118 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
the wretch, who had been so miserably f robbed of 
nature’s fair proportions’ would, through their fiery 
orbits, have withered me into a thing as odious and 
marrowless as himself. I passed him hastily, but as 
soon as I was satisfied that he had entered his abode, 
and my actions were no longer exposed to his jealous 
scrutiny, I returned without a moment’s delay, and 
entering the dark passage, placed myself in such a 
position that I could hear, though I could not see, all 
that passed. He evidently did not expect that any one 
would dare to violate the sanctity of his dwelling 
while he was present, and had therefore taken no 
precautions to exclude me; so that my proximity 
was entirely unsuspected. In fact he was too much 
engrossed by his ferocious purpose to have a thought 
for any minor object. His whole soul seemed to be 
merged in one absorbing sentiment of revenge. 
“ I had scarcely taken my position, near the en- 
trance of the chamber, when I heard this almost ses- 
quipedal deformity, with a sort of suppressed scream 
as indicative of fatal fury as the serpent’s hiss, up- 
braiding his victim in terms of the bitterest reproach 
with having allowed his sanctuary to be defiled by 
the polluting foot of a stranger and that stranger a 
Mahomedan. She appeared to be mute with terror, 
as not a single word escaped her lips, though I could 
hear the deep sob which seemed to be heaved from 
the very bottom of her heart. He accused her of 
having appointed an intercourse with an alien, an 
outcast from the abodes of the blessed, and one 
doomed to the penalties of everlasting excision. He 
charged her with having dishonoured herself and him 
