so that I almost swooned. And all at once, I
exclaimed with a shout: Chaturika! Ah! then I was deceived! Ah! then
it was not thou! Ah! then I was not slighted by thee as a thing to be
despised! Ah! then thou art not as they say, one that forgets and
throws away her lovers almost as soon as she has seen them first! Ah!
had I only known, I never would have stolen unawares into thy privacy
to-night! Say, say, that thou art not such a woman as they say!

And again she looked at me, with those strange quiet eyes; and after a
while, she said with a sigh: Thou art right. They say, but they do not
understand. And yet, what does it matter what they say? Is it my
fault, if every man that sees me is seized as it were with madness,
and instantly steps over the line that divides friendship from
passionate affection, asking me for what I cannot give him, with such
eager insistence, that in my own defence I am driven to dismiss him
altogether? And she smiled, and she said, with playfulness and wistful
eyes: Must I belong to everyone, merely because he claims me as his
own, and his property, and give myself to everyone that sees me in a
dream?

And I trembled from head to foot, and I said in a voice that shook
with entreaty and emotion like a leaf: Ah! then have I thy permission
to stay with thee to-night, notwithstanding my overweening presumption
in coming of my own accord without an invitation? Ah! I did not know:
my heart is breaking: do not send me away!

And as she stood, looking at me with irresolution, I stretched my
hands towards her, absolutely senseless, and not knowing what I did.
And she hesitated for yet a little while; and then, with a sigh, she
put her two hands into my own. And with a shudder of joy, I pulled her
to me, and caught her once more in my arms, and began to kiss her,
with hot tears that fell upon her face, quivering all over with the
extremity of my agitation, and not believing that it was not a dream.

And then, after a long while, I came, somehow or other, to my senses,
and became, a little, master of myself. And I looked at her with eyes
dim with affection, and I took her two arms, and put them round my
neck. And I whispered in her ear: Now give me a kiss for every day
that I have not seen thee, since I fell asleep in thy boat. And as if
with resignation and compliance and submission to my will, she did
exactly as I told her, stopping time after time, but I would not let
her stop. And at last, I stop