Page:A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields.djvu/17

Rh Let Uttama my brother, not thy son, Receive the throne and royal titles, all My father pleases to confer on him. I grudge them not. Not with another's gifts Desire I, dearest mother, to be rich, But with my own work would acquire a name. And I shall strive unceasing for a place Such as my father hath not won, a place That would not know him even, ay, a place Far, far above the highest of this earth.'


 * He said, and from his mother's chambers passed,

And went into the wood where hermits live, And never to his father's house returned.


 * Well kept the boy his promise made that day!

By prayer and penance Dhruva gained at last The highest heavens, and there he shines a star! Nightly men see him in the firmament.

Mademoiselle Clarisse Bader's charming work, entitled, 'La Femme dans L'Inde Antique,' which had been honoured with the approbation of the French Academy, having attracted Toru's attention in an advertisement, I got it out for her, and when she had read it, she admired it so much that she proposed to translate it. I offered no objection, but advised her to obtain the consent of the authoress, as otherwise she might not be allowed, when her work was complete, to publish it. Hereupon she wrote to Mlle. Bader. I have no copy of her first letter, but it commenced thus, if I remember aright:—'Une femme de l'Inde moderne,' who has read with admiration your book entitled 'La Femme dans l'Inde Antique,' desires to translate it.' Mlle. Bader's reply, and the subsequent correspondence