To this double question, ALMEIDA answered by a single negative; and her
answer, therefore, was both false and true: it was true that her person
was still inviolate, and it was true also that HAMET had not been
admitted to her; yet her denial of it was false, for she believed the
contrary; ALMORAN only had been admitted, but she had received him as
his brother. HAMET, however, was satisfied with the answer, and did not
discover its fallacy. 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