Almoran and Hamet Part 5

Osmyn was by no means satisfied with the issue of their last interview: he had perceived a perturbation in the mind of ALMORAN, for which, imagining him to be HAMET, he could not account; and which seemed more extraordinary upon a review, than when it happened; he, therefore, again entered into conversation with him, in which he farther disclosed his sentiments and designs. ALMORAN, notwithstanding the impatience natural to his temper and situation, was thus long detained listening to Osmyn, by the united influence of his curiosity and his fears; his enquiries still alarmed him with new terrors, by discovering new objects of distrust, and new instances of disaffection: still, however, he resolved, not yet to remove Osmyn from his post, that he might give no alarm by any appearance of suspicion, and consequently learn with more ease; and detect with more certainty, any project that might be formed against him.

CHAP. XVI.

ALMEIDA, as soon as she was left alone, began to review the scene that had just past; and was every moment affected with new wonder, grief, and resentment. She now deplored her own misfortune; and now conceived a design to punish the author of it, from whose face she supposed the hand of adversity had torn the mask under which he had deceived her: it appeared to her very easy, to take a severe revenge upon HAMET for the indignity which she supposed he had offered her, by complaining of it to ALMORAN; and telling him, that he had gained admittance to her by bribing the eunuch who kept the door. The thought of thus giving him up, was one moment rejected, as arising from a vindictive spirit; and the next indulged, as an act of justice to ALMORAN, and a punishment due to the hypocrisy of HAMET: to the first she inclined, when her grief, which was still mingled with a tender remembrance of the man she loved, was predominant; and to the last, when her grief gave way to indignation.

Thus are we inclined to consider the same action, either as a virtue, or a vice, by the influence of different pa.s.sions, which prompt us either to perform or to avoid it. ALMEIDA, from deliberating whether she should accuse HAMET to ALMORAN, or conceal his fault, was led to consider what punishment he would either incur or escape in consequence of her determination; and the images that rushed into her mind, the moment this became the object of her thoughts, at once determined her to be silent: 'Could I bear to see,' said she, 'that hand, which has so often trembled with delight when it enfolded mine, convulsed and black!

those eyes, that as often as they gazed upon me were dissolved in tears of tenderness and love, start from the sockets! and those lips that breathed the softest sighs of elegant desire, distorted and gasping in the convulsions of death!'

From this image, her mind recoiled in an agony of terror and pity; her heart sunk within her; her limbs trembled she sunk down upon the sofa, and burst into tears.

By this time, HAMET, on whose form the likeness of ALMORAN was still impressed, had reached the palace. He went instantly towards the apartment of the women. Instead of that chearful alacrity, that mixture of zeal and reverence and affection, which his eye had been used to find where-ever it was turned, he now observed confusion, anxiety and terror; whoever he met, made haste to prostrate themselves before him, and feared to look up till he was past. He went on, however, with a hasty pace; and coming up to the eunuch's guard, he said with an impatient tone; 'To ALMEIDA.' The slave immediately made way before him, and conducted him to the door of the apartment, which he would not otherwise have been able to find, and for which he could not directly enquire.

When he entered, his countenance expressed all the pa.s.sions that his situation had roused in his mind. He first looked sternly round him, to see whether ALMORAN was not present; and then fetching a deep sigh he turned his eyes, with a look of mournful tenderness, upon ALMEIDA. His first view was to discover, whether ALMORAN had already supplanted him; and for this purpose he collected the whole strength of his mind: he considered that he appeared now, not as HAMET, but as ALMORAN; and that he was to question ALMEIDA concerning ALMORAN, while she had mistaken him for HAMET; he was therefore to maintain the character, at whatever expence, till his doubts were resolved, and his fears either removed or confirmed: he was so firmly persuaded, that ALMORAN had been there before him, that he did not ask the question, but supposed the fact; he restrained alike both his tenderness and his fears; and looking earnestly upon ALMEIDA, who had risen up in his presence with blushes and confusion, 'To me,' says he, 'is ALMEIDA still cold? and has she lavished all her love upon HAMET?'

At the name of HAMET, the blushes and confusion of ALMEIDA increased: her mind was still full of the images, which had risen from the thought of what HAMET might suffer, if ALMORAN should know that he had been with her; and though she feared that their interview was discovered, yet she hoped it might be only suspected, and in that case the removal or confirmation of the suspicions, on which the fate of HAMET depended, would devolve upon her.

In this situation, she, who a few moments before doubted, whether she should not voluntarily give him up, when nothing more was necessary for his safety than to be silent; now determined, with whatever reluctance, to secure him, though it could not he done without dissimulation, and though it was probable that in this dissimulation she would be detected.

Instead, therefore, of answering the question, she repeated it: 'On whom said my lord, on HAMET?' HAMET, whose suspicions were increased by the evasion, replied with great emotion, 'Aye, on HAMET; did he not this moment leave you?' 'Leave me this moment?' said ALMEIDA, with yet greater confusion, and deeper blushes. HAMET, in the impatience of his jealousy, concluded, that the pa.s.sions which he saw expressed in her countenance, and which arose from the struggle between her regard to truth and her tenderness for HAMET, proceeded from the consciousness of what he had most reason to dread, and she to conceal, a breach of virtue, to which she had been betrayed by his own appearance united with the vices of his brother: he, therefore, drew back from her with a look of inexpressible anguish, and stood some time silent. She observed, that in his countenance there was more expression of trouble, than rage; she, therefore, hoped to divert him from persuing his enquiries, by at once removing his jealousy; which she supposed would be at an end, as soon as she should disclose the resolution she had taken in his favour.

Addressing him, therefore, as ALMORAN, with a voice which though it was gentle and soothing, was yet mournful and tremulous; 'Do not turn from me,' said she, with those unfriendly and frowning looks; give me now that love which so lately you offered, and with all the future I will atone the past.'

Upon HAMET, whose heart involuntarily answered to the voice of ALMEIDA, these words had irresistible and instantaneous force; but recollecting, in a moment, whose form he bore, and to whom they were addressed, they struck him with new astonishment, and increased the torments of his mind. Supposing what he at first feared had happened, and that ALMORAN had seduced her as HAMET; he could not account for her now addressing him, as ALMORAN, with words of favour and compliance: he, therefore, renewed his enquiries concerning himself, with apprehensions of a different kind. She, who was still solicitous to put an end to the enquiry, as well for the sake of HAMET, as to prevent her own embarra.s.sment, replied with a sigh, 'Let not thy peace be interrupted by one thought of HAMET; for of HAMET ALMEIDA shall think no more.' HAMET, who, though he had fortified himself against whatever might have happened to her person, could not bear the alienation of her mind, cried our, with looks of distraction and a voice scarcely human, 'Not think of HAMET!' ALMEIDA, whose astonishment was every moment increasing, replied, with a tender and interesting enquiry, 'Is ALMORAN then offended, that ALMEIDA mould think of HAMET no more?' HAMET, being thus addressed by the name of his brother, again recollected his situation; and now first conceived the idea, that the alteration of ALMEIDA'S sentiments with respect to himself, might be the effect of some violence offered her by ALMORAN in his likeness; he, therefore, recurred to his first purpose, and determined, by a direct enquiry, to discover whether she had seen him under that appearance. This enquiry he urged with the utmost solemnity and ardour, in terms suitable to his present appearance and situation: 'Tell me,' said he, 'have these doors been open to HAMET?

Has he obtained possession of that treasure, which, by the voice of Heaven, has been allotted to me?'

To this double question, ALMEIDA answered by a single negative; and her answer, therefore, was both false and true: it was true that her person was still inviolate, and it was true also that HAMET had not been admitted to her; yet her denial of it was false, for she believed the contrary; ALMORAN only had been admitted, but she had received him as his brother. HAMET, however, was satisfied with the answer, and did not discover its fallacy. He looked up to Heaven, with an expression of grat.i.tude and joy; and then turning to ALMEIDA, 'Swear then,' said he, 'that thou hast granted to HAMET, no pledge of thy love which should be reserved for me.' ALMEIDA, who now thought nothing more than the a.s.severation necessary to quiet his mind, immediately complied: 'I swear,' said she, 'that to HAMET I have given nothing, which thou wouldst wish me to with-hold: the power that has devoted my person to thee, has disunited my heart from HAMET, whom I renounce in thy presence for ever.'

HAMET, whose fort.i.tude and recollection were again overborne, was thrown into an agitation of mind, which discovered itself by looks and gestures very different from those which ALMEIDA had expected, and overwhelmed her with new confusion and disappointment: that he, who had so lately solicited her love with all the vehemence of a desire impatient to be gratified, should now receive a declaration that she was ready to comply with marks of distress and anger, was a mystery which she could not solve. In the mean time, the struggle in his breast became every moment more violent: 'Where then,' said he, 'is the constancy which you vowed to HAMET; and for what instance of his love is he now forsaken?'

ALMEIDA was now more embarra.s.sed than before; she felt all the force of the reproof, supposing it to have been given by ALMORAN; and she could be justified only by relating the particular, which at the expence of her sincerity she had determined to conceal. ALMORAN was now exalted in her opinion, while his form was animated by the spirit of HAMET; as much as HAMET had been degraded, while his form was animated by the spirit of ALMORAN. In his resentment of her perfidy to his rival, though it favoured his fondest and most ardent wishes, there was an abhorrence of vice, and a generosity of mind, which she supposed to have been incompatible with his character. To his reproach, she could reply only by complaint; and could no otherwise evade his question, than by observing the inconsistency of his own behaviour: 'Your words,' said she, 'are daggers to my heart. You condemn me for a compliance with your own wishes; and for obedience to that voice, which you supposed to have revealed the will of Heaven. Has the caprice of desire already wandered to a new object? and do you now seek a pretence to refuse, when it is freely offered, what so lately you would have taken by force?'

HAMET, who was now fired with resentment against ALMEIDA, whom yet he could not behold without desire; and who, at the same moment, was impatient to revenge his wrongs upon ALMORAN; was suddenly prompted to satisfy all his pa.s.sions, by taking advantage of the wiles of ALMORAN, and the perfidy of ALMEIDA, to defeat the one and to punish the other.

It was now in his power instantly to consummate his marriage, as a priest might be procured without a moment's delay, and as ALMEIDA'S consent was already given; he would then obtain the possession of her person, by the very act in which she perfidiously resigned it to his rival; to whom he would then leave the beauties he had already possessed, and cast from him in disdain, as united with a mind that he could never love. As his imagination was fired with the first conception of this design, he caught her to his breast with a fury, in which all the pa.s.sions in all their rage were at once concentered: 'Let the priest,' said he, 'instantly unite us. Let us comprize, in one moment, in this instant, NOW, our whole of being, and exclude alike the future and the past!' Then grasping her still in his arms, he looked up to heaven: 'Ye powers,' said he, 'invisible but yet present, who mould my changing and unresisting form; prolong, but for one hour, that mysterious charm, that is now upon me, and I will be ever after subservient to your will!'

ALMEIDA, who was terrified at the furious ardor of this unintelligible address, shrunk from his embrace, pale and trembling, without power to reply. HAMET gazed tenderly upon her; and recollecting the purity and tenderness with which he had loved her, his virtues suddenly recovered their force; he dismissed her from his embrace; and turning from her, he dropped in silence the tear that started to his eye, and expressed, in a low and faultering voice, the thoughts that rushed upon his mind: 'No,'

said he; HAMET shall still disdain the joy, which is at once sordid and transient: in the breast of HAMET, l.u.s.t shall not be the pander of revenge. Shall I, who have languished for the pure delight which can arise only from the interchange of soul with soul, and is endeared by mutual confidence and complacency; shall I s.n.a.t.c.h under this disguise, which belies my features and degrades my virtue, a casual possession of faithless beauty, which I despise and hate? Let this be the portion of those, that hate me without a cause; but let this be far from me!' At this thought, he felt a sudden elation of mind; and the conscious dignity of virtue, that in such a conflict was victorious, rendered him, in this glorious moment, superior to misfortune: his gesture became calm, and his countenance sedate; he considered the wrongs he suffered, not as a sufferer, but as a judge; and he determined at once to discover himself to ALMEIDA, and to reproach her with her crime. He remarked her confusion without pity, as the effect not of grief but of guilt; and fixing his eyes upon her, with the calm severity of a superior and offended being, 'Such,' said he, 'is the benevolence of the Almighty to the children of the dust, that our misfortunes are, like poisons, antidotes to each other.'

ALMEIDA, whose faculties were now suspended by wonder and expectation, looked earnestly at him, but continued silent. 'Thy looks,' said HAMET, are full of wonder; but as yet thy wonder has no cause, in comparison of that which shall be revealed. Thou knowest the prodigy, which so lately parted HAMET and ALMEIDA: I am that HAMET, thou art that ALMEIDA.' ALMEIDA would now have interrupted him; but HAMET raised his voice, and demanded to be heard: 'At that moment,' said he, 'wretched as I am, the child of error and disobedience, my heart repined in secret at the destiny which had been written upon my head; for I then thought thee faithful and constant: but if our hands had been then united, I should have been more wretched than I am; for I now know that thou art fickle and false. To know thee, though it has pierced my soul with sorrow, has yet healed the wound which was inflicted when I lost thee: and though I am now compelled to wear the form of ALMORAN, whose vices are this moment disgracing mine, yet in the balance I shall be weighed as HAMET, and I shall suffer only as I am found wanting.'

ALMEIDA, whose mind was now in a tumult that bordered upon distraction, bewildered in a labyrinth of doubt and wonder, and alike dreading the consequence of what she heard, whether it was false or true, was yet impatient to confute or confirm it; and as soon as she had recovered her speech, urged him for some token of the prodigy he a.s.serted, which he might easily have given, by relating any of the incidents which themselves only could know. But just at this moment, ALMORAN, having at last disengaged himself from Osmyn, by whom he had been long detained, resumed his own figure: and while the eyes of ALMEIDA were fixed upon HAMET, his powers were suddenly taken from him, and restored in an instant; and she beheld the features of ALMORAN vanish, and gazed with astonishment upon his own: 'Thy features change!' said she, 'and thou indeed art HAMET.' 'The sudden trance,' said he, 'has restored me to myself; and from my wrongs where shalt thou be hidden?' This reproach was more than she could sustain, but he caught her as she was falling, and supported her in his arms. This incident renewed in a moment all the tenderness of his love: while he beheld her distress, and pressed her by the embrace that sustained her to his bosom, he forgot every injury which he supposed she had done him; and perceived her recover with a pleasure, that for a moment suspended the sense of his misfortunes.

Her first reflection was upon the snare, in which she had been taken; and her first sensation was joy that she had escaped: she saw at once the whole complication of events that had deceived and distressed her; and nothing more was now necessary, than to explain them to HAMET; which, however, she could not do, without discovering the insincerity of her answers to the enquiries which he had made, while she mistook him for his brother: 'If in my heart,' says she, 'thou hast found any virtue, let it incline thee to pity the vice that is mingled with it: by the vice I have been ensnared, but I have been delivered by the virtue.

ALMORAN, for now I know that it was not thee, ALMORAN, when he possessed thy form, was with me: he prophaned thy love, by attempts to supplant my virtue; I resisted his importunity, and escaped perdition; but the guilt of ALMORAN drew my resentment upon HAMET. I thought the vices which, under thy form, I discovered in his bosom, were thine; and in the anguish of grief, indignation, and disappointment, my heart renounced thee: yet, as I could not give thee up to death, I could not discover to ALMORAN the attempt which I imputed to thee; when you questioned me, therefore, as ALMORAN, I was betrayed to dissimulation, by the tenderness which still melted my heart for HAMET.' 'I believe thee,'

said HAMET, catching her in a transport to his breast: 'I love thee for thy virtue; and may the pure and exalted beings, who are superior to the pa.s.sions that now throb in my heart, forgive me, if I love thee also for thy fault. Yet, let the danger to which it betrayed thee, teach us still to walk in the strait path, and commit the keeping of our peace to the Almighty; for he that wanders in the maze of falsehood, shall pa.s.s by the good that he would meet, and shall meet the evil that he would shun.

I also was tempted; but I was strengthened to resist: if I had used the power, which I derived from the arts that have been practised against me, to return evil for evil; if I had not disdained a secret and unavowed revenge, and the unhallowed pleasures of a brutal appet.i.te; I might have possessed thee in the form of ALMORAN, and have wronged irreparably myself and thee: for how could I have been admitted, as HAMET, to the beauties which I had enjoyed as ALMORAN? and how couldst thou have given, to ALMORAN, what in reality had been appropriated by HAMET?'

CHAP. XVII.

But while ALMEIDA and HAMET were thus congratulating each other upon the evils which they had escaped, they were threatened by others, which, however obvious, they had overlooked.

ALMORAN, who was now exulting in the prospect of success that had exceeded his hopes, and who supposed the possession of ALMEIDA before the end of the next hour, was as certain as that the next hour would arrive, suddenly entered the apartment; but upon discovering HAMET, he started back astonished and disappointed. HAMET stood unmoved; and regarded him with a fixed and steady look, that at once reproached and confounded him. 'What treachery,' said ALMORAN, 'has been practised against me? What has brought thee to this place; and how hast thou gained admittance?' 'Against thy peace,' said HAMET, 'no treachery has been practised, but by thyself. By those arts in which thy vices have employed the powers of darkness, I have been brought hither; and by those arts I have gained admittance: thy form which they have imposed upon me, was my pa.s.sport; and by the restoration of my own, I have detected and disappointed the fraud, which the double change was produced to execute. ALMEIDA, whom, as HAMET, thou couldst teach to hate thee, it is now impossible that, as ALMORAN, thou shouldst teach to love.'

ALMEIDA, who perceived the storm to be gathering which the next moment would burst upon the head of HAMET, interposed between them, and addressed each of them by turns; urging HAMET to be silent, and conjuring ALMORAN to be merciful. ALMORAN, however, without regarding ALMEIDA, or making any reply to HAMET, struck the ground with his foot, and the messengers of death, to whom the signal was familiar, appeared at the door. ALMORAN then commanded them to seize his brother, with a countenance pale and livid, and a voice that was broken by rage. HAMET was still unmoved; but ALMEIDA threw herself at the feet of ALMORAN, and embracing his knees was about to speak, but he broke from her with sudden fury: 'If the world should sue,' said he, 'I would spurn it off.

There is no pang that cunning can invent, which he shall not suffer: and when death at length shall disappoint my vengeance, his mangled limbs shall be cast out unburied, to feed the beasts of the desert and the fowls of heaven.' During this menace, ALMEIDA sunk down without signs of life; and HAMET struggling in vain for liberty to raise her from the ground, she was carried off by some women who were called to her a.s.sistance.

In this awful crisis, HAMET, who felt his own fort.i.tude give way, looked up, and though he conceived no words, a prayer ascended from his heart to heaven, and was accepted by Him, to whom our thoughts are known while they are yet afar off. For HAMET, the fountain of strength was opened from above; his eye sparkled with confidence, and his breast was dilated by hope. He commanded the guard that were leading him away to stop, and they implicitly obeyed; he then stretched out his hand towards ALMORAN, whose spirit was rebuked before him: 'Hear me,' said he, 'thou tyrant!

for it is thy genius that speaks by my voice. What has been the fruit of all thy guilt, but acc.u.mulated misery? What joy hast thou derived from undivided empire? what joy from the prohibition of my marriage with ALMEIDA? what good from that power, which some evil daemon has added to thy own? what, at this moment, is thy portion, but rage and anguish, disappointment, and despair? Even I, whom thou seest the captive of thy power, whom thou hast wronged of empire, and yet more of love; even I am happy, in comparison of thee. I know that my sufferings, however multiplied, are short, for they shall end with life, and no life is long: then shall the everlasting ages commence; and through everlasting ages thy sufferings shall increase. The moment is now near, when thou shalt tread that line which alone is the path to heaven, the narrow path that is stretched over the pit, which smokes for ever, and for ever! When thine aking eye shall look forward to the end that is far distant, and when behind thou shalt find no retreat; when thy steps shall faulter, and thou shalt tremble at the depth beneath, which thought itself is not able to fathom; then shall the angel of distribution lift his inexorable hand against thee: from the irremeable way shall thy feet be smitten; thou shalt plunge in the burning flood; and though thou shalt live for ever, thou shalt rise no more.'

As the words of HAMET struck ALMORAN with terror, and over-awed him by an influence which he could not surmount; HAMET was forced from his presence, before any other orders had been given about him, than were implied in the menace that was addressed to ALMEIDA: no violence, therefore, was yet offered him; but he was secured, till the king's pleasure should be known, in a dungeon not far from the palace, to which he was conducted by a subterraneous pa.s.sage; and the door being closed upon him, he was left in silence, darkness, and solitude, such as may be imagined before the voice of the Almighty produced light and life.

When ALMORAN was sufficiently recollected to consider his situation, he despaired of prevailing upon ALMEIDA to gratify his wishes, till her attachment to HAMET was irreparably broken; and he, therefore, resolved to put him to death. With this view, he repeated the signal, which convened the ministers of death to his presence; but the sound was lost in a peal of thunder that instantly followed it, and the Genius, from whom he received the talisman, again stood before him.

'ALMORAN,' said the Genius, 'I am now compelled into thy presence by the command of a superior power; whom, if I should dare to disobey, the energy of his will might drive me, in a moment, beyond the limits of nature and the reach of thought, to spend eternity alone, without comfort, and without hope.' 'And what,' said ALMORAN, 'is the will of this mighty and tremendous being?' 'His will,' said the Genius, 'I will reveal to thee. Hitherto, thou hast been enabled to lift the rod of adversity against thy brother, by powers which nature has not entrusted to man: as these powers, and these only, have put him into thy hand, thou art forbidden to lift it against his life; if thou hadst prevailed against him by thy own power, thy own power would not have been restrained: to afflict him thou art still free; but thou art not permitted to destroy. At the moment, in which thou shalt conceive a thought to cut him off by violence, the punishment of thy disobedience shall commence, and the pangs of death shall be upon thee.' 'If then,'

said ALMORAN, 'this awful power is the friend of HAMET; what yet remains, in the stores of thy wisdom, for me? 'Till he dies, I am at once precluded from peace, and safety, and enjoyment.' 'Look up,' said the Genius, 'for the iron hand of despair is not yet upon thee. Thou canst be happy, only by his death; and his life thou art forbidden to take away: yet mayst thou still arm him against himself; and if he dies by his own hand, thy wishes will be full.' 'O name,' said ALMORAN, 'but the means, and it shall this moment be accomplished!' 'Select,' said the Genius, 'some friend--'

At the name of friend, ALMORAN started and looked round in despair. He recollected the perfidy of Osmyn; and he suspected that, from the same cause, all were perfidious: 'While HAMET has yet life,' said he, 'I fear the face of man, as of a savage that is prowling for his prey.'

'Relinquish not yet thy hopes,' said the Genius; 'for one, in whom thou wilt joyfully confide, may be found. Let him secretly obtain admittance to HAMET, as if by stealth; let him profess an abhorrence of thy reign, and compa.s.sion for his misfortunes; let him pretend that the rack is even now preparing for him; that death is inevitable, but that torment may be avoided: let him then give him a poignard, as the instrument of deliverance; and, perhaps, his own hand may strike the blow, that shall give thee peace.' 'But who,' said ALMORAN, shall go upon this important errand?' 'Who,' replied the Genius, but thyself? Hast thou not the power to a.s.sume the form of whomsoever thou wouldst have sent?' 'I would have sent Osmyn,' said ALMORAN, 'but that I know him to be a traitor.'

'Let the form of Osmyn then,' said the Genius, 'be thine. The shadows of the evening have now stretched themselves upon the earth: command Osmyn to attend thee alone in the grove, where Solyman, thy father, was used to meditate by night; and when thy form shall be impressed upon him, I will there seal his eyes in sleep, till the charm shall be broken; so shall no evil be attempted against thee, and the transformation shall be known only to thyself.'

ALMORAN, whose breast was again illuminated by hope, was about to express his grat.i.tude and joy; but the Genius suddenly disappeared. He began, therefore, immediately to follow the instructions that he had received: he commanded Osmyn to attend him in the grove, and forbad every other to approach; by the power of the talisman he a.s.sumed his appearance, and saw him sink down in the supernatural slumber before him: he then quitted the place, and prepared to visit HAMET in the prison.

CHAP. XVIII.

The officer who commanded the guard that kept the gate of the prison, was Caled. He was now next in trust and power to Osmyn: but as he had proposed a revolt to HAMET, in which Osmyn had refused to concur, he knew that his life was now in his power; he dreaded lest, for some slight offence, or in some fit of causeless displeasure, he should disclose the secret to ALMORAN, who would then certainly condemn him to death. To secure this fatal secret, and put an end to his inquietude, he resolved, from the moment that ALMORAN was established upon the throne, to find some opportunity secretly to destroy Osmyn: in this resolution, he was confirmed by the enmity, which inferior minds never fail to conceive against that merit, which they cannot but envy without spirit to emulate, and by which they feel themselves disgraced without an effort to acquire equal honour; it was confirmed also by the hope which Caled had conceived, that, upon the death of Osmyn, he should succeed to his post: his apprehensions likewise were increased, by the gloom which he remarked in the countenance of Osmyn; and which not knowing that it arose from fear, he imputed to jealousy and malevolence.

When ALMORAN, who had now a.s.sumed the appearance of Osmyn, had pa.s.sed the subterranean avenue to the dungeon in which HAMET was confined, he was met by Caled; of whom he demanded admittance to the prince, and produced his own signet, as a testimony that he came with the authority of the king. As it was Caled's interest to secure the favour of Osmyn till an opportunity should offer to cut him off, he received him with every possible mark of respect and reverence; and when he was gone into the dungeon, he commanded a beverage to be prepared for him against he should return, in which such spices were infused, as might expel the malignity which, in that place, might be received with the breath of life; and taking himself the key of the prison, he waited at the door.

When ALMORAN entered the dungeon, with a lamp which he had received from Caled, he found HAMET sitting upon the ground: his countenance was impressed with the characters of grief; but it retained no marks either of anger or fear. When he looked up, and saw the features of Osmyn, he judged that the mutes were behind him; and, therefore, rose up, to prepare himself for death. ALMORAN beheld his calmness and fort.i.tude with the involuntary praise of admiration; yet persisted in his purpose without remorse. 'I am come,' said he, by the command of ALMORAN, to denounce that fate, the bitterness of which I will enable thee to avoid.' 'And what is there,' said HAMET, 'in my fortunes, that has prompted thee to the danger of this attempt?' 'The utmost that I can give thee,' said ALMORAN, 'I can give thee without danger to myself: but though I have been placed, by the hand of fortune, near the person of the tyrant, yet has my heart in secret been thy friend. If I am the messenger of evil, impute it to him only by whom it is devised. The rack is now preparing to receive thee; and every art of ingenious cruelty will be exhausted to protract and to increase the agonies of death.'

'And what,' said HAMET, 'can thy friends.h.i.+p offer me?' 'I can offer thee,' said ALMORAN, 'that which will at once dismiss thee to those regions, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary rest for ever.' He then produced the poignard from his bosom; and presenting it to HAMET, 'Take this,' said he, 'and sleep in peace.'

HAMET, whose heart was touched with sudden joy at the sight of so unexpected a remedy for every evil, did not immediately reflect, that he was not at liberty to apply it: he s.n.a.t.c.hed it in a transport from the hand of ALMORAN, and expressed his sense of the obligation by clasping him in his arms, and shedding the tears of grat.i.tude in his breast. 'Be quick,' said ALMORAN: this moment I must leave thee; and in the next, perhaps, the messengers of destruction may bind thee to the rack. 'I will be quick,' said HAMET; 'and the sigh that shall last linger upon my lips, shall bless thee.' They then bid each other farewel: ALMORAN retired from the dungeon, and the door was again closed upon HAMET.

Caled, who waited at the door till the supposed Osmyn should return, presented him with the beverage which he had prepared, of which he recounted the virtues; and ALMORAN received it with pleasure, and having eagerly drank it off, returned to the palace. As soon as he was alone, he resumed his own figure, and fate, with a confident and impatient expectation, that in a short time a messenger would be dispatched to acquaint him with the death of HAMET. HAMET, in the mean time, having grasped the dagger in his hand, and raised his arm for the blow, 'This,'

said he, 'is my pa.s.sport to the realms of peace, the immediate and only object of my hope!' But at these words, his mind instantly took the alarm: 'Let me reflect,' said he, 'a moment: from what can I derive hope in death?--from that patient and persevering virtue, and from that alone, by which we fulfill the task that is a.s.signed us upon the earth.

Is it not our duty, to suffer, as well as to act? If my own hand consigns me to the grave, what can it do but perpetuate that misery, which, by disobedience, I would shun? what can it do, but cut off my life and hope together?' With this reflection he threw the dagger from him; and stretching himself again upon the ground, resigned himself to the disposal of the Father of man, most Merciful and Almighty.

ALMORAN, who had now resolved to send for the intelligence which he longed to hear, was dispatching a messenger to the prison, when he was told that Caled desired admittance to his presence. At the name of Caled, he started up in an extasy of joy; and not doubting but that HAMET was dead, he ordered him to be instantly admitted. When he came in, ALMORAN made no enquiry about HAMET, because he would not appear to expect the event, which yet he supposed he had brought about; he, therefore, asked him only upon what business he came. 'I come, my lord,' said he, 'to apprize thee of the treachery of Osmyn.' 'I know,'

said ALMORAN, 'that Osmyn is a traitor; but of what dost thou accuse him? 'As I was but now,' said he, 'changing the guard which is set upon HAMET, Osmyn came up to the door of the prison, and producing the royal signet demanded admittance. As the command which I received, when he was delivered to my custody, was absolute, that no foot should enter, I doubted whether the token had not been obtained, by fraud, for some other purpose; yet, as he required admittance only, I complied: but that if any treachery had been contrived, I might detect it; and that no artifice might be practised to favour an escape; I waited myself at the door, and listening to their discourse I overheard the treason that I suspected.' 'What then,' said ALMORAN, 'didst thou hear?' 'A part of what was said,' replied Caled, 'escaped me: but I heard Osmyn, like a perfidious and presumptuous slave, call ALMORAN a tyrant; I heard him profess an inviolable friends.h.i.+p for HAMET, and a.s.sure him of deliverance. What were the means, I know not; but he talked of speed, and supposed that the effect was certain.'