विक्रम चरित (उज्जैन सम्राट् विक्रमादित्य - पराक्रम, न्याय एवं ३२ पुतलियों की कथा सटीक)

169 room; 'whenever that weapon is put into the fire and heated until it is red-hot, that moment will be my last. This is all I have been told by my preceptor. I hope you will, if you value my life, bury this secret in your own bosom. It is unseemly in a man and wife to allow anything to cause a diminution of their regard for each other; and it is solely to avoid such an evil that I have been induced to reveal the secret of my death to you. Let me see that you prove yourself, my dearest Moheeny, worthy of the great trust I have now reposed in you.' Moheeny affectionately embraced the prince, and then fell prostrate at his feet, imploring heaven to preserve and prosper him, and to increase daily, aye, even hourly, their mutual regard and affection for each other. "Moheeny was not a little surprised to hear the account given her of the sword, and, as is usual with women gene- rally, she thought of the necessity of having a confidante. Shambae had so won upon the affection of the princess, that the latter thought she might place implicit reliance upon her; so she eagerly awaited the coming morning to unburden her bosom of the weighty secret, which had become so oppressive to her that she spent a restless night. Accordingly, in the morning, Moheeny called the widow, and informed her in an exulting manner that she had at last persuaded her husband to tell her the secret of his death, and she then proceeded to lay it all in detail before the now overjoyed Shambae. 'Is this true?' asked the latter. 'Yes,' replied Moheeny, 'he has actually told me all that his tutor, the learned hermit, had foretold regarding him; so that you see you were wrong in not believing him to be sincere in his love for me.' The wicked Shambae rejoiced at the favorable result of all the trouble she had been at for king Kankameroo's sake, and she told Moheeny that she was glad to hear her husband had given so great a proof of his devotion to her. 'You are happy,' said she, 'superlatively happy; for what can give greater happiness than the consciousness of being loved in an equal measure W