e insulting us.

_Radanika._ Very well. They are insulting you, then.

_Maitreya._ But they aren't using violence?

_Radanika._ Yes, yes!

_Maitreya._ Really?

_Radanika._ Really.

_Maitreya._ [_Raising his staff angrily._] No, sir! Man, a dog will show
his teeth in his own kennel, and I am a Brahman! My staff is crooked
as my fortunes, but it can still split a dry bamboo or a rascal's pate.

_Courtier._ Have mercy, O great Brahman, have mercy.

_Maitreya._ [_Discovers the courtier._] He is not the sinner. [_Discovers
Sansthanaka._] Ah, here is the sinner. Well, you brother-in-law to
the king, Sansthanaka, you scoundrel, you coward, this is perfectly
proper, isn't it? Charudatta the good is a poor man now--true,
but are not his virtues an ornament to Ujjayini? And so men break
into his house and insult his servants!

Insult not him, laid low by poverty;
For none are counted poor by mighty fate:
Yet he who falls from virtue's high estate,
Though he be rich, no man is poor as he. 43

_Courtier._ [_Betraying his embarrassment._] Have mercy, O great
Brahman, have mercy. We intended no insolence; we merely mistook this
lady for another. For

We sought an amorous maiden,

_Maitreya._ What! this one?

_Courtier._ Heaven forbid!

one whose youth
Is in the guidance of her own sweet will;
She disappeared: unconscious of the truth,
We did what seems a purposed deed of ill. 44

P. 35.4]

I pray you, accept this all-in-all of humblest supplication. [_He drops
his sword, folds his hands, and falls at Maitreya's feet._]

_Maitreya._ Good man, rise, rise. When I reviled you, I did not know
you. Now I know you and I ask your pardon.

_Courtier._ It is I who should ask pardon. I will rise on one condition.

_Maitreya._ And that is--

_Courtier._ That you will not tell Charudatta what has happened here.

_Maitreya._ I will be silent.

_Courtier._

Brahman, this gracious act of thine
I bow my neck to bear;
For never could this sword of mine
With virtue's steel compare. 45

_Sansthanaka._ [_Indignantly._] But mashter, what makes you fold
your hands sho helplesshly and fall at the feet of thish manikin?

_Courtier._ I was afraid.

_Sansthanaka._ What were _you_ afraid of?

_Courtier._ Of Charudatta's virtues.

_Sansthanaka._ Virtues? He? You