Page:Indira and Other Stories.pdf/45

 take me to your arms, my own, my own, or else I shall die as Hindu widows die!"

  And then I banished care from my face. I knew already that it was my smiling glance that had attracted his roving fancy. I thought to myself that if the rhinoceros does not sin in using his mighty horn, if the elephant is permitted to use his tusks, if the tiger defends himself with his cruel claws, if the buffalo can gore his foe with his huge horns, surely a poor little woman may use the feeble weapons at her disposal. "My darling," I thought, "I will use the powers Providence has given me—for your happiness and mine." I left his side and sat down at a distance. I began to converse gaily. He approached me. "Go away," I said, "I see you have made a mistake. You have misunderstood me." I smiled as I spoke, and (I must tell the whole truth, if you are to understand my story) I managed to shake down the braids of