AMRA. 107 



spoke with certainty of the time when she should be his, spite of the 

 world and men when he described the glorious height to which 

 his love would elevate her the delights and the treasures he would 

 lavish around her, she, indeed, understood not his words ; yet, with 

 all a woman's trusting faith in him she loves, she hung upon his 

 accents listened, and believed. The high and passionate energy, 

 with which his spirit, so long pent up and crushed within him, now 

 revealed itself; the consciousness of his own power, the knowledge 

 that he was beloved, lent such a new and strange expression to his 

 whole aspect, and touched his fine form and features with such a 

 proud and sparkling beauty, that Amra looked up at him with a 

 mixture of astonishment, admiration, and deep love, not wholly un- 

 mingled with fear; almost believing that she gazed upon some more 

 than mortal lover, upon one of those bright genii, who inhabit the 

 lower heaven, and have been known in the old time to leave their 

 celestial haunts for love of the earth-born daughters of beauty. 



Amra did not speak, but Govinda felt his power. He saw his 

 advantage, and, with the instinctive subtlety of his sex, he pursued 

 it. He sighed, he wept, he implored, he upbraided. Amra, over- 

 powered by his emotion and her own, had turned away her head, 

 and embraced one of the pillars of her mother's tomb, as if for pro- 

 tection. In accents of the most plaintive tenderness she entreated 

 him to leave her to spare her and even while she spoke her arm 

 relaxed its hold, and she was yielding to the gentle force with which 

 he endeavoured to draw her away ; when at this moment, so dan- 

 gerous to both, a startling sound was heard a rustling among the 

 bushes, and then a soft, low whistle. Govinda started up at the 

 well-known signal, and saw the head of the mute appearing just 

 above the altar. His turban, being green, was undistinguishable 

 against the leafy back ground ; and his small black eyes glanced and 

 glittered like those of a snake. Govinda would willingly Jiave an- 

 nihilated him at that moment. He made a gesture of angry impa- 

 tience, and motioned him to retire ; but Sahib stood still, shook his 

 hand with a threatening expression, and made signs, that he must 

 instantly follow him. 



Amra meantime, who had neither seen nor heard any thing, began 

 to suspect that Govinda was communing with some invisible spirit; 

 she clung to him in terror, and endeavoured to recall his attention to 

 herself by the most tender and soothing words and caresses. After 

 some time he succeeded in calming her fears ; and with a thousand 

 promises of quick return, he at length tore himself away, and follow- 

 ed through the thicket the form of Sahib, who glided like a shadow 

 before hirn. To be concluded in our next, 



