PRIYAMVADA. [Aside to ANASUYA.

I have observed, Anasuya, that [S’]akoontala has been indisposed ever since her first interview with King Dushyanta.  Depend upon it, her ailment is to be traced to that source.

ANASUYA.

The same suspicion, dear, has crossed my mind.  But I will at once ask her and ascertain the truth.

[Aloud.]

Dear [S’]akoontala, I am about to put a question to you.  Your indisposition is really very serious.

[S’]AKOONTALA. [Half rising from her couch.

What were you going to ask?

ANASUYA.

We know very little about love-matters, dear [S’]akoontala; but for all that, I cannot help suspecting your present state to be something similar to that of the lovers we have heard about in romances.  Tell us frankly what is the cause of your disorder.  It is useless to apply a remedy, until the disease be understood.

KING.

Anasuya bears me out in my suspicion.

[S’]AKOONTALA. [Aside.

I am, indeed, deeply in love; but cannot rashly
disclose my passion to these young girls.

PRIYAMVADA.

What Anasuya says, dear [S’]akoontala, is very just.  Why give so little heed to your ailment?  Every day you are becoming thinner; though I must confess your complexion is still as beautiful as ever.

KING.

Priyamvada speaks most truly.

  Sunk is her velvet cheek; her wasted bosom
  Loses its fulness; e’en her slender waist
  Grows more attenuate; her face is wan,
  Her shoulders droop;—­as when the vernal blasts
  Sear the young blossoms of the Madhavi[52],
  Blighting their bloom; so mournful is the change. 
  Yet in its sadness, fascinating still,
  Inflicted by the mighty lord of love
  On the fair figure of the hermit’s daughter.

[S’]AKOONTALA.

Dear friends, to no one would I rather reveal the nature of my malady than to you; but I should only be troubling you.

PRIYAMVADA AND ANASUYA.

Nay, this is the very point about which we are so solicitous.  Sorrow shared with affectionate friends is relieved of half its poignancy.

KING.

  Pressed by the partners of her joys and griefs,
  Her much beloved companions, to reveal
  The cherished secret locked within her breast,
  She needs must utter it; although her looks
  Encourage me to hope, my bosom throbs
  As anxiously I listen for her answer.

[S’]AKOONTALA.

Know then, dear friends, that from the first moment the illustrious Prince who is the guardian of our sacred grove presented himself to my sight—­

[Stops short, and appears confused.

PRIYAMVADA AND ANASUYA.

Say on, dear [S’]akoontala, say on.