Now it is necessary to write of Kundan's situation. Esteemed readers must be eager to know her fate. We last left Kundan in the very garden of the Rohtasgarh palace where Kishori used to reside. Kundan was constantly anxious that Kishori should not, by any means, fall into Lali's clutches.

When Lali, taking Kishori with her, descended into that house through the tunnel—the house from which the underground passage began—and this news reached Kundan, she became greatly alarmed. She raised a commotion throughout the palace. She was at a loss as to what should be done. As we have previously written, after Kishori and Lali had departed, several men, shouting "Stop! Catch them!" also entered the same house through the tunnel by which Lali and Kishori had gone.

Blending in with those people, Kundan too, fastening a small bundle to her waist, entered the house, and in the confusion and tumult, no one noticed her. Inside the house, it was utterly dark. Lali had gone into another room and shut the door, so those who had been pursuing her were forced to turn back in frustration.

...was placed, and they informed the Maharaj of this, but Kundan did not return from that house; rather, she hid herself in some corner.

We have written before, and now write again, that there were three doors inside that house. One was the main entrance, outside which guards were always posted; the second stood open; and through the third door, Kishori had been taken away by Lali. The door that was open led into a small hall. It was up to this hall that those searching for Lali and Kishori had come, but finding no way forward, they had turned back. When those people had left the house, Kundan untied the bundle from her waist, took out her things, and after lighting a candle, began to look around.

It was a small hall, but closed off on all sides. On the walls of this hall were painted all manner of terrifying pictures, but Kundan paid them no heed. In the center of the hall stood eleven iron boxes, each about a hand's span in size, and on each box rested a human skull. Kundan began to examine these boxes closely. The boxes were arranged in a circle upon a low platform. On one box was only half a skull, while on the others, the skulls were whole. Kundan was amazed to see that one skull was lying on the ground—why did it not have a box beneath it like the others? Kundan began counting from the box with the half-skull. She realized that the seventh skull had no box beneath it. Suddenly, Kundan exclaimed, "Oh! Oh! Of course, Lali must have taken the box from beneath this one, for that was the real box with the key—but how did she come to know this?"

Kundan began counting again and stopped at the fifth box from the broken skull. She lifted the skull, set it