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ALMORAN, whose wishes were thus far accomplished by the intervention of a power superior to his own, exulted in the anticipation of that happiness which he now supposed to be secured; and was fortified in his opinion, that he had been wretched only because he had been weak, and that to multiply and not to suppress his wishes was the way to acquire felicity.
Caled, whose astonishment was equal to his disappointment and his fears, approached him with a trembling though hasty pace; but as he stooped to support him, ALMORAN suddenly drew his dagger and stabbed him to the heart; and repeated the blow with reproaches and execrations, till his strength failed him.
Remember only, that upon him, whose appearance thou shalt assume, thine shall be imprest, till thou restorest his own. Hide the charm in thy bosom, and avail thyself of its power. ALMORAN received the talisman in a transport of gratitude and joy, and the Genius immediately disappeared. The use of this talisman was so obvious, that it was impossible to overlook it.
In the mean time, the multitude was increasing every moment; and the troops that lay in and near the city, having taken arms, fell in with the stream: they were secretly attached to HAMET, under whose eye they had been formed, and of whose bounty they had often partaken; and their fear being removed by the general cry, which left them no room to apprehend an opposition in favour of ALMORAN, they were now at full liberty to follow their inclinations.
With these reflections he soothed the anguish of his mind, till the dreadful moment arrived, in which the power of the talisman took place, and the figure of ALMORAN was changed into that of HAMET, and the figure of HAMET into that of ALMORAN. At the moment of transformation, HAMET was seized with a sudden languor, and his faculties were suspended as by the stroke of death.
ALMORAN also was equally diligent, but from another motive: he was actuated, not by love of the public, but by jealousy of his brother; he performed his task as the drudge of necessity, with reluctance and ill will; so that to him it produced pain and anxiety, weariness and impatience.
The pleasure that was expressed in her eyes, the blush that glowed upon her cheek, and the contest about the veil, which to an amorous imagination had an air of dalliance, concurred to heighten the passion of ALMORAN almost to phrensy: she perceived her danger in his looks, and her spirits instantly took the alarm.
As he entered without speaking, and without a light, HAMET continued stretched upon the ground, with his face towards the earth; and ALMORAN, having silently retired to a remote corner of the place, waited for the appearance of the Genius. The dawn of the morning now broke; and, in a few minutes, the prison shook, and the Genius appeared.
But just at this moment, ALMORAN, having at last disengaged himself from Osmyn, by whom he had been long detained, resumed his own figure: and while the eyes of ALMEIDA were fixed upon HAMET, his powers were suddenly taken from him, and restored in an instant; and she beheld the features of ALMORAN vanish, and gazed with astonishment upon his own: 'Thy features change! said she, 'and thou indeed art HAMET. 'The sudden trance, said he, 'has restored me to myself; and from my wrongs where shalt thou be hidden? This reproach was more than she could sustain, but he caught her as she was falling, and supported her in his arms.
ALMORAN, that he might at once address her virtue and her passions, observed, that though he had loved her from the first moment he had seen her, yet he had concealed his passion even from her, till it had received the sanction of an invisible and superior power; that he came, therefore, the messenger of heaven; and that he offered her unrivalled empire and everlasting love.
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