balmy air that blew outside, he went out to the veranda. His reflections pursued him there. Leaning against the balustrade, his head supported on the palm of his hand, his eye fixed on the starry heavens and the range of tall Devdaru trees that stood in bold relief against the blue vault, he again lost himself in a melancholy reverie. As he gazed and gazed, a curious object caught his attention. A protuberance on the trunk of a Devdaru [which] stood out in relief against the sky, and on which [he for] some time fixed his listless gaze, seemed suddenly to vanish. It is a singular trait in the human mind that when most intensely employed in brooding over its own gloomy feelings, the most indifferent circumstance will sometimes arrest its attention. The disappearance of the protruding object on the circumference of the tree, struck Madhav as singular. He was sure that the remnant of the stem of a lopped off branch, or a knotted protuberance on the wood, was no longer where he had seen it against the sky. Not attaching however any importance to the circumstance at the moment, and too busy with his own thoughts, he again resumed the subject which lay nearest his heart. A few moments after, however, his eyes again wandered to the same tree, and now he thought he could see the object once more where it was. His curiosity being now slightly awakened, he looked at it for some time with more care than before. Suddenly again the object disappeared. It distinctly exhibited motion in its disappearance. "What can it be?" he thought.
