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 Shaibalini, trembling in violent agitation. "Why did you again appear before me with the matchless beauty of your etherial mould? Why did you kindle before my eyes the fascinating light of that beauty, when I was just stepping into youth? Why did you revive in me, the memory of what I had forgotten? Why I happened to see you at all? If I had seen you, why did I not get you as my own? If that were to be so, why did not death come upon me? Don't you know that it was your thought which made my home a wilderness? Need I tell you, that I deserted my home in the hope that, although I am torn away from you, I may one day have you as my own? Or else, what is Foster to me?"

Shaibalini's words violently shocked Pratap—he felt as if a thunderbolt had come upon him—he rushed out of the room in agony, like one stung by scorpions.

At that moment a great noise was heard at the gate of the house.