[_He goes._
_Chandrá_
Ah now, didn’t you see how nice the Governor is? How he smiles every
time he talks!
_Bishu_
Crocodile’s teeth begin by smiling and end by biting.
_Chandrá_
Where does his bite come in?
_Bishu_
Don’t you know he’s going to make it a rule not to let the workmen’s
wives accompany them here.
_Chandrá_
Why?
_Bishu_
We have a place in their account book as numbers, but women’s figures
do not mate with figures of arithmetic.
_Chandrá_
O dear! but have they no womenfolk of their own?
_Bishu_
Their ladies are besotted with the wine of gold, even worse than
their husbands.
_Chandrá_
Bishu, you had a wife at home,--what’s become of her?
_Bishu_
So long as I filled the honoured post of spy, they used to invite her
to those big mansions to play cards with their ladies. Ever since I
joined Phágulal’s set, all that was stopped, and she left me in a
huff at the humiliation.
_Chandrá_
For shame! But look, brother Bishu, what a grand procession! One
palanquin after another! Don’t you see the sparkle of the jewelled
fringes of the elephant-seats? How beautiful the out-riders on
horseback look, as if they had bits of sunlight pinned on the points
of their spears!
_Bishu_
Those are the Governor’s and Deputy Governor’s ladies, going to the
Flag-worship.
_Chandrá_
Bless my soul, what a gorgeous array and how fine they look!
I say, Bishu, if you hadn’t given up that job, would you have gone
along with that set in this grand style?--and that wife of yours,
surely----
_Bishu_
Yes, we too should have come to just such a pass.
_Chandrá_
Is there no way going back,--none whatever?
_Bishu_
There is,--through the gutter.
_A distant voice_
Bishu, my mad one!
_Bishu_
Yes, my mad girl!
_Phágulal_
There’s Nandini. There’ll be no more of Bishu for us, for the rest of
the day.
_Chandrá_
Tell me, Bishu, what does she charm you with?
_Bishu_
The charm of sorrow.
_Chandrá_
Why do you talk so topsy-turvy?
_Bishu_
She reminds me that there are sorrows, to forget which is the
greatest of sorrow.
_Phágulal_
Please to speak plainly, Bishu, otherwise it becomes positively
annoying!
_Bishu_
The pain of desire for the near belongs to the animal, the sorrow of
aspiration for the far belongs to man. That far away flame of my
eternal sorrow is revealed through Nandini.
_Chandrá_
Brother, we don’t understand these things. But one thing I do
understand and that is,--the less you men can make out a girl, the
more she attracts you! We simple women,--our price is not so high,
but we at least keep you on the straight path. I warn you, once for
all, that girl with her noose of red oleanders will drag you to
perdition.
[_Chandrá and Phágulal go._
(_Nandini comes in._)
_Nandini_
My mad one, did you hear their autumn songs this morning?
_Bishu_
Is my morning like yours that I should hear singing? Mine is only a
swept-away remnant of the weary night.
_Nandini_
In my gladness of heart I thought I’d stand on the rampart and join
in their song. But the guards would not let me, so I’ve come to you.
_Bishu_