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50 "What good is there in sitting on alone on such a wild heath in darkness?" added the woman. "It is better, certainly, to follow you into the inn. I think I can walk over the distance if I get any support."

"It is foolish to fight shy in the hour of danger" joined he. "Please lean on my shoulder and move along."

The woman did not play the fool. She walked forward with Nabokumar's assistance. As a matter of fact, the inn stood at an easy distance. In those days, the robbers feared not to ply their dirty trade at a close radius from the inn. Before it was long, Nabokumar arrived at the estaminet followed by the woman. He found Kapalkundala placed at the same inn where her people appointed a room for her. He engaged the adjoining room for his companion and lodged her in it. At his bidding, the land-lady brought in a lamp. When the flood of light fell upon the person of his fair companion, he was startled to find her an uncommon beauty. Like the full-coursed river overflowing its bank in the rains, the profuse full-blown graces of her exquisitely modelled youthful figure threw in an indescribable charm and created an atmosphere of loveliness around her.