Page:Anandamath, The Abbey of Bliss - Chatterjee.djvu/40

18 god, and I will tell you. My husband is yet unfed. How can I eat or drink till I meet him or learn that he has had some food?"

The monk asked "Where is your husband?"

"That," said Kalyani, "I do not know. The outlaws brought me away when he had gone out to look for some milk." Then the anchorite asked her question after question and obtained every information about Kalyani and her husband. Kalyani did not give him her husband's name, in fact she could not do so ;—but from other clues the monk came to recognise her and said "You are Mahendra's wife?" Kalyani did not answer; she looked down modestly and threw a splinter of wood on the fire on which the milk was warming. Then the anchorite said: "You do as I bid you; drink the milk, and I shall get news of your husband. I won't go till you have done it."

Kalyani inquired if there was any water in the house. The monk pointed to the pitcher. Kalyani put on the palms of her hands together in the shape of a cup and the anchorite filled it with water. She brought it to his feet and asked him to sanctify it with the dust of his feet. The monk touched it with his toe, and Kalyani drank away the water and said, "I have drunk nectar, pray bid me not take