And I reached it, exactly as I said, on the eve of the full moon. And
I said to myself, with exultation: Ha! to-morrow night, it will be
full, and red, and round, exactly as it was a month ago, and shining
as it did before, upon the boat, and Táráwalí, and me. And at the
thought, I laughed aloud, for sheer joy, and came to my own door, and
went in. And lo! the very first thing that I saw, when I entered, was
my lute, lying on the floor with a broken string, and looking at me,
as it were, with reproach. For a ray of moonlight fell exactly on it
as it lay, as though to say: See! the moonlight falls not alone on
happy lovers, but on those that are deserted! And my heart smote me,
as I looked at it, and I exclaimed: Alas! my old love, thou art indeed
discarded for another; for I have not given thee a single thought,
ever since I saw her first. Bitter indeed must be the sorrow of one
that is cast, like thyself, aside! And then, I threw myself upon my
bed, forgetting instantly my lute and every other thing in the delight
of the anticipation of the coming day. And I slept all night, floating
as it were on a dark wave of the ocean of sweet expectation, and
smiling so to say in my sleep.
And when morning came, I arose, and went to and fro, singing aloud for
joy, and saying to myself: Now the moment of reunion approaches, and
the miserable fever of separation is nearing its end, for the sun has
arisen and is rushing to his home in the western mountain, and his
race, and my desolation, will finish exactly together. And now,
Chaturiká is on her way, and will soon be here, looking like the dawn
of my delight in a delicious feminine form. And she will look at me
with her laughing eyes, and murmur, Sunset, exactly as before: and
exactly as before, I shall kiss her, and send her back to the Queen.
And so I waited eagerly, on the very tiptoe of expectation, with my
eyes fixed upon the door. But day slowly travelled on, and yet she
never came. And little by little, my delight slowly turned into
perplexity, and anxiety, till at last, as hour succeeded hour, each
longer than a _yuga_, my heart began to sink, lower and lower still,
and I became actually sick with the agony of my disappointment. For
the sun was indeed rushing down into the night, and yet she never
came. And time after time, I went to the door, and opened it, and
looked out, but no Chaturiká was there, and nothing was to be seen but
the people in the street.
And when at last night actually fell, and found me still waiting, I
could endure no longer, but I threw myself upon my bed, and lay in a
stupor in the dark, abandoning all hope, and on the very verge of
crying like a child. And I said to myself: Is she ill, or is she dead,
or has she gone away, or what on earth can be the matter? Or can it
be, after all, that my messenger played me false, and never went? For
if she really got my message, long ago she would surely have sent
Chaturiká to summon me, knowing that it was impossible for me to come
of my own accord, and that I should be sitting waiting with my heart
on fire for her summons to arrive. And so I lay, tossing all night
long sleepless on my bed, and cursing the moon, which poured as if to
mock me a silver flood of light upon the floor, seeming to say: Think
what a night it must be in the garden! until in an agony of
reminiscence and humiliation, I turned my back to it, and lay with my
face to the wall. And when at last day returned, I arose and sat, in
deep dejection, worn out, and at my wits' very end, never even daring
to look towards the door, which remained obstinately shut. And all day
long I sat still in a kind of dream, neither eating nor drinking, and
hopelessly waiting still. And at last once more the sun went down,
after a day that was longer than a year, leaving me lying in the dark.
And I know not how I got through the night, which I shudder even to
remember; but when morning came, I was within a very little of being
mad. And burning with fever, hot and cold by turns, for sheer
impotence I got up and went out, and wandered up and down the streets,
till at last for weariness I was obliged to return, though the thought
of my deserted house was almost more horrible than death. And all at
once, I looked up, and lo! there was Chaturiká herself, coming towards
me in the street.