tree:  beautifully dressed, blazing with jewels, and adorned with saffron and antimony, betel, indigo, and spangles, flowers, minium, and henna, bangles on ancle and comb in her hair.  And she said to that Rajpoot, who was as utterly astounded by the sight of her as if she had been water in the desert:  O son of a king, succour one who is utterly without resource.  And when he asked her, what was the matter, she said:  I was the only wife of a very rich merchant, and as we travelled from the South, suddenly we were set upon by a band of Thags.  And after killing every one but me[25], they all went to sleep, thinking me secure; but in the middle of the night, I went a little way, and hid myself in a hollow tree.  And in the morning, those villains, after hunting for me in vain, all went away, fearing a pursuit, and I came out of the tree trembling, and reached this road, and now I am alone in the world.  Then said the Rajpoot to himself:  Ha! so, after all, I have found my treasure, and that excellent ascetic was a true prophet.  And he said:  O lady, I am of good family.  And now, if thou wilt have me for a husband, I will supply the loss of thy merchant, and all the rest of thy relations.  And she feigned reluctance:  but after a while, she dried her tears, and consented.  But that Rajpoot almost went out of his mind, so great was his delight.  And one day he told her of Waranasi, and the burning of Kashayini.  And she looked at him with laughing eyes, and said:  O my husband, I will make up to thee for the loss of Kashayini:  for I am just as beautiful as she.

[20] In all Oriental stories, statements are proved not by Aristotelian syllogism, but by “instances:”  and we are reminded of the opinion of the artful Retz, that “one never persuades anybody, but anybody can insinuate anything.”

   [21] Benares.  The lady in question was one of those Hindoo
   Aspasias of whom many similar stories are told.

   [22] Which we might translate Aromatic:  it includes the
   ideas of red colour and pungent perfume.

   [23] Or, as we say, castle in the air.

   [24] A regular trade in medieval India.

   [25] Everything in this story is exactly in harmony with
   the manners of medieval India.  The Thags often preserved a
   woman for her beauty, when they murdered every one else.

X.

And as Natabhrukuti ended, she leaned forward, and gazed at Aja with soft seductive eyes, till he blushed, and wavered before her like the flame of a candle in a wind.  For her beauty bewildered him, and her cunning story planted, as if against his will, a seed of suspicion in his mind.  And in spite of himself, he said to himself:  What if it were as she says, and my wife, like another Kashayini, were concealing from me something that she shrank from avowing, lest I should think the worse of her.