- Purushottam Agarwal 

She looked at herself, and the spectacle made her pink. Sensing her womanhood was almost unguarded she placed her shapely arms across her breast. 

Sadanand observed the quick flow of events and was transformed into romanticism. On mischievous impulse he abruptly stepped down from his bank to reach her. He was allured by her to have a closer look of that shivering marble statue. On seeing him arriving she shrank a bit more and looked past him to avoid his stare. 

Her feminine instincts automated her to tighten her arms against her torso and retired behind the boulder. Had her garb been dry she would have run away from this embarrassment. But she was just helpless, could not leave her station with her wet cloth, which failed to cover her modesty.

 When he reached the spot he stopped at a distance where from he could communicate with the girl. He locked his eyes on her and spoke in a soft voice with all the politeness at his command,

"I am sorry that I disturbed you, but I assure you that my presence near you is just incidental. I may appear to you bit impertinent but in reality it is not so. I am very sorry for whatsoever happened. But as a piece of advice I would say, you should have guarded your so youthful and alluring charms a bit more closely. Any body could have lost his head on seeing you as you are at the moment or you were while sitting on this stone.  Notwithstanding the fact that I happened to come without any forewarning or pronouncement, please do not entertain any fears from my side."

The girl remained silent without showing any reaction to what  he  said . She did not even raised her eyes from the ground, only shrank a little more.  Seeing her unresponsive Sadanand spoke again,  "  I do admit that I am responsible for all the inconvenience caused to you. I am sorry. I admit I have transgressed over your privacy,  ... you are entitled to award me punishment, any punishment of your choosing." 

" Why did you surprise me ... It was not like a gentleman."

"  Certainly not. But it was not fair on your part also to bedevil a gentleman like that.”

She smiled imperceptibly and slowly came into open a bit from  behind  the boulder.  In doing so she took adequate precautions not to get tripped off or fall into water.  She surveyed her surroundings and was satisfied no one else was around.  Now after getting some composure she tried to observe, to absorb and to assess the gravity of the position in which she has been entrapped.

After some time, which appeared an eternity to Sadanand, she smiled to herself. She slowly moved her head to have a good glimpse of the young man who had intrigued her adolescence; she however did not leave the cover of the boulder.