_Madanika._ My dear mistress, it is love, not naughtiness, that asks the question--but what does this mean?
_Vasantasena._ Tell me, Madanika. How do I seem to you?
_Madanika._ My mistress is so absent-minded that I know her heart is filled with longing for somebody.
_Vasantasena._ Well guessed. My Madanika is quick to fathom another's heart.
_Madanika._ I am very, very glad. Yes, Kama is indeed mighty, and his great festival is welcome when one is young. But tell me, mistress, is it a king, or a king's favorite, whom you worship?
_Vasantasena._ Girl, I wish to love, not to worship.
_Madanika._ Is it a Brahman that excites your passion, some youth distinguished for very particular learning?
_Vasantasena._ A Brahman I should have to reverence.
_Madanika._ Or is it some young merchant, grown enormously wealthy from visiting many cities?
_Vasantasena._ A merchant, girl, must go to other countries and leave you behind, no matter how much you love him. And the separation makes you very sad.
_Madanika._ It isn't a king, nor a favorite, nor a Brahman, nor a merchant. Who is it then that the princess loves?
_Vasantasena._ Girl! Girl! You went with me to the park where Kama's temple stands?
_Vasantasena._ And yet you ask, as if you were a perfect stranger.
_Madanika._ Now I know. Is it the man who comforted you when you asked to be protected?
_Madanika._ Why, he lives in the merchants' quarter.
_Vasantasena._ But I asked you for his name.
_Madanika._ His name, mistress, is a good omen in itself. His name is Charudatta.
_Vasantasena._ [_Joyfully._] Good, Madanika, good. You have guessed it.
_Madanika._ [_Aside._] So much for that. [_Aloud._] Mistress, they say he is poor.
_Vasantasena._ That is the very reason why I love him. For a courtezan who sets her heart on a poor man is blameless in the eyes of the world.
_Madanika._ But mistress, do the butterflies visit the mango-tree when its blossoms have fallen?
_Vasantasena._ That is just why we call _that_ sort of a girl a butterfly.
_Madanika._ Well, mistress, if you love him, why don't you go and visit him at once?
_Vasantasena._ Girl, if I should visit him at once, then, because he can't make any return--no, I don't mean that, but it would be hard to see him.