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,