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the maid, Khiri, was thinking, "This is a degenerate age. A bit of a girl won't believe what I tell her!" In Khirodâ's simple heart there was no anger or spite against Bhramar. She indeed. wished well to Bhramar, wished her no ill. But it was not endurable that Bhramar should refuse to listen to her gossip. So Khiri, after an indifferent meal, hastily anointing her polished person with oil, threw a coloured towel over her shoulders, and with a kalsi on her hip went to bathe in the tank Bârunî.

The first person she met was Mistress Haramani, who served as cook in the big house, and was now returning from her bath. On seeing her, Khirodâ said aloud to herself, "They say, 'A man gets you to steal for him, and then calls you a thief'; you can't do anything for big people, there is no knowing what temper you will find them in."