mewhere;' and it is
verified in me.

Scarce is my soul delivered from the cloud
That darkened its remembrance of the past,
When lo! the heart-born deity of love
With yonder blossom of the mango barbs
His keenest shaft, and aims it at my breast.

MA[T.]HAVYA.

Well, then, wait a moment; I will soon demolish Master Kama's[47]
arrow with a cut of my cane.

[_Raises his stick and strikes off the mango-blossom_.

KING. [_Smiling_.

That will do. I see very well the god of love is not a match for
a Brahman. And now, my dear friend, where shall I sit down, that
I may enchant my sight by gazing on the twining plants, which
seem to remind me of the graceful shape of my beloved?

MA[T.]HAVYA.

Don't you remember? you told your personal attendant, Chaturika,
that you would pass the heat of the day in the jasmine-bower; and
commanded her to bring the likeness of your queen [S']akoontala,
sketched with your own hand.

KING.

True. The sight of her picture will refresh my soul. Lead the way
to the arbour.

MA[T.]HAVYA.

This way, Sire.

[_Both move on, followed by_ SANUMATI.

MA[T.]HAVYA.

Here we are at the jasmine-bower. Look, it has a marble seat, and
seems to bid us welcome with its offerings of delicious flowers.
You have only to enter and sit down.

[_Both enter and seat themselves_.

SANUMATI

[_Aside_.

I will lean against these young jasmines. I can easily, from
behind them, glance at my friend's picture, and will then hasten
to inform her of her husband's ardent affection.

[_Stands leaning against the creepers_.

KING.

Oh! my dear friend, how vividly all the circumstances of my union
with [S']akoontala present themselves to my recollection at this
moment! But tell me now how it was that, between the time of my
leaving her in the hermitage and my subsequent rejection of her,
you never breathed her name to me? True, you were not by my side
when I disowned her; but I had confided to you the story of my
love, and you were acquainted with every particular. Did it pass
out of your mind as it did out of mine?

MA[T.]HAVYA.

No, no; trust me for that. But, if you remember, when you had
finished telling me about it, you added that I was not to take
the story in earnest, for that you were not really in love with a
country girl, but were only je