Page:Anandamath, The Abbey of Bliss - Chatterjee.djvu/151

Rh within if you stood outside. There stood a little cottage here wholly concealed by the dense foliage. The walls were made by branches of trees intertwined with creepers, the roof was of leaves, and the floor of wood covered with a thick crust of earth. Santi entered it after opening the door made of creepers. There sat Jivananda playing on the saratig. As he saw Santi, he asked : " Has the tide set in the stream after all ?" Santi smiled and said, " Does the tide ever enter a pond or a drain ?" Jivananda grew gloomy and said, " Santi, my life is gone for the transgression of one day. I shall have to expiate for my sin one day. I would have done it before this, but I have desisted only at your request But a great battle surely looks ahead, and I will have to make my expiation on the field of that battle. My life I must give up, but on the day of death."— Santi interrupted him and said : " I am your wife, the participator in your pieties and a helper in the noble work you have undertaken. You have taken a very great vow and I have left my home only to aid you in that great work. We have changed our home for the woods only that we might perform that great duty together. I shall add to your piety and not stand in the way of your success in the world of devotion. Marriage is not for this life alone but for the life hereafter. As for the marriage of this life, let us think that there never was such a thing between us. Our marriage is all for the life hereafter and I am sure we will reap a double