With these plans
and prospects, he became each day more cheerful and more sanguine as
to the future. He had in his possession some valuable jewels, which he
calculated upon disposing of at Cairo for a sum sufficient for all his
purposes; and having exhausted all the passions of life while yet a
youth, he looked forward to the tranquil termination of his existence in
some poetic solitude with his beautiful companion.
One evening, as they returned from the Oasis, Alroy guiding the camel
that bore Schirene, and ever and anon looking up in her inspiring face,
her sanguine spirit would have indulged in a delightful future.
'Thus shall we pass the desert, sweet,' said Schirene. 'Can this be
toil?'
'There is no toil with love,' replied Alroy.
'And we were made for love, and not for empire,' rejoined Schirene.
'The past is a dream,' said Alroy. 'So sages teach us; but, until we
act, their wisdom is but wind. I feel it now. Have we ever lived in
aught but deserts, and fed on aught but dates? Methinks 'tis very
natural. But that I am tempted by the security of distant lands, I could
remain here a free and happy outlaw. Time, custom, and necessity form
our natures. When I first met Scherirah in these ruins, I shrank with
horror from degraded man; and now I sigh to be his heir.
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