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 heart was simply overflowing with joy. He called out in an affectionate and cheerful voice,

This warm and loving address thrilled Shaibalini through and through—her heart beat violently within her. In their younger days, Pratap took delight in calling her, "Shai" or "Sai*," and it was after a long, long time that he again addressed her in that sweet familiar mode! The fleeting away of time cannot be measured by months or years. Its flow is swift or tardy as our situation is pleasant or unpleasant. To Shaibalini, the few days she had not been greeted by Pratap in that fond and affectionate manner, appeared to be as long as the great interval between two ages. Shaibalini was overpowered with emotion, and she closed her eyes, as she was gliding away through that vast sheet of water; she asked the moon and the stars over her head, to bear witness to what had fallen from Pratap's lips. She then said, with her eyes closed as before,

"Pratap, why even to day the silvery beams of the moon should smile upon the waters of the Ganges?"