Page:Indira and Other Stories.pdf/153

 Hiranmayi looked up; her brain reeled; she knew not whether she was awake or dreaming. For the newcomer was—Purandar!

The happy pair stood, too astonished to move or speak, neither could believe the joy that had befallen them.

The raja said, "Friend, Hiranmayi deserves all your love and respect. Take her, sir, with all due affection to your home. To this day she loves you as dearly as she has always loved you. Day and night I have had her under careful observation, and I know that her heart is wholly yours. At your request, sir, I subjected her to a wholly unnecessary trial. I went so far as to inform her that she was in fact my own wife. Not even the thought of princely honours shook her heartwhole devotion to you. I hinted to her that, though she was my wedded wife, I suspected her of a guilty passion for you. If she had been offended at a charge so revolting to her womanly modesty, if she had asserted her innocence, and had begged me to take her to my arms, I should have known that she had forgotten