ith the soft lustre of his Rohini.

[S']AKOONTALA.

May my husband be victorious--

[_She stops short, her voice choked with tears_.

KING.

O fair one, though the utterance of thy prayer
Be lost amid the torrent of thy tears,
Yet does the sight of thy fair countenance
And of thy pallid lips, all unadorned[123]
And colourless in sorrow for my absence,
Make me already more than conqueror.

CHILD.

Mother, who is this man?

[S']AKOONTALA.

My child, ask the deity that presides over thy destiny.

KING. [_Falling at_ [S']AKOONTALA's _feet_.

Fairest of women, banish from thy mind
The memory of my cruelty; reproach
The fell delusion that o'erpowered my soul,
And blame not me, thy husband; 'tis the curse
Of him in whom the power of darkness[124] reigns,
That he mistakes the gifts of those he loves
For deadly evils. Even though a friend
Should wreathe a garland on a blind man's brow,
Will he not cast it from him as a serpent?

[S']AKOONTALA.

Rise, my own husband, rise. Thou wast not to blame. My own evil
deeds, committed in a former state of being[37], brought down
this judgment upon me. How else could my husband, who was ever of
a compassionate disposition, have acted so unfeelingly?

[_The_ KING _rises_.]

But tell me, my husband, how did the remembrance of thine
unfortunate wife return to thy mind?

KING.

As soon as my heart's anguish is removed, and its wounds are
healed, I will tell thee all.

Oh! let me, fair one, chase away the drop
That still bedews the fringes of thine eye;
And let me thus efface the memory
Of every tear that stained thy velvet cheek,
Unnoticed and unheeded by thy lord,
When in his madness he rejected thee.

[_Wipes away the tear_.

[S']AKOONTALA.

[_Seeing the signet-ring on his finger_.

Ah! my dear husband, is that the Lost Ring?

KING.

Yes; the moment I recovered it my memory was restored.

[S']AKOONTALA.

The ring was to blame in allowing itself to be lost at the very
time when I was anxious to convince my noble husband of the
reality of my marriage.

KING.

Receive it back, as the beautiful twining-plant receives again
its blossom in token of its reunion with the spring.

[S']AKOONTALA.

Nay; I can never more place confidence in it. Let my husband
retain it.