hen falling at the feet of the standing figure, in troubled tones he
said--

"Whether thou art a god or a human being, I am at thy feet; speak to
me, or I shall die!"

What the woman said he could not understand, but no sooner had the
sound of her voice entered his ear than he sprang to his feet and
tried to grasp the form. But mind and body again became benumbed, and,
like the creeper from the tree, he sank at the feet of the
enchantress; he could not speak. Again the woman, sitting down, took
his head upon her lap. When Nagendra once more recovered from stupor
it was day. The birds were singing in the adjacent garden. The rays of
the newly risen sun were shining into the room. Without raising his
eyes Nagendra said--

"Kunda, when did you come? This whole night I have been dreaming of
Surja Mukhi. In my dream I saw myself with my head on Surja Mukhi's
lap. If you could be Surja Mukhi, how joyful it would be!"

The woman answered, "If it would delight you so much to see that
unhappy being, then I am she."

Nagendra started up, wiped his eyes, sat holding his temples, again
rubbed his eyes and gazed; then bowing his head, he said in a low
voice--

"Am I demented, or is Surja Mukhi living? Is this the end of my
destiny, that I should go mad?"

Then the woman, clasping his feet, wept over them, saying, "Arise,
arise, my all! I have suffered so much. To-day all my sorrow is ended.
I am not dead. Again I have come to serve you."

Could delusion last longer? Nagendra embraced Surja Mukhi, and laid
his head upon her breast. Together they wept; but how joyous was that
weeping!

CHAPTER XXXVI.

EXPLANATION.

In due time Surja Mukhi satisfied Nagendra's inquiries, saying--

"I did not die. What the _Kabiraj_ said of my dying was not true. He
did not know. When I had become strong through his treatment, I was
extremely anxious to come to Govindpur to see you. I teased the
_Brahmachari_ till he consented to take me. On arriving here, we
learned you were not in the place. The _Brahmachari_ took me to a spot
six miles from here, placed me in the house of a Brahmin to attend on
his daughter, and then went in search of you: first to Calcutta,
where he had an interview with Srish Chandra, from whom he heard that
you were gone to Madhupur. At that place he learned that on the day we
left Haro Mani's house it was burned, and Haro Mani in it. In the
morning people could not recognize the body. They reasoned that a