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 passions, 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 passions 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 passions 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
embarrassment, 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
gratitude 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
asseveration 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 fortitude 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 embarrassed 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 passions, 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 passions 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, lust 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 snatch 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 asserted, 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
passions 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 pass 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 appetite; 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?'