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 vision of hell is before me, both when I am conscious or otherwise."

Chandra Shekhar said, "Don't be afraid—continued fasting and mental afflictions have caused all these horrible dreams. Physicians will ascribe them to weakness of brain. Yo had better go to Bedagram and build a hut at the outskirt of the village. Sundari will come there and look after you—she will also be able to arrange for your treatment."

Shaibalini did not say anything—she closed her eyes, and saw, before her, the image of Sundari, standing at one extremity of the cave, in a threatening attitude. What was more strange, it seemed to her that Sundari's stature gradually grew bigger, till at last it attained the height of a stalwart oak—she wore an awfully hideous and horrible appearance. It appeared to the diseased mind of poor Shaibalini that she was actually beholding, at the entrance to the cave, the hell with all its fearful associations—the noxious smell of rotten carcasses which she had been smelling in her dreams before—the same fearful hissings of blazing fire— the same painful sensation of heat and cold—that very mysterious legion of snakes, and lastly the very same hideous worms which seemed to have