cumstances would have required my
services."

"Then leave me, and attend to others. You can assist others, you
cannot help me."

"Wherefore?" asked the _Brahmachari_.

"To restore me to health will not help me. Death alone will give me
peace. Last night, when I fell down by the roadside, I hoped that I
should die. Why did you save me?"

"I knew not that you were in such deep trouble. But however deep it
is, self-destruction is a great sin. Never be guilty of such an act.
To kill one's self is as sinful as to kill another."

"I have not tried to kill myself; death has approached voluntarily,
therefore I hoped; but even in dying I have no joy." Saying these
words, Surja Mukhi's voice broke, and she began to weep.

The _Brahmachari_ said: "Whenever you speak of dying I see you weep;
you wish to die. Mother, I am like a son to you; look upon me as such,
and tell me your wish. If there is any remedy for your trouble, tell
me, and I will bring it about. Wishing to say this, I have sent Haro
Mani away, and am sitting alone with you. From your speech I infer
that you belong to a very respectable family. That you are in a state
of very great anxiety, I perceive. Why should you not tell me what it
is? Consider me as your son, and speak."

Surja Mukhi, with wet eyes, said: "I am dying; why should I feel shame
at such a time? I have no other trouble than this, that I am dying
without seeing my husband's face. If I could but see him once I should
die happy."

The _Brahmachari_ wiped his eyes also, and said:

"Where is your husband? It is impossible for you to go to him now; but
if he, on receiving the news, could come here, I would let him know by
letter."

Surja Mukhi's wan face expanded into a smile; then again becoming
dejected, she said: "He could come, but I cannot tell if he would. I
am guilty of a great offence against him, but he is full of kindness
to me; he might forgive me, but he is far from here. Can I live till
he comes?"

Finding, on further inquiry, that the Babu lived at Haripur Zillah,
the _Brahmachari_ brought pen and paper, and, taking Surja Mukhi's
instructions, wrote as follows:

"SIR,--I am a stranger to you. I am a Brahman, leading the
life of a _Brahmachari_. I do not even know who you are; this only I
know, that Srimati Surja Mukhi Dasi is your wife. She is lying in a
dangerous state of illness in the house of the _Boisnavi_ Haro Mani,
in the village of Madhupur. She is under medical treatm