Summary

The action is continuous.

Ponkshe wants to take the oath again, but is prevented from doing so by Kashikar, who reminds him that he has already taken it. Ponkshe then says he has something important to tell the court about Miss Benare. First, he says that she keeps a bottle of poison in her purse, and then saying that a while ago, he got a note from her asking him to meet her privately. When they met, he says, she told him she wanted to marry him, and then said she was pregnant. Stage directions suggest that throughout this, “Miss Benare is sitting like a block of stone, drained of colour [sic] and totally desolate.

Karnik asks whether Ponkshe is telling the truth, and Kashikar demands to know who the father was. Mrs. Kashikar also asks, but Kashikar tells her to be...