or she will not see thee any more. And how
canst thou pass the _pratihari_, or enter by the door, without her
permission? And now between the Queen and thee, I am in the jaws of
death. For thou wilt slay me, if I do not find thee entrance into the
garden: and she will, if I do.

And I looked at her with scrutiny and I said: I will help thee out of
jeopardy. There must be another entrance to the garden. Is there no
other door? And she said unwillingly: There is, but none can enter
from without, unless he has the key, which the Queen trusts to no
custody but her own.

And I said: Then the way is found, luckily for thee: and thou art
saved, since none will ever guess thy part in the arranging for my
entry, if as I imagine thou art only sufficiently adroit to procure
for me a key without her knowledge. And that I leave to thee, only be
careful to bring it in good time, before to-morrow evening. And in the
meanwhile, go and tell that other lover that the Queen has changed her
mind: and put him off to any other day, it does not matter which,
seeing that it will never come at all: since for the future, I am
going to be the only lover of the Queen.

And then, Chaturika looked at me in such amazement that it deprived
her for an instant of her terror, and suddenly she began to laugh. And
I stooped and lifted her, and whirled her in the air, and stood her
breathless on her feet. And I took her two hands and held them tight,
and I said: Dost thou feel what thou art in hands like mine, a
feather, and a nothing, and a straw? Now listen and be wise. Stand out
of the way, between the Queen and me, for we shall crush thee, and the
battle is one that I mean to win. And now I am going to show her
something that she never saw before, the strength of a man: for a
woman presumes, forgetting altogether that she owes all to the
forbearance of one who can sweep her away if he chooses, like a wild
elephant snapping a twig. And if anything goes amiss by any treachery
of thine, I will break thee in pieces with my bare hands, hide where
thou wilt, making it unnecessary even to betray thee to the Queen. And
now, what have I ordered thee to do?

And Chaturika said humbly, quivering like a wild heifer that is
suddenly tamed by the sound of a tiger's roar: To put off a lover and
bring thee a key.

And I said: Thou hast still forgotten the thing without which both are
useless, and that is, to show me the outside of the door to be opened
by the ke