SAKOONTALA [_frowning_].--Why not, pray?
PRIYAMVADA.--You are under a promise to water two more shrubs for me.
When you have paid your debt, you shall go, and not before.
[_Forces her to turn back_.
KING.--Spare her this trouble, gentle maiden. The exertion of watering
the shrubs has already fatigued her.
The water-jar has overtasked the strength
Of her slim arms; her shoulders droop, her hands
Are ruddy with the glow of quickened pulses;
E'en now her agitated breath imparts
Unwonted tremor to her heaving breast;
The pearly drops that mar the recent bloom
Of the Sirisha pendant in her ear,
Gather in clustering circles on her cheek;
Loosed is the fillet of her hair: her hand
Restrains the locks that struggle to be free.
Suffer me, then, thus to discharge the debt for you.
[_Offers a ring to Priyamvada. Both the maidens, reading the name
Dushyanta on the seal, look at each other with surprise._
KING.--Nay, think not that I am King Dushyanta. I am only the king's
officer, and this is the ring which I have received from him as my
credentials.
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