486 A CHAPTER ON ANNUALS. 



overpowered her reason. I soothed her with expressions of the tenderest 

 endearment, when, shortly recovering her self-possession, and looking upon 

 her prostrate enemy, she gave a glance which spoke her gratitude far more 

 eloquently than words, and burst into a violent flood of tears. 



"There was now neither time for delay nor meditation. I resolved to 

 quit the place immediately, knowing that here I could no longer be safe, as 

 the destroyer of one so highly venerated by the superstitious inhabitants of 

 the neighbourhood. I was conscious that my life would be sought with the 

 most ferocious hostility, as soon as the manner of the fakeer's death should 

 transpire. As the interior of his cell was never visited, I knew that I was 

 secure from detection for the moment. I, however, prepared for my instant 

 departure, and the gentle creature whom I had so opportunely rescued, grate- 

 ful past expression for her release from the hateful tyranny to which she had 

 been so long subjected, gladly consented to become my companion. I took my 

 my way across the country, accompanied by my lovely Hindoo disguised in a 

 Mahomedan costume, to a convenient place of embarkation down the river, 

 where I hired a small boat, and we proceeded with all despatch to Calcutta. 

 During our passage, which was rapid, as the rains had only just ceased, and 

 the current was therefore strong, my companion related to me how she came 

 under the protection of the monster from whom I had so fortunately 

 rescued her. 



" She told me she was the daughter of a wealthy Cshatrya,* in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Delhi, and near her father's dwelling this hated Ab'dhoot 

 resided in a den very similar to that from which I had so lately released her. 

 So complete an influence did he obtain over her parent's mind, who, as she 

 fondly observed, was a very devout man, that he believed the hypocritical 

 devotee to be endued with a power only second to omnipotence. In fact he 

 both reverenced and dreaded him, even more than he did the severe Siva, or 

 the still more terrible Parvati.f He was continually endeavouring to im- 

 press upon his daughter's mind the extreme sanctity of this holy man, whom 

 he represented to be as gigantic in spiritual might as he was dwarfish in 

 stature, until at length she looked upon him with a degree of superstitious 

 awe which she could neither resist nor control. 



" The wily villain induced her one day to visit his lair, under pretence of 

 making her the vehicle of a divine communication. Having been taught to 

 consider any opposition to a request of his an absolute impiety, she did not 

 hesitate to comply. The moment she was alone with him he took advantage 

 of her defenceless condition and of her terrors to accomplish his iniquitous 

 purpose ; and when she communicated to her fanatic father the baseness of 

 the holy man, he blessed her good fortune and his own that she had been 

 deemed worthy the predilection of so sacred a character. She was so awed 

 by the impression of his being endued with supernatural power, that she 

 feared to withhold her consent to continue with him. She had brought 

 three children into the world, which he invariably destroyed as soon as they 

 were born, and gave out that they were absorbed into the essence of the 

 sempiternal Brama, as the offspring of the holiest of men. Her life she 

 declared to have been one of most unmitigated misery until she was released, 

 from it by the death of her odious persecutor. 



" We have now," concluded the gallant Mussulman, " been united for 



* The Hindoos are divided into four castes : the Bramins, the Cshatryas, the 

 Vaisyas, and the Sudras. The first are said, in their sacred book, to have 

 issued at the creation from Brama's mouth, the second from his arms, the third 

 from his thigh, and the last from his foot. The Sudras are therefore looked 

 upon as altogether ignoble and degraded. 



f Parvati is a female deity consort of Siva, the destroying power of the 

 Hindoo triad. 



