142 CRADLE TALES OF HINDULSM
awe and reverence, at the revelation seen in her of what great womanhood should be.
At a sign from her husband, and a few paces away, the Queen stood still, and Rama looked up and addressed her in thick, constrained tones.
- Ravana has been duly defeated and slain," he
said. "Thus has the honour of Ayodhya been vindicated to the utmost. It is for the Queen, whom he separated from her husband, to say in what guardianship, and with what establishment, she will now choose to live. Thy wishes, O gentle one 1 " he added, addressing her for a moment directly and swept away by his own tenderness, " shall be carried out in full. But it is not seemly or possible to restore to her old place one whose fair fame has been sullied by residence in the palace of Ravana."
At these words the Queen stood, in her sudden astonishment and pain, like one who had been stabbed. Then she raised her proud head to its proudest height, and, though her lips quivered and the tears fell, without her will, her wonderful voice rang out untremulous. " My character," she said, " must indeed be misconceived. Even Rama, it seems, can mistake my greatness, and truly then am I undone ! Yet if my lord had but told me, while yet I was imprisoned in Lanka, that it was for the honour of Ayodhya he would recover me I would indeed <Rve spared him all
