AVANTI.
Kanchi is always avoiding us. He is certainly planning to deceive us all. I have not done well to put my hand in this imbroglio. Friend, could you kindly tell me any way out of this garden?
ROHINI.
I have none.
AVANTI.
Is there no man here who will show me the way out?
ROHINI.
The servants have all left the garden.
AVANTI.
Why did they do so?
ROHINI.
I could not exactly understand what they meant. They said the King had commanded them to leave the garden at once.
AVANTI.
King? Which King? Rohini They could not say exactly.
AVANTI.
This does not sound well. I shall have to find a way out at any cost. I cannot stay here a single moment more.[Goes out hurriedly.]
ROHINI.
Where shall I find the King? When I gave him the flowers the Queen had sent, he did not seem much interested in me at the time; but ever since that hour he has been showering gifts and presents on me. This causeless generosity makes me more afraid. . . . Where are the birds flying at such an hour of the night? What has frightened them all on a sudden? This is not the usual time of their flight, certainly, . . . Why is the Queen’s pet deer running that way? Chapata! Chapata! She does not even hear my call. I have never seen a night like this! The horizon on every side suddenly becomes red, like a madman’s eye! The sun seems to be setting at this untimely hour on all sides at the same time. What madness of the Almighty is this! . . . Oh, I am frightened! . . . Where shall I find the King?