When she recovered, she once more disengaged herself from him,
and turning away her face, she burst into tears. When her voice could be
heard, she covered herself with her veil, and turning again towards him,
'All but this,' said she, 'I had learnt to bear; and how has this been
deserved by ALMEIDA of HAMET? You was my only solace in distress; and
when the tears have stolen from my eyes in silence and in solitude, I
thought on thee; I thought upon the chaste ardour of thy sacred
friendship, which was softened, refined, and exalted into love. This was
my hoarded treasure; and the thoughts of possessing this; soothed all my
anguish with a miser's happiness, who, blest in the consciousness of
hidden wealth, despises cold and hunger, and rejoices in the midst of
all the miseries that make poverty dreadful: this was my last retreat;
but I am now desolate and forlorn, and my soul looks round, with terror,
for that refuge which it can never find.' 'Find that refuge,' said
ALMORAN, 'in me.' 'Alas!' said ALMEIDA, 'can he afford me refuge from my
sorrows, who, for the guilty pleasures of a transient moment, would
forever sully the purity of my mind, and aggravate misfortune by the
consciousness of guilt?'
As ALMORAN now perceived, that it was impossible, by any importunity, to
induce her to violate her principles; he had nothing more to attempt,
but to subvert them.
Pages:
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111