Part 11 (1/2)

_Vasantasena._ [_Puckering her brows._] Oh, yes. So I did.

_Maid._ [_Approaching._] Mistress, your mother sends word that you should bathe and then offer wors.h.i.+p to the G.o.ds.

_Vasantasena._ You may tell my mother that I shall not take the ceremonial bath to-day. A Brahman must offer wors.h.i.+p in my place.

_Maid._ Yes, mistress. [_Exit._

_Madanika._ My dear mistress, it is love, not naughtiness, that asks the question--but what does this mean?

_Vasantasena._ Tell me, Madanika. How do I seem to you?

_Madanika._ My mistress is so absent-minded that I know her heart is filled with longing for somebody.

_Vasantasena._ Well guessed. My Madanika is quick to fathom another's heart.

_Madanika._ I am very, very glad. Yes, Kama is indeed mighty, and his great festival is welcome when one is young. But tell me, mistress, is it a king, or a king's favorite, whom you wors.h.i.+p?

[28.1. S.

_Vasantasena._ Girl, I wish to love, not to wors.h.i.+p.

_Madanika._ Is it a Brahman that excites your pa.s.sion, some youth distinguished for very particular learning?

_Vasantasena._ A Brahman I should have to reverence.

_Madanika._ Or is it some young merchant, grown enormously wealthy from visiting many cities?

_Vasantasena._ A merchant, girl, must go to other countries and leave you behind, no matter how much you love him. And the separation makes you very sad.

_Madanika._ It isn't a king, nor a favorite, nor a Brahman, nor a merchant. Who is it then that the princess loves?

_Vasantasena._ Girl! Girl! You went with me to the park where Kama's temple stands?

_Madanika._ Yes, mistress.

_Vasantasena._ And yet you ask, as if you were a perfect stranger.

_Madanika._ Now I know. Is it the man who comforted you when you asked to be protected?

_Vasantasena._ Well, what was his name?

_Madanika._ Why, he lives in the merchants' quarter.

_Vasantasena._ But I asked you for his name.

_Madanika._ His name, mistress, is a good omen in itself. His name is Charudatta.

_Vasantasena._ [_Joyfully._] Good, Madanika, good. You have guessed it.

_Madanika._ [_Aside._] So much for that. [_Aloud._] Mistress, they say he is poor.

_Vasantasena._ That is the very reason why I love him. For a courtezan who sets her heart on a poor man is blameless in the eyes of the world.