And Maheshwara said: Thus the letter continues:--for there is not room
in one world for us both. And well thou knowest the reason why. For
the Queen told me, the very last time that I saw her, that it would be
the very last time, as indeed it was. And when I asked why she would
see me no more, she said, that thine was the order, to send me away.
Dog! was she thine to command, or was I? And yet, I knew very well, it
was all thy doing, before ever she told me. For never would she have
behaved as she did, had she not been pushed from behind: and the very
first time that we met, when she told me of thee, I understood, and
foresaw, and expected, the very thing that has happened, looking to
find thee hiding behind her, to rid thee of a rival whom thou hadst
not the courage openly to face. And dost thou dare to condemn me for
doing the very same thing thou wast doing thyself? Was not my claim to
love her as good as thy own? Or what, O cowardly dastard, does that
man deserve, who screens himself behind the clothes of a woman to
strike at a foe? I will answer the question, and show thee, by ocular
proof, very soon. But now in the meantime, I will open thy eyes, and
tell thee, from the very beginning, all that took place. And thou
shalt learn how I stole her away from thee, in spite of thee, as
presently I will come to rob thee also of thy life. And I will
embitter thy life, and poison it, first: and then I will take it away.