ith the tumult and fatigue of the day, had
retired to sleep, and given order to be called at a certain hour. She
then complained of the felicitations to which she was exposed, expressed
her dread of the consequences she had reason to expect from some sudden
sally of the tyrant's rage, and related with tears the brutal outrage
she had suffered when he last left her. 'Though I abhorred him,' said
she, 'I yet kneeled before him for thee. Let me bend in reverence to
that Power, at whose look the whirlwinds are silent, and the seas are
calm, that his fury has hitherto been restrained from hurting thee!'

At these words, the face of ALMORAN was again covered with the blushes
of confusion: to be still beloved only as HAMET, and as ALMORAN to be
still hated; to be thus reproached without anger, and wounded by those
who knew not that they struck him; was a species of misery peculiar to
himself, and had been incurred only by the acquisition of new powers,
which he had requested and received as necessary to obtain that
felicity, which the parsimony of nature had placed beyond his reach. His
emotions, however, as by ALMEIDA they were supposed to be the emotions
of HAMET, she imputed to a different cause: 'As Heaven,' says she, 'has
preserved thee from death; so has it, for thy sake, preserved me from
violation.' ALMORAN, whose passion had in this interval again surmounted
his remorse, gazed eagerly upon her, and catching her to his bosom; 'Let
us at least,' says he, 'secure the happiness that is now offered; let
not these inestimable moments pass by us unimproved; but to shew that we
deserve them, let them be devoted to love.' 'Let us then,' said ALMEIDA,
'escape together.' 'To escape with thee,' said: ALMORAN, 'is impossible.
I shall retire, and, like the shaft of Arabia, leave no mark behind, me;
but the flight of ALMEIDA will at once be traced to him by whom I was
admitted, and I shall thus retaliate his friendship with destruction.'
'Let him then,' said ALMEIDA, 'be the partner of our flight.' 'Urge it
not now,' said ALMORAN; 'but trust to my prudence and my love, to select
some hour that will be more favourable to our purpose. And yet,' said
he, 'even then, we shall, as now, sigh in vain for the completion of our
wishes: by whom shall our hands be joined, when in the opinion of the
priests it has been forbidden from above?' 'Save thyself then,' said
ALMEIDA, and leave me to my fate.' 'Not so,' said ALMORAN. 'What else,'
replied