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 in my presence. At midnight, go to the gate of the inner apartment; there a person will show you another ring like this; go with him without hesitation. He will take you wherever you should like to go. Tell him to take you to Abhiramswami's cottage."

Tilottama was astonished. Either from amazement or from excess of joy, she could not speak for a while.

"What's this?" said she. "Who has given you this ring?"

"That's a long story to tell,"—said Bimala. "I will tell it to you at leisure. Now do without hesitation as I have told you."

"And what of yourself?" asked Tilottama. "How will you go out?"

"Don't be uneasy on that account," said Bimala. "I will by some other means go out and meet you to-morrow morning."

She thus silenced Tilottama. The latter could not understand that she closed her own way in providing deliverance for Tilottama.

For many a day, Tilottama's face had not expressed joy. She now looked quite cheerful at this joyful intelligence.

This filled Bimala with delight.

"Then I go now," said she with tearful eyes and a choked utterance.

"I see," said Tilottama hesitatingly, "you know every thing that has taken place within the fort. Will you tell me (before you go) how and where our friends and acquaintances are?"

Bimala saw that even in this imminent danger the remembrance of Jagat Singha was lively in Tilottama's mind. Bimala had received Jagat Singha's cruel note, in which he did not mention the very name of Tilottama. To tell this to her would but add to the misery of a heart already bending beneath the weight of