_Nandini_
Why pretend to frighten me?
_Voice_
Pretend, you say? Don’t you know I am really fearsome?
_Nandini_
You seem to take pleasure in seeing people frightened at you. In our
village plays Srikantha takes the part of a demon; when he comes on
the stage, he is delighted if the children are terrified. You are
like him. Do you know what I think?
_Voice_
What is it?
_Nandini_
The people here trade on frightening others. That’s why they have put
you behind a network and dressed you fantastically. Don’t you feel
ashamed to be got up like a bogeyman?
_Voice_
How dare you!
_Nandini_
Those whom you have scared all along will one day feel ashamed to be
afraid. If my Rañjan were here, he would have snapped his fingers in
your face, and not been afraid even if he died for it.
_Voice_
Your impudence is something great. I should like to stand you up on
the top of a heap of everything I’ve smashed throughout my life. And
then----
_Nandini_
Then what?
_Voice_
Then, like a squeezed bunch of grapes with its juice running out from
between the gripping fingers, if I could but hold you tight with
these two hands of mine,--and then--go, go, run away, at once, at
once!
_Nandini_
If you shout at me so rudely, I’ll stay on, do what you will!
_Voice_
I long savagely to prove to you how cruel I am. Have you never heard
moans from inside my room?
_Nandini_