[_Looking down._]

For at the entrance here I plainly see A line of footsteps printed in the sand.

Here are the fresh impressions of her feet; Their well-known outline faintly marked in front, More deeply towards the heel; betokening The graceful undulation of her gait.

I will peep through those branches. [_Walking and looking. With transport._] Ah! now my eyes are gratified by an entrancing sight.

Yonder is the beloved of my heart reclining on a rock strewn with flowers, and attended by her two friends. How fortunate! Concealed behind the leaves, I will listen to their conversation, without raising their suspicions. [_Stands concealed, and gazes at them._]

_Sakoontala and her two attendants, holding fans in their hands are discovered as described_.

PRIYAMVADa AND ANASuYa [_fanning her. In a tone of affection._]--Dearest Sakoontala, is the breeze raised by these broad lotus leaves refreshing to you?

SAKOONTALa.--Dear friends, why should you trouble yourselves to fan me?

[_Priyamvada and Anasuya look sorrowfully at one another._]

KING.--Sakoontala seems indeed to be seriously ill. [_Thoughtfully._]Can it be the intensity of the heat that has affected her? or does my heart suggest the true cause of her malady? [_Gazing at her pa.s.sionately._]

Why should I doubt it?

The maiden's spotless bosom is o'erspread With cooling balsam; on her slender arm Her only bracelet, twined with lotus stalks, Hangs loose and withered; her rec.u.mbent form Expresses languor. Ne'er could noon-day sun Inflict such fair disorder on a maid-- No, love, and love alone, is hereto blame.

PRIYAMVADa [_aside to Anasuya._]--I have observed, Anasuya, that Sakoontala has been indisposed ever since her first interview with King Dushyanta. Depend upon it, her ailment is to be traced to this source.

ANASuYa.--The same suspicion, dear Priyamvada, has crossed my mind. But I will at once ask her and ascertain the truth. [_Aloud._] Dear Sakoontala, I am about to put a question to you. Your indisposition is really very serious.

SAKOONTALa [_half-rising from her couch_].--What were you going to ask?

ANASuYa.--We know very little about love-matters, dear Sakoontala; but for all that, I cannot help suspecting your present state to be something similar to that of the lovers we have read about in romances.

Tell us frankly what is the cause of your disorder. It is useless to apply a remedy, until the disease be understood.

KING.--Anasuya bears me out in my suspicion.

SAKOONTALa [_aside_].--I am, indeed, deeply in love; but cannot rashly disclose my pa.s.sion to these young girls.

PRIYAMVADa.--What Anasuya says, dear Sakoontala, is very just. Why give so little heed to your ailment? Every day you are becoming thinner; though I must confess your complexion is still as beautiful as ever.

KING.--Priyamvada speaks most truly.

Sunk is her velvet cheek; her wasted bosom Loses its fulness; e'en her slender waist Grows more attenuate; her face is wan, Her shoulders droop;--as when the vernal blasts Sear the young blossoms of the Madhavi, Blighting their bloom; so mournful is the change, Yet in its sadness, fascinating still, Inflicted by the mighty lord of love On the fair figure of the hermit's daughter.

SAKOONTALa.--Dear friends, to no one would I rather reveal the nature of my malady than to you; but I should only be troubling you.

PRIYAMVADa AND ANASuYa.--Nay, this is the very point about which we are so solicitous. Sorrow shared with affectionate friends is relieved of half its poignancy.

KING.--Pressed by the partners of her joys and griefs, Her much beloved companions, to reveal The cherished secret locked within her breast, She needs must utter it; although her looks Encourage me to hope, my bosom throbs As anxiously I listen for her answer.

SAKOONTALa.--Know then, dear friends, that from the first moment the ill.u.s.trious Prince, who is the guardian of our sacred grove, presented himself to my sight-- [_Stops short, and appears confused._]

PRIYAMVADa AND ANASuYa.--Say on, dear Sakoontala, say on.

SAKOONTALa.--Ever since that happy moment, my heart's affections have been fixed upon him, and my energies of mind and body have all deserted me, as you see.

KING [_with rapture_].--Her own lips have uttered the words I most longed to hear.

Love lit the flame, and Love himself allays My burning fever, as when gathering clouds Rise o'er the earth in summer's dazzling noon, And grateful showers dispel the morning heat.

SAKOONTALa.--You must consent, then, dear friends, to contrive some means by which I may find favor with the King, or you will have ere long to a.s.sist at my funeral.

KING [_with rapture_].--Enough! These words remove all my doubts.

PRIYAMVADa [_aside to Anasuya_].--She is far gone in love, dear Anasuya, and no time ought to be lost. Since she has fixed her affections on a monarch who is the ornament of Puru's line, we need not hesitate for a moment to express our approval.

ANASuYa.--I quite agree with you.

PRIYAMVADa [_aloud_].--We wish you joy, dear Sakoontala. Your affections are fixed on an object in every respect worthy of you. The n.o.blest river will unite itself to the ocean, and the lovely Madhavi-creeper clings naturally to the Mango, the only tree capable of supporting it.

KING.--Why need we wonder if the beautiful constellation Visakha pines to be united with the Moon.

ANASuYa.--By what stratagem can we best secure to our friend the accomplishment of her heart's desire, both speedily and secretly?

PRIYAMVADa.--The latter point is all we have to think about. As to "speedily," I look upon the whole affair as already settled.

ANASuYa.--How so?

PRIYAMVADa.--Did you not observe how the King betrayed his liking by the tender manner in which he gazed upon her, and how thin he has become the last few days, as if he had been lying awake thinking of her?

KING [_looking at himself_].--Quite true! I certainly am becoming thin from want of sleep:-- As night by night in anxious thought I raise This wasted arm to rest my sleepless head, My jewelled bracelet, sullied by the tears That trickle from my eyes in scalding streams, Slips towards my elbow from my shrivelled wrist.

Oft I replace the bauble, but in vain; So easily it spans the fleshless limb That e'en the rough and corrugated skin, Scarred by the bow-string, will not check its fall.

PRIYAMVADa [_thoughtfully_].--An idea strikes me, Anasuya. Let Sakoontala write a love-letter; I will conceal it in a flower, and contrive to drop it in the King's path. He will surely mistake it for the remains of some sacred offering, and will, in all probability, pick it up.

ANASuYa.--A very ingenious device! It has my entire approval; but what says Sakoontala?

SAKOONTALa.--I must consider before I can consent to it.

PRIYAMVADa.--Could you not, dear Sakoontala, think of some pretty composition in verse, containing a delicate declaration of your love?

SAKOONTALa.--Well, I will do my best; but my heart trembles when I think of the chances of a refusal.

KING [_with rapture_].--Too timid maid, here stands the man from whom Thou fearest a repulse; supremely blessed To call thee all his own. Well might he doubt His t.i.tle to thy love; but how couldst thou Believe thy beauty powerless to subdue him?

PRIYAMVADa AND ANASuYa.--You undervalue your own merits, dear Sakoontala. What man in his senses would intercept with the skirt of his robe the bright rays of the autumnal moon, which alone can allay the fever of his body?

SAKOONTALa [_smiling_].--Then it seems I must do as I am bid.

[_Sits down and appears to be thinking._]

KING.--How charming she looks! My very eyes forget to wink, jealous of losing even for an instant a sight so enchanting.

How beautiful the movement of her brow, As through her mind love's tender fancies flow!

And, as she weighs her thoughts, how sweet to trace The ardent pa.s.sion mantling in her face!

SAKOONTALa.--Dear girls, I have thought of a verse, but I have no writing-materials at hand.

PRIYAMVADa.--Write the letters with your nail on this lotus leaf, which is smooth as a parrot's breast.