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 him pass away from our midst yet in the prime of life."

"Did he then speak to thee about Birnagar?"

"Nay, his thoughts were fixed on high; he communed with his God during the last hours of his life."

"Dost thou think, Gokul Das, in those awful moments, when he communed with his God, that it would have solaced him to know that he had robbed an orphan of his property?"

"I am a poor sinner," said Gokul Das in a humble but still determined voice, "and I know not what my late Master thought on his death-bed. I have said what he desired all through his life."

"I will tell thee then, Gokul Das, what he thought on his death-bed. The evening before his death, when my mother-in-law wept and prayed by his bed, he mingled his prayers with hers, and the name of the exiled boy Noren came faintly from his bloodless lips. If he had ever wronged that boy in life he repented on his death-bed. I would not do an act, Gokul Das, which will darken my thoughts when I die."

The battle was over. Sirish had borrowed weapons from the arsenal of his mother-in-law; against such weapons Gokul Das was powerless. "That woman," said Gokul Das to himself, "has triumphed in the end and saved Birnagar, and I am beaten. I might have known forty years ago that it was useless to fight against such as she is!"

"Thou art silent, Gokul Das. Thinkest thou I am right?"

"It is not for me, kind Master, to judge of your decision. I have acted according to my lights till the hair is grey on my head. If an old servant is no