THE GUEBRE PRIEST. 
251 
with the three Parsees as to what punishment should 
be inflicted, when they came to the unanimous con- 
clusion that she ought to die. Her alliance with a 
Christian was, in the estimation of these heathen rob- 
bers, a deadly sin. The father had some struggles to 
overcome before he could bring his mind to so fearful 
a determination. He at length, however, vanquished 
his paternal scruples, and determined to take the right 
of punishment into his own hand. 
After balancing for some time what sort of death 
she should die, he decided upon cremation ; and it 
was likewise resolved that the author of her shame 
should expiate his offence by undergoing the same 
sentence. The young Englishman, though banished 
from the tomb, nevertheless did not quit the neigh- 
bourhood, resolving not to abandon the object of his 
attachment to the heartless tyranny of a parent, who, 
as he had never consulted her happiness, could have 
no just right of control over her actions — at least, not 
according to her lover’s code of equity. When he 
heard that Jumsajee seriously thought of putting her 
to death for an offence of which she was perhaps the 
least culpable party, his heart sickened within him ; 
and he made up his mind, whatever might be the 
consequences, to leave no means untried to rescue her 
from so dreadful a doom. He cared not for his own 
life if he could only be the means of saving hers, and 
therefore determined to brave all consequences. 
Full of his purpose, he sought the presence of the 
exasperated and inexorable father, and implored a 
reversal of the sentence which the Parsee had passed 
upon his fond and guiltless child. He besought 
