122 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
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 re- 
leased from it by the death of her odious persecutor. 
“ We have now,” concluded the gallant Mussul- 
man, “ been united for twelve years, and she has 
never once regretted her change of condition, nor have 
I the increased responsibilities of mine ; we are still 
fondly attached to each other, and shall continue to be 
so until the angel of death shall disunite us only to 
perpetuate the tie in a world eternal. I have left her 
for the present in a comfortable dwelling a short dis- 
tance from Calcutta, where I hope to rejoin her when 
Sahib* shall no longer have occasion for my services.” 
The Mahomedan concluded his story with a salaam, 
much to our entertainment ; but he gravely declined 
the glass of wine which I offered him by way of ac- 
knowledgment, being too good a Mussulman to infringe 
the ceremonial law of the Koran; the moral law is 
quite another thing, and much less scrupulously ob- 
served even by the most fastidious worshippers of 
Mahomet. 
I have omitted to mention in its proper place, that 
after passing Buxar fort we left the Ganges for a day 
or two, proceeding to Sasseram, a town of some cele- 
* Master. 
