has come here to pay me a visit and I want to hear how all my relations are getting on." The young man took care to tell exactly the same story as Rambhikâ, and Vilochana, who was charmed with his manners and politeness, begged him to make himself quite at home. So Rambhikâ entertained him to the best of her ability. Presently her husband went off to bed. Rambhikâ thereupon began to redouble her attentions to her visitor, but he remonstrated, saying, " Oh 1 this won't do at all ! Did you not say that I was your brother? If so you are my sister, and you have got all you want." " Don't talk such nonsense," she replied; " has it not been said —

" ' He who rejects the advances of a beautiful damsel, and despises her sighs, is fit only for the infernal regions '? "

With these words she uttered a piercing shriek, and woke up her husband.

The young man, terrified at what was going to happen, fell at her feet, and promised her that if