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.
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