Page:The Spoilt Child.djvu/108

"Among the mild Hindus I guilelessly came
"From the purest of motives; and this is their game!
"Ah fool! the advice of thy friends to despise,
"At the cost of thy beauty, thy beard, and thine eyes!"
Now enter the durwans athirst for the fray,
And round them their lathis impartially lay;
Then howls of excitement and terror and pain,
The crack of the truncheon and swish of the cane!
The friends of the bridegroom and those of the bride
Are scuttling in terror on every side:
Within flies the bridegroom, the company's scattered,
And all the gay trappings of Hymen are shattered.
"Thakchacha still here!" some enthusiast shouts,
"Pour mud on his turban and tear off his clouts!"
In dishonour poor Baburam slinks from the hall
And all his brave show goes for nothing at all.
His costume's in tatters within and without,
And shawlless and shoeless he stumbles about,
Distractedly moaning:-- "How hard is my case
"Whom death from exposure now stares in the face!
"The oncoming tempest I hear from afar:
"'Tis the progress triumphal of Death on his car!
"Thus helpless and sole, not a creature to aid,
"Can his dire visitation be longer delayed?
"I am bruised and exhausted, and breath I have none:
"The Fates are against me! O what have I done?
"And my pitiful lot, if it reaches the ear
"Of the wife of my bosom, will kill her, I fear.
"Did the marriage come off I'm unable to tell!
"From a blow on the cranium unconscious I fell.
"These schemes matrimonial dictated by vanity
"Have landed me here on the verge of insanity!
Thus loudly bewailing, a cottage he spies.
Where no cruel warder an access denies.
And there in a corner, alone, on a mat,
Monumental in misery, -- Thakchacha sat!
"Ah traitor and craven, 'twas cruelly done,
"Thy comrade deserting, thou treacherous one!
"O frailty of mortals! how falleth the best,
"When the touchstone of peril puts love to the test!"
"Hush, check your emotion!" his champion replies,
"For where are we safe from our enemies' spies?