unobserved, hoping for the glory of her husband, appearing [219] to be asleep, like the beauty of the moon in the day. Then the king of Vatsa went to the women's apartments, and the skilful Yaugandharáyana, being afraid that he would see the queen, and that so the whole secret would be divulged, said to the sovereign of Magadha, "Prince, this very day the king of Vatsa will set forth from thy house." The king of Magadha consented to it, and then the minister made the very same announcement to the king of Vatsa, and he also approved of it. Then the king of Vatsa set out from that place, after his attendants had eaten and drunk, together with his ministers, escorting his bride Padmávatí. And Vásavadattá, ascending a comfortable carriage sent by Padmávatí, with its great horses also put at her disposal by her, went secretly in the rear of the army, making the transformed Vasantaka precede her. At last the king of Vatsa reached Lávánaka, and entered his own house, together with his bride, but thought all the time only of the queen Vásavadattá. The queen also arrived and entered the house of Gopálaka at night, making the chamberlains wait round it. There she saw her brother Gopálaka who shewed her great attention, and she embraced his neck weeping, while his eyes filled with tears; and at that moment arrived Yaugandharáyana, true to his previous agreement, together with Rumanvat, and the queen shewed him all due courtesy. And while he was engaged in dispelling the queen's grief caused by the great effort she had made, and her separation from her husband, those chamberlains repaired to Padmávatí, and said, "Queen, Ávantiká has arrived, but she has in a strange way dismissed us, and gone to the house of prince Gopálaka." When Padmávatí heard that representation from her chamberlains, she was alarmed and in the presence of the king of Vatsa answered them, "Go and say to Ávantiká, 'The queen says--You are a deposit in my hands, so what business have you where you are? Come where I am.'" When they heard that, they departed and the king asked Padmávatí in private who made for her the unfading garlands and forehead-streaks. Then she said, "It is all the product of the great artistic skill of the lady named Ávantiká who was deposited in my house by a certain Bráhman." No sooner did the king hear that, then he went off to the house of Gopálaka, thinking that surely Vásavadattá would be there. And he entered the house, at the door of which eunuchs were standing, [220] and within which were the queen, Gopálaka, the two ministers, and Vasantaka. There he saw Vásavadattá returned from banishment, like the orb of the moon freed from its eclipse. Then he fell on the earth delirious with the poison of grief, and trembling was produced in the heart of Vásavadattá. Then she too fell on the earth with limbs pale from separation, and lamented aloud, blaming her own conduct. And that couple, afflicted with grief,