Upon HAMET, the death of his father produced a very different effect: as
soon as he heard it, his lips trembled and his countenance grew pale; he
flood motionless a moment, like a pilgrim transfixed by lightning in the
desert; he then smote his breast, and looking upward, his eyes by
degrees overflowed with tears, and they fell, like dew distilling from
the mountain, in a calm and silent shower. As his grief was thus mingled
with devotion, his mind in a short time recovered its tranquillity,
though not its chearfulness, and he desired to be conducted to his
brother.
He found him surrounded by the lords of his court, his eye still
restless and ardent, and his deportment elate and assuming. HAMET
pressed hastily through the circle, and prostrated himself before him:
ALMORAN received the homage with a tumultuous pleasure; but at length
raised him from the ground, and assured him of his protection, though
without any expressions either of kindness or of sorrow: 'HAMET,' says
he, 'if I have no cause to complain of you as a subject, you shall have
no cause to complain of me as a king.' HAMET, whose heart was again
pierced by the cold and distant behaviour of his brother, suppressed the
sigh that struggled in his bosom, and secretly wiped away the tear that
started to his eye: he retired, with his looks fixed upon the ground, to
a remote corner of the apartment; and though his heart yearned to
embrace his brother, his modest diffidence restrained him from intruding
upon the king.
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