Speak for yourself, girl; this is the thought in your own mind.

[Continues watering the flowers.

KING.

Would that my union with her were permissible[23]! and yet I hardly dare hope that the maiden is sprung from a caste different from that of the Head of the hermitage. But away with doubt:

That she is free to wed a warrior-king
My heart attests. For, in conflicting doubts,
The secret promptings of the good man's soul
Are an unerring index of the truth.

However, come what may, I will ascertain the fact.

[S']AKOONTALÁ. [In a flurry.

Ah! a bee, disturbed by the sprinkling of the water, has left the young jasmine, and is trying to settle on my face.

[Attempts to drive it away.

KING. [Gazing at her ardently.