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 "If this, Oh, Rani, thou canst do Thy virtue will be great; Thou from himself wilt save the king, And from the king the state.

"But ah, remember, he must go Before the skies grow light, Ere yet the philtre leave his brain Too clear in sense and sight.

"For should he dream that thou art thou, And realise the truth Too suddenly, he would not spare Thy beauty or thy youth.

"In some auspicious, later hour, If our desire be gained, The tender sequence of the fraud To him can be explained."

The Maharani rose and smiled, She pushed her hair away, "Ah, if he stay with me to-night, At daybreak let him slay!"

Then round her slender neck she twined The pearls as white as milk; Her breast was all too young to fill The crimson bodice silk.

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