boat, with the permission of the guards. She herself remained engaged in the cookery, as before.
The barber woman drew down her veil a little more when she saw Shaibalini. She then placed one of Shaibalini's feet on her hand and began to paint it. Shaibalini gazed at the woman very attentively for sometime. She then said,
"Barber woman, where do you live?"
Shaibalini got no answer—she again asked,
"What's your name?"
Yet she got no reply.
"Are you weeping?"
"No," softly replied the woman, this time.
"Yes, you are," said Shaibalini and removed the woman's veil. She was really weeping but she smiled a little when the veil was taken off.
"I made you out as soon as you stepped in," said Shaibalini smiling. "You cover your face with a veil before me—what a curse it is! Now, where do you come from?"
The barber woman was no other than Sundari herself. Wiping away her tears, Sundari said, "Hasten off—put on my Shari—I will change it for yours. Take this little basket in your hand and go away from the boat, drawing a veil over your face."
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