CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE SIMPLETON AND THE SERPENT.
While in the sleeping--chamber, bathed in a sea of joy, Nagendra and Surja Mukhi held loving converse, in another apartment of that same house a fatal dialogue was being held.

Before relating it, it is necessary to record what occurred on the previous night.

As we know, Nagendra had held no converse with Kunda Nandini on his return.

In her own room, with her head on the pillow, Kunda had wept the whole night, not the easy tears of girlhood, but from a mortal wound.

Whosoever in childhood has in all sincerity delivered the priceless treasure of her heart to any one, and has in exchange received only neglect, can imagine the piercing pain of that weeping.