INDIRA AND OTHER STORIES
him, one maid departed to inform her mistress. Another stayed, and after the manner of her kind, made a careful inventory of the visitor's appearance. His complexion, she noted, was fair, fair as the mallika flower in full bloom. His stature was tall, his form muscular and sturdy. His forehead was lofty, surmounted by curling locks of the deepest black. His eyes were large and frank. The eyebrows were clearly pencilled, bushy, and as black as the hair on his head. His nose was straight and of an aristocratic fineness of outline. His lips were red and not excessively full; his neck was long, but strong and muscular. His limbs were hidden by his cloak, but the maid could see that his hands were finely shaped, and that on one of the tapering fingers was a splendid diamond.
Radharani dismissed her attendant as she entered the room. The sight of the lovely girl who approached him thrilled him as if a new sun had arisen in his life. His whole person seemed irradiated with her fresh loveliness. It was his place to speak first, seeing that he was a male and
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