154 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
not be ungrateful, father ; ’tis the vice of contemptible 
souls.” 
He saved your life and you have in return saved 
his ; thus the obligations of gratitude are annulled. 
He was ministered to in his extremity under the roof 
of his hereditary foe,, and sent back unscathed to his 
own dwelling. Your debt has been fairly cancelled. 
If there be a balance it is on his side.” 
“ True, father, and he is willing to lay the ba- 
lance at your feet by making your daughter happy. 
Remember, when she was in jeopardy, to use the 
words of our own native bard,* 
The guardian youth appeared 
And, heedless of a person which enshrines 
The worth of all the world, quick interposed 
His powerful arm to snatch me from destruction. 
For me he braved the monster’s mighty blows, 
Falling like thunder-strokes. 
The tiger plied 
His fangs and claws in vain ; the hero triumphed — 
The furious savage fell beneath his sword.” 
c< No more of this — you know me, girl; I must 
hear no more. Would you bring the evil influence 
upon your father’s house ? The very stones would 
cry out in indignation against you. Remember a 
parent’s command is not to be trifled with. I brook 
not trifling.” 
She was silent, but the broad steady gleam of her 
eye told at once that it was not the silence of ac- 
quiescence. Her heart rose to her very throat as the 
Hara retired, and her determination increased in pro- 
* Bhavabhuti. 
