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 just for a moment, and then he went out of the room.

Damini went back to her own room and sat long on the threshold. No one returned. The fury of the wind went on increasing in violence.

Damini could sit quiet no longer. She also left the house. It was hardly possible to keep on one’s feet in the storm. The sentinels of the revelling gods seemed to be scolding Damini and repeatedly thrusting her back, The rain made desperate attempts to pervade every nook and cranny of the sky.

A flash rent the sky from end to end with terrific tearing thunder. It revealed Satish standing on the river brink. With a supreme effort Damini reached him in one tempestuous rush, outvying the wind. She fell prone at his feet. The shriek of the storm was overcome by her cry: ‘At your feet, I swear I had no thought of sin against your God! Why punish me thus?’

Satish stood silent.

‘Thrust me into the river with your feet, if you would be rid of me. But return you must!’

Satish came back. As he re-entered the house he said: ‘My need for Him whom I seek is immense,—so absolutely, that I have no need for