ja strove to awake as it were from a dream. And he shook
himself, as if to shake it off, and he said to himself: I feel that I am
falling as it were a victim to the spell of this passionate and subtle
beauty; and now, unless I stiffen and steel myself against her, I shall
undoubtedly be bewitched and beguiled beyond the possibility of escape.
And he summoned his resolution, and said, with a semblance of composure:
Fair one, thou dost thyself no injustice in comparing thyself alone to a
thousand queens: for thou art a very incarnation of all the bewildering
fascination of thy sex. And yet, potent as they are, thy charms are
wasted, and resemble blunted arrows when directed against me. For as I
have already told thee, I am pledged to another, and proof against thy
spell, as doubtless was thy old ascetic against that bevy of straying
queens.

And then Natabhrukuti smiled, and she shook at him her finger, as she
answered: Rash boy, beware: Be not too sure of the adamantine quality of
thy resistance, nor even of thy wisdom in resisting me at all. And
beware of provoking the indignation of slighted Love, who may make of
thee a signal example of his vengeance. Take care, lest annoyed with thy
obstinacy in rejecting what he offers thee for nothing, he should
deprive thee even of that other beauty on whose account alone it is that
I am held by thee so cheap. Poor youth! but that my lips are tied, I
could enlighten thee. Art thou, who art so ready lightly to disdain me,
art thou, I say, so sure, so very sure, that thou art thyself the only
lover of this much married beauty, whom thou sawest, as thou sayest, for
the very first time in thy life to-day? Art thou so sure, so very sure,
that she is not deceiving thee, and that thou art not merely the last of
the many lovers whom she toys with for a moment, and then carelessly
casts away? Art thou so very certain that thou hast never had a
predecessor? And Aja started, in spite of himself. For the word recalled
to him the manner of the old King. And Natabhrukuti saw it. And she
looked at him as it were with compassion, and said: Alas! unhappy boy:
thou seest that in thy youth and inexperience such an idea had not
occurred to thee. Little art thou qualified to cope with a woman's
guile.

Then said Aja fiercely, in wrath both with himself and her: It is false,
and she is true. But Natabhrukuti answered very gently: Be not angry,
for I do not question that she loves thee. I do not even d