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CHAPTER IX.


Thenceforth Rohini daily took her kalsi to the Bârunî tank for water. Daily the cuckoo sang; daily the vision of Gobind Lâl appeared among the flowering trees; daily both peace and war reigned between Sumati and Kumati. Contentions between these two powers man can endure, but from their concord many calamities arise. Then Sumati would assume the form of Kumati, and Kumati would do the work of Sumati, so that it became impossible to distinguish one from the other, and people would give way to Kumati, thinking it was Sumati. And so it was that either Kumati or Sumati contrived to depict the form of Gobind Lâl more deeply day by day in the heart of Rohini. A dark background, a shining picture. Daily the picture became brighter, the background darker. Then in her eyes the world—but let it be, what need have I to

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