Page:Indira and Other Stories.pdf/125

 prolonged and unseasonable maidenhood. Whether you will ever see one another in this life I cannot say. If it should happen that you meet, you would not be able to recognise one another as husband and wife. For this reason, I am about to provide you with a means of recognising one another hereafter. In my hand are two rings. The stones with which they are set are extremely rare and hard to obtain. Moreover on the inner surface of each ring a peacock is engraved. I give one ring to the bride and the other to the bridegroom. No one else possesses such rings, and, further, the device inscribed in them cannot be imitated, since I have engraved it with my own hand. If the bride should ever see such a ring on a man's finger, she will know that that man is her husband. If the bridegroom should find such a ring on a woman's hand, he will recognise his affianced wife. Take care lest either of you lose the ring I give you. Do not part with it to anyone; do not sell it even if you are reduced to starvation. Furthermore, it is my order that