but the smile which accompanied them showed that the woman spoke in fun. Nobokumar saw that she was very pert, and why should he not answer a pert woman's question? So he said, "I have seen women, but I have never seen so beautiful a woman."
The woman asked with some pride, "Not a single one?" Kopal-Kundala's beauty was awake in Nobokumar's heart, so he too replied with some pride, "I cannot go so far as to say not a single one."
The blow of iron fell on the stone. The speaker said, "Good; is she your wife?"
Nob. Why? Why do you think it is my wife?
The Woman. Bengalees always think their wives are more beautiful than anybody else.
Nob. I am a Bengali. You too speak like a Bengali; of what country are you?"
The young woman looked at her clothes and said, "This unfortunate one is not a Bengali; she is an up-country Mussulman." Nobokumar scanned her, and saw that in truth her dress was like that of an up-
