much for his cowardly soul; and therefore, casting about for a clue to the secret way and wisely connecting it with Sundara’s room, he discovers the underground passage and gains the plain outside the fort. The Travancore camp is now within sight and the thought occurs to him that by promising, not only the trifling tribute demanded, but heavy subsidies in addition, he might pacify the victor, and rule as his feudatory, betraying if need be, the town, his sovereign and the whole company of Narayana and his mutineers, by revealing the secret way into the fort. Charmed by the tempting scheme, he moves on and meets Purushothama idly loitering about, alone, love-stick and melancholy. The scheme is then unfolded. Flattered into hope by the attention paid to his overtures, the traitor mentions the secret way and points to the facility it affords for the capture of Jivka. Purushothama then calls out for a company of his best soldiers and orders also a pair of the strongest fetters. Interpreting the order by the light of his own scheme, Kudila is simply in raptures. But the delusion lasts not long. For when the soldiers arrive, Kudila is fettered as a prisoner of war, and is told that Tranvacore will never steal even a victory, but that she feels in honour bound on the other hand, to open the eyes of a deluded sovereign, foe though he be, to the treachery of his own minister, and accordingly, he is asked at the risk of being flayed alive, to lead the way through the secret path, to the presence of his own royal master. Overreached and crushed in spirit, the traitor finds no escape, and urged by the swords of the Travancore soldiers, he silently guides Purushothama through the secret way to the Palace (Act V. scene 1). Meanwhile, Manonmani is informed of the proposed marriage, and though at first she faiths with revulsion, her dutiful soul consents to the self-sacrifice for the sake of her father. Feeling her duty to those about her, she prays her father to remove the interdict on Vani’s marriage, now no longer necessary, and to pardon Narayana on the ground of his past services. (Act V. scene 2). The requests are of course granted; and preparations are hurried through for a simple wedding. At the appointed time, the sage arrives with Nataraja and his two disciples, and though shocked to hear the proposed marriage, he finds it useless to protest and falls in with the arrangement. The room fitted up for the purpose happens to be the one adjoining the cell from which the secret path springs, and there, the nobles of the