“Why should you weep for that?”

“Because you love me.”

“Does no one else love you?”

Kunda did not reply; and Kamal went on:  “Does not the Bou (Surja Mukhi) love you?  No?  Don’t hide it from me.” (Still no answer.) “Does not my brother love you?” (Still silence.) “Since I love you and you love me, shall we not go together?” (Yet Kunda spoke not.) “Will you go?”

Kunda shook her head, saying, “I will not go.”

Kamal’s joyous face became grave; she thought, “This does not sound well.  The girl has the same complaint as my brother, but he suffers the more deeply.  My husband is not here, with whom can I take counsel?” Then Kamal Mani drew Kunda’s head lovingly on her breast, and taking hold of her face caressingly, said, “Kunda, will you tell me the truth?”

“About what?” said the girl.

“About what I shall ask thee.  I am thy elder, I love thee as a sister; do not hide it from me, I will tell no one.”  In her mind she thought, “If I tell any one it will be my husband and my baby.”

After a pause Kunda asked, “What shall I tell you?”

“You love my brother dearly, don’t you?”

Kunda gave no answer.

Kamal Mani wept in her heart; aloud she said:  “I understand.  It is so. 
Well that does not hurt you, but many others suffer from it.”

Kunda Nandini, raising her head, fixed a steadfast look on the face of
Kamal Mani.

Kamal, understanding the silent question, replied, “Ah, unhappy one! dost thou not see that my brother loves thee?”

Kunda’s head again sank on Kamal’s breast, which she watered with her tears.  Both wept silently for many minutes.

What the passion of love is the golden Kamal Mani knew very well.  In her innermost heart she sympathized with Kunda, both in her joy and in her sorrow.  Wiping Kunda’s eyes she said again, “Kunda, will you go with me?”

Kunda’s eyes again tilled with tears.

More earnestly, Kamal said:  “If you are out of sight my brother will forget you, and you will forget him; otherwise, you will be lost, my brother will be lost and his wife—­the house will go to ruin.”

Kunda continued weeping.

Again Kamal asked, “Will you go?  Only consider my brother’s condition, his wife’s.”

Kunda, after a long interval, wiped her eyes, sat up, and said, “I will go.”

Why this consent after so long an interval?  Kamal understood that Kunda had offered up her own life on the temple of the household peace.  Her own peace?  Kamal felt that Kunda did not comprehend what was for her own peace.

CHAPTER XII.

HIRA.

On this occasion, Haridasi Boisnavi entering, sang—­

    “I went into the thorny forest to pluck a soiled flower—­
    Yes, my friend, a soiled flower;
    I wore it twined about my head, I hung it in my ears—­
    Friends, a soiled flower.”