ep, thinking me secure; but in the middle of the night, I
went a little way, and hid myself in a hollow tree. And in the morning,
those villains, after hunting for me in vain, all went away, fearing a
pursuit, and I came out of the tree trembling, and reached this road,
and now I am alone in the world. Then said the Rajpoot to himself: Ha!
so, after all, I have found my treasure, and that excellent ascetic was
a true prophet. And he said: O lady, I am of good family. And now, if
thou wilt have me for a husband, I will supply the loss of thy merchant,
and all the rest of thy relations. And she feigned reluctance: but after
a while, she dried her tears, and consented. But that Rajpoot almost
went out of his mind, so great was his delight. And one day he told her
of Waranasi, and the burning of Kashayini. And she looked at him with
laughing eyes, and said: O my husband, I will make up to thee for the
loss of Kashayini: for I am just as beautiful as she.

[20] In all Oriental stories, statements are proved not by
Aristotelian syllogism, but by "instances:" and we are
reminded of the opinion of the artful Retz, that "_one
never persuades anybody, but anybody can insinuate
anything._"

[21] Benares. The lady in question was one of those Hindoo
Aspasias of whom many similar stories are told.

[22] Which we might translate Aromatic: it includes the
ideas of _red colour_ and _pungent perfume_.

[23] Or, as we say, castle in the air.

[24] A regular trade in medieval India.

[25] Everything in this story is exactly in harmony with
the manners of medieval India. The Thags often preserved a
woman for her beauty, when they murdered every one else.

X.

And as Natabhrukuti ended, she leaned forward, and gazed at Aja with
soft seductive eyes, till he blushed, and wavered before her like the
flame of a candle in a wind. For her beauty bewildered him, and her
cunning story planted, as if against his will, a seed of suspicion in
his mind. And in spite of himself, he said to himself: What if it were
as she says, and my wife, like another Kashayini, were concealing from
me something that she shrank from avowing, lest I should think the worse
of her. And he turned pale at the thought, that any other lover should,
even a very little, have occupied her heart before him. And he stood
silent, and confused, striving to expel from his mind the doubt that
Natabhrukuti had raised in it, sayi