Page:Vikram and the vampire; or, Tales of Hindu devilry (IA vikramvampireort00burtrich).pdf/129

 ever, who may be dependent on us, should be guilty of a perfidious act, their punishment is that they be banished the country." However much they may deserve death, we must not spill their blood, as Lakshmi flies in horror from the deed.'

Hearing these words the Raja dismissed the guru



with many thanks and large presents. He waited till nightfall and then ordered a band of trusty men to seize Padmavati without alarming the household, and to carry her into a distant jungle full of fiends, tigers, and bears, and there to abandon her.

In the meantime, the ascetic and his pupil, hurrying to the cemetery, resumed their proper dresses; they then went to the old nurse's house, rewarded her hospitality till she wept bitterly, girt on their