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 "How could you manage to come here?" inquired Shaibalini, in abstraction.

Sundari. Whence I came and how I came, I will explain to you hereafter, if I live to see a better day. I have come here in search of you. People said, that the palanquin had gone towards the Ganges. So, leaving my bed early in the morning, I walked up to the bank of the Ganges, without giving out my mind to any one. People there said, that the Budgerow had gone towards the north. It is a long way from home and my legs became weak with pain. I then hired a boat and followed you up to this place. Your boat is big—it hardly moves—mine was a small one, and so I have overtaken you so soon.

Shaibalini. How could you come alone?

It came to Sundari's lips, "How could you, you shameless wretch, come away in the palanquin of a Sahib?" But she controlled her tongue, thinking that it was not the proper time for such a reproach. She said, "I have not come alone. My husband is with me. I have come here in the disguise of a barber woman, keeping our little boat at a distance."

"Then, what next?" carelessly inquired the absent-minded Shaibalini.