As eight moons only had passed since the death of Solyman, and as the
reverence of HAMET for the memory of his father would not suffer him to
marry till the year should be completed; he determined not to mention
ALMEIDA to his brother, till the time when he could marry her was near.
The fierce and haughty deportment of ALMORAN had now left HAMET no room
to doubt of his character: and though he had no apprehension that he
would make any attempts upon ALMEIDA, after she should be his wife; yet
he did not know how much might justly be feared from his passion, if he
should see her and become enamoured of her, while she was yet a virgin
in the house of her father.
ALMEIDA had not only unsullied purity of mind, but principles of refined
and exalted virtue; and as the life of HAMET was an example of all that
was either great or good, Abdallah felt no anxiety upon leaving them
together, except what arose from his fears, that his daughter would not
be able to secure the conquest she had made.
As it was impossible for HAMET to have such an acquaintance with ALMEIDA
as he desired, till he could enter into conversation with her upon terms
of equality; it was his first care to sooth her into confidence and
familiarity, and by degrees he succeeded: he soon found, in the free
intercourse of mind with mind, which he established instead of the
implicit submission which only ecchoed his own voice, how little of the
pleasure that women were formed to give can be enjoyed, when they are
considered merely as slaves to a tyrant's will, the passive subjects of
transient dalliance and casual enjoyment. The pleasure which he took in
the youthful beauty of ALMEIDA, was now endeared, exalted, and refined,
by the tender sensibility of her heart, and by the reflexion of his own
felicity from her eyes: when he admired the gracefulness of her motion,
the elegance of her figure, the symmetry of her features, and the bloom
of her complexion, he considered them as the decorations only of a
mind, capable of mixing with his own in the most exquisite delight, of
reciprocating all his ideas, and catching new pleasure from his
pleasure. Desire was no longer appetite; it was imagination, it was
reason; it included remembrance of the past, and anticipation of the
future; and its object was not the sex, but ALMEIDA.
As HAMET never witheld any pleasure that it was in his power to impart,
he soon acquainted Abdallah, that he waited only for a proper time to
place ALMEIDA upon the throne; but that he had some reasons for keeping
a resolution, which he thought himself obliged to communicate to him,
concealed from others.
It happened, however, that some of the women who attended upon ALMEIDA,
met with some female slaves belonging to the seraglio of ALMORAN, at the
public baths, and related to them all the particulars of ALMEIDA'S
preservation by HAMET; that he had first conveyed her to his own
apartments, and had since been frequently with her in that which he had
assigned her in his palace: they were also lavish in the praise of her
beauty, and free in their conjectures what might be the issue of her
intercourse with HAMET.
Thus the situation of HAMET and ALMEIDA became the subject of
conversation in the seraglio of ALMORAN, who learnt it himself in a
short time from one of his women.
He had hitherto professed great affection for HAMET, and HAMET was
deceived by his professions: for notwithstanding the irregularities of
his life, he did not think him capable of concealed malice; or of
offering injury to another, except when he was urged by impetuous
passions to immediate pleasure. As there was, therefore, an appearance
of mutual affection between them, ALMORAN, though the report of
ALMEIDA'S beauty had fired his imagination and fixed him in a resolution
to see her, did not think proper to attempt it without asking HAMET'S
consent, and being introduced by his order; as he made no doubt of there
being a connexion between them which would make him resent a contrary
conduct.
He took an opportunity, therefore, when they were alone in a summer
pavilion that was built on a lake behind the palace, to reproach him,
with an air of mirth, for having concealed a beauty near his apartments,
though he pretended to have no seraglio. HAMET instantly discovered his
surprize and emotion by a blush, which the next moment left his
countenance paler than the light clouds that pass by night over the
moon. ALMORAN took no notice of his confusion; but that he might more
effectually conceal his sentiments and prevent suspicion, he suddenly
adverted to another subject, while HAMET was hesitating what to reply.
By this artifice HAMET was deceived; and concluded, that whatever
ALMORAN had heard of ALMEIDA, had passed slightly over his mind, and
was remembered but by chance; he, therefore, quickly recovered that ease
and chearfulness, which always distinguished his conversation.
ALMORAN observing the success of his artifice, soon after, as if by a
sudden and casual recollection, again mentioned the lady; and told him,
he would congratulate Abdallah upon having resigned her to his bed. As
HAMET could not bear to think of ALMORAN'S mentioning ALMEIDA to her
father as his mistress, he replied, that he had no such intimacy with
ALMEIDA as he supposed; and that he had so high an opinion of her
virtue, as to believe, that if he should propose it she would not
consent. The imagination of ALMORAN caught new fire from beauties which
he found were yet unenjoyed, and virtue which stamped them with superior
value by rendering them more difficult of access; and as HAMET had
renounced a connection with her as a mistress, he wanted only to know
whether he intended her for a wife.
This secret he was contriving to discover, when HAMET, having reflected,
that if he concealed this particular, ALMORAN might think himself at
liberty to make what attempts he should think fit upon ALMEIDA, without
being accountable to him, or giving him just cause of offence, put an
end to his doubts, by telling him, he had such a design; but that it
would be some time before he should carry it into execution. This
declaration increased ALMORAN'S impatience: still, however, he concealed
his interest in the conversation, which he now suffered to drop.
He parted from his brother, without any farther mention of ALMEIDA but
while he was yet near him, turned hastily back, and, as if merely to
gratify his curiosity, told him with a smile, that he must indulge him
with a fight of his Circassian; and desired he might accompany him in
his next visit, or at some more convenient time: with this request,
HAMET, as he knew, not how to refuse it, complied; but it filled his
mind with anxiety and trouble.
He went immediately to ALMEIDA, and told her all that had happened; and
as she saw that he was net without apprehensions of mischief from his
brother's visit, she gently reproached him for doubting the fidelity of
her affection, as she supposed no power could be exerted by ALMORAN to
injure him, who in power was his equal. HAMET, in a transport of
tenderness, assured her that he doubted neither her constancy nor her
love: but as to interrupt the comfort of her mind, would only double his
own distress, he did not tell her whence his apprehensions proceeded;
nor indeed had they any determinate object, but arose in general from
the character of his brother, and the probability of his becoming a
competitor, for what was essential to the happiness of his life.
But if the happiness of HAMET was lessened, the infelicity of ALMORAN
was increased. All the enjoyments that were in his power he neglected,
his attention being wholly fixed upon that which was beyond his reach;
he was impatient to see the beauty, who had taken intire possession of
his mind; and the probability that he would be obliged to resign her to
HAMET, tormented him with jealousy, envy, and indignation.
HAMET, however, did not long delay to fulfil his promise to his brother;
but having prepared ALMEIDA to receive him, he conducted him to her
apartment. The idea which ALMORAN had formed in his imagination, was
exceeded by the reality, and his passion was proportionably increased;
yet he found means not only to conceal it from HAMET, but from ALMEIDA,
by affecting an air of levity and merriment, which is not less
incompatible with the pleasures than the pains of love. After they had
been regaled with coffee and sherbet, they parted; and HAMET
congratulated himself, that his apprehensions of finding in ALMORAN a
rival for ALMEIDA'S love, were now at an end.
But ALMORAN, whose passions were become more violent by restraint, was
in a state of mind little better than distraction: one moment he
determined to seize upon the person of ALMEIDA in the night, and secrete
her in some place accessible only to himself; and the next to
assassinate his brother, that he might at once destroy a rival both in
empire and in love. But these designs were no sooner formed by his
wishes, than they were rejected by his fears: he was not ignorant, that
in any contest between him and HAMET, the voice of the public would be
against him; especially in a contest, in which it would appear, that
HAMET had suffered wrong.
Many other projects, equally rash, violent, and injurious, were by turns
conceived and rejected: and he came at last to no other determination,
than still carefully to conceal his passion, till he should think of
some expedient to gratify it; lest HAMET should have a just reason for
refusing to let him see the lady again, and remove her to some place
which he might never be able to discover.