ped. And I said: There are more still
owing, for thou hast not counted right. But now I will ask thee a
question, just to give thee time to breathe.

XXVII

And as I held her still in my arms, with her own arms round my neck,
she said: Ask. Then I said: Didst thou know, when I came to thee last
time, that my coming delayed me in a matter of life and death? And she
said: Something I knew, from the chatter of Chaturika. And I said:
Didst thou know that my kingdom depended on my going fast? For as it
is, I lost it, all by coming late. And she said: It was no business of
mine. And I said: What! wouldst thou deprive me of a kingdom, by
placing thyself, for a single sunset, in the other scale? And she
said: I did not bid thee stay. I had sent to thee already, asking thee
to come: and if another summons called thee, after mine, the choice
was thine, between them. I told thee only, I awaited thee: and it was
true. And I said: What if I had not come? And she said: Then it may
be, thou wouldst have kept thy kingdom, and lost thy interview with
me. That is all. It was not I, who had anything to do either with
causing thy dilemma, or determining its conclusion. And I said: Beyond
a doubt, the loss of any kingdom would be a trifle in comparison with
thy affection: and yet the loss is certain, and the affection
doubtful. For I showed thee very plainly which I chose, and my kingdom
is gone. I have thrown it clean away for thy sake. And have I its
equivalent? Wilt thou make it up to me by giving me thy soul? And she
said, gently: It is not mine, to give away, for I belong to Narasinha,
body and soul, as I told thee long ago.

And I said: How canst thou say so, when I hold thee in my arms? And
she said, quietly: Thou art but a momentary accident, due rather to my
yielding myself, against my own will, and of pity for thy unhappy
passion, than to any hold that thou hast on my heart. And Narasinha
learned of thy former visit to me in this garden, as very soon he will
learn of this also, since I tell him every detail of my life, great or
small. And he made me promise never to see thee any more. And so I had
intended: but thou hast managed to steal in, somehow or other, of thy
own accord. It is not by my doing that thou art here now at all.

And I let her go, and stood gazing at her with amazement, that was
mixed with bitter disappointment and irritation, and fierce
exasperation at this obstacle of Narasinha, who, out of my reach, and