Joy! joy! Are then my dearest hopes to be fulfilled?

[_Embraces the CHILD_.

SECOND ATTENDANT.

Come, my dear Suvrata, we must inform [S']akoontala immediately of
this wonderful event, though we have to interrupt her in the
performance of her religious vows.

[_Exeunt_.

CHILD. [_To the_ KING.

Don't hold me. I want to go to my mother.

KING.

We will go to her together, and give her joy, my son.

CHILD.

Dushyanta is my father, not you.

KING. [_Smiling_.

His contradiction only convinces me the more.

_Enter_ [S']AKOONTALA, _in widow's apparel, with her long hair
twisted into a single braid_.

[S']AKOONTALA. [_Aside_.

I have just heard that Sarva-damana's amulet has retained its
form, though a stranger raised it from the ground. I can hardly
believe in my good fortune. Yet why should not Sanumati's
prediction be verified?

KING.

Alas! can this indeed be my [S']akoontala?

Clad in the weeds of widowhood, her face
Emaciate with fasting, her long hair
Twined in a single braid[121], her whole demeanour
Expressive of her purity of soul;
With patient constancy she thus prolongs
The vow to which my cruelty condemned her.

[S']AKOONTALA. [_Gazing at the_ KING, _who is pale with remorse_.

Surely this is not like my husband; yet who can it be that dares
pollute by the pressure of his hand my child, whose amulet should
protect him from a stranger's touch?

CHILD. [_Going to his mother_.

Mother, who is this man that has been kissing me and calling me
his son?

KING.

My best beloved, I have indeed treated thee most cruelly, but am
now once more thy fond and affectionate lover. Refuse not to
acknowledge me as thy husband.

[S']AKOONTALA. [_Aside_.

Be of good cheer, my heart. The anger of Destiny is at last
appeased. Heaven regards thee with compassion. But is he in very
truth my husband?

KING.

Behold me, best and loveliest of women,
Delivered from the cloud of fatal darkness
That erst oppressed my memory. Again
Behold us brought together by the grace
Of the great lord of Heaven. So the moon
Shines forth from dim eclipse [122], to blend his rays
W