shuold follow her husband ? If the religion of the Children calls it so, it is irreligion. I am the participa- tor in his piety — he is engaged in a pious work and I have come to share it with him." Satyananda was charmed with her eloquent words and lofty bearing, her heaving breast and trembling lips and her bright eyes filling with tears in the meantime. " You are a saintly woman," said he, " but consider, child, that a wife is the participator in household pieties alone ; of what use is she in a hero's mission ?" " What hero, sire," returned Santi, " was great with- out a wife ? Would Rama have been a hero without his wife ? Can you count the wives that Arjuna had ? Bhima, the very personification of Strength, had a number of wives. How many should I name ? What need have I indeed to name them to a scholar like you ? " " True, but what hero ever came to the field with his spouse ? " "When Arjuna fought with the Yadava soldiers from behind the clouds, who was it that led his chariot ? Would the Pandavas have fought in Kurukshetra if Draupadi were not with them ? " " Still, with common men, the woman attracts their mind and diverts them from their proper avocations. The creed of the children therefore insists that they should not even sit on the same seat with a woman. Jivananda is my right hand and you have come to maim it." " I have come to strengthen your right hand, sire. I
