When her love for
Debendra was but in the germ she smilingly confessed it to herself,
but turned away from him without hesitation. When the full-grown
passion pierced her heart she took service to distract her thoughts.
But when she imagined he loved her she had no desire to resist.
Therefore she now had to eat the fruit of the poison tree.
People say that you do not see sin punished in this world. Be that
true or not, you may be sure that those who do not rule their own
hearts will have to bear the consequences.
CHAPTER XXX.
NEWS OF SURJA MUKHI.
It is late autumn. The waters from the fields are drying up; the rice
crop is ripening; the lotus flowers have disappeared from the tanks.
At dawn, dew falls from the boughs of the trees; at evening, mist
rises over the plains. One day at dawn a palanquin was borne along the
Madhupur road. At this sight all the boys of the place assembled in a
row; all the daughters and wives, old and young, resting their
water-vessels on the hip, stood awhile to gaze. The husbandmen,
leaving the rice crop, sickle in hand and with turbaned heads, stood
staring at the palanquin. The influential men of the village sat in
committee.
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