alas! woe is me! There is no
ring on my finger!
[_Looks with anguish at Gautami_.

GAUTAMI.--The ring must have slipped off when thou wast in the act of
offering homage to the holy water of Sachi's sacred pool, near
Sakravatara.

KING [_smiling_].--People may well talk of the readiness of woman's
invention! Here is an instance of it.

SAKOONTALA.--Say, rather, of the omnipotence of fate. I will mention
another circumstance, which may yet convince thee.

KING.--By all means let me hear it at once.

SAKOONTALA.--One day, while we were seated in a jasmine bower, thou
didst pour into the hollow of thine hand some water, sprinkled by a
recent shower in the cup of a lotus blossom--

KING.--I am listening; proceed.

SAKOONTALA.--At that instant, my adopted child, the little fawn, with
soft, long eyes, came running towards us. Upon which, before tasting the
water thyself, thou didst kindly offer some to the little creature,
saying fondly--"Drink first, gentle fawn." But she could not be induced
to drink from the hand of a stranger; though immediately afterwards,
when I took the water in my own hand, she drank with perfect confidence.
Then, with a smile, thou didst say--"Every creature confides naturally
in its own kind. You are both inhabitants of the same forest, and have
learnt to trust each other."

KING.--Voluptuaries may allow themselves to be seduced from the path of
duty by falsehoods such as these, expressed in honeyed words.

GAUTAMI.--Speak not thus, illustrious Prince. This lady was brought up
in a hermitage, and has never learnt deceit.

KING.--Holy matron,
E'en in untutored brutes, the female sex
Is marked by inborn subtlety--much more
In beings gifted with intelligence.
The wily Koeil, ere towards the sky
She wings her sportive flight, commits her eggs
To other nests, and artfully consigns
The rearing of her little ones to strangers.

SAKOONTALA [_angrily_].--Dishonorable man, thou judgest of others by
thine own evil heart. Thou, at least, art unrivalled in perfidy, and
standest alone--a base deceiver in the garb of virtue and religion--like
a deep pit whose yawning mouth is concealed by smiling flowers.

KING [_aside_].--Her anger, at any rate, appears genuine, and makes me
almost doubt whether I am in the right. For, indeed,
When I had vainly searched my memory,
And so with stern severity denied
The fabled story of our secret loves,
Her br