Page:Rajmohan's Wife.djvu/58

52 her so much trouble. But a new difficulty threatened to check her further progress. Since her arrival at Radhaganj she had but twice visited her sister, and never on foot, but closed in a palki. As much of the way as she knew from hearsay she had passed, but now her footsteps rested at the intersecting point of cross-roads. Bewildered by her new difficulty, she turned her eyes on all directions and luckily caught sight of the tops of the tall Devdaru trees which she knew stood in front of Madhav's house. She immediately struck the path which led in that direction and soon got the huge edifice in view, towards the khirki or postern gate of which she turned her steps.

[The last difficulty had yet to be overcome. All in the household were asleep at that hour, and it was after knocking a good many times that she succeeded in rousing Karuna, the maid-servant of the house.]

"Who knocks at this time of night?" enquired Karuna surlily.

"Oh hasten, hasten, Karuna, open the door" cried Matangini anxiously.

"But who are you that I shall open the door to you at this time of night?" again demanded Karuna in the same surly tone, indignant that the sweetness of her repose should be disturbed by an untimely intruder.

"Come, come soon—you will see," said Matangini in a beseeching tone, unwilling to speak out who she was.

"But who are you," cried Karuna more furiously than ever.