Page:Anandamath, The Abbey of Bliss - Chatterjee.djvu/136

112 humble submission is that your worship will please in- timate why your worship has come to this poor man's hut from Bharuipur." " I don't see there is any occasion for ridicule either. I don't know Bharuipur. I came here today to adopt the creed of the Children and have been initiated to-day." " Good gracious ! Is it true ? " " Why, what's the harm ? you too are initiated." " But you are a woman." " How's it ? Where could you get that ? " " I thought that my consort was a female." " Consort ! have you one ? " " I thought I had." " You believe then that I am your wife." Jivananda again played the penitent by throwing the skirt round his neck and, joining his palms, said : So I do, worshipful sir." " If such a ludicrous idea should have possessed your mind, what do you think you ought to do ?" " To take the deerskin off your body and to drink the honey of your lips." This is only an evidence of your mischievous turn of mind or of an unusual devotion to hemp. At the time of initiation you swore not to sit on the same seat with a woman. If you do really take me for a woman — and indeed people do often make such mistakes, for instance, when a rope is, mistaken for a snake — then you ought to sit on a separate seat. Even talking with me is not meet for you."