NEKAYAH, seeing that nothing was omitted for the recovery of her favourite, and having, by her promise, set her intention of retirement at a distance, began imperceptibly to return to common cares and common pleasures. She rejoiced without her own consent at the suspension of her sorrows, and sometimes caught herself with indignation in the act of turning away her mind from the remembrance of her whom yet she resolved never to forget.

She then appointed a certain hour of the day for meditation on the merits and fondness of Pekuah, and for some weeks retired constantly at the time fixed, and returned with her eyes swollen, and her countenance clouded. By degress she grew less scrupulous, and suffered any important and pressing avocation to delay the tribute of daily tears. She then yielded to less occasions; sometimes forgot what she was indeed afraid to remember, and at last wholly

CHAPITRE XXXVI.

ON SE SOUVIENT ENCORE DE PÉKUAH.

MARCHE DU

CHAGRIN.

NÉKAYAH voyant qu'on ne négligeait rien pour retrouver sa favorite, et ayant promis d'ajourner ses projets de retraite, revint peu à peu à ses occupations et à ses plaisirs. Elle trouvait du charme, sans se l'avouer, à la suspension de ses chagrins, et quelquefois elle se surprenait avec indignation, cherchant à éloigner de son esprit le souvenir de celle que cependant elle avait résolu de ne jamais oublier.

Alors elle fixa une certaine heure du jour pour penser au mérite et à la tendresse de Pékuah, et pendant quelques semaines elle se retirait exactement au temps désigné, puis revenait les yeux gonflés et l'air abattu. Peu à peu cette observation devint moins rigide; Nékayah commença par retarder l'heure de ses larmes, et par s'autoriser de toute cause sérieuse de distraction; elle céda bientôt à des motifs moins pressans; quelquefois elle oublia ce qu'elle craignait de se rappeler; enfin

released herself from the duty of periodical affliction.

Her real love of Pekuah was yet not diminished. A thousand occurrences brought her back to memory, and a thousand wants, which nothing but the confidence of friendship can supply, made her frequently regretted. She therefore solicited Imlac never to desist from inquiry, and to leave no art of intelligence untried, that at least she might have the comfort of knowing that she did not suffer by negligence or sluggishness. «Yet what, said she, is to be expected from our pursuit of happiness, when we find the state of life to be such that happiness itself is the cause of misery? Why should we endeavour to attain that of which the possession cannot be secured? I shall henceforward fear, to yield my heart to excellence, however bright, or to fondness, however tender, lest I should lose again what I have lost in Pekuah. »>

elle se dispensa tout-à-fait de ce culte périodique d'affliction.

Ce n'est pas que sa tendresse pour Pékuah fût diminuée; mille occasions la représentaient à son souvenir, et mille besoins que l'amitié peut seule satisfaire faisaient revivre ses regrets. Elle pria Imlac de ne jamais abandonner les recherches, et de ne négliger aucun expédient, afin d'avoir au moins la consolation de savoir que ses peines n'étaient prolongées ni par insouciance ni par oubli. «Que pouvons-nous attendre, dit-elle, de la recherche du bonheur, lorsque la condition de notre existence est telle que le bonheur lui-même est la cause de la peine? Pourquoi essayer d'obtenir des biens dont la possession ne saurait être sûre? Je craindrai désormais d'abandonner mon cœur au mérite, quelque éclatant qu'il soit, à l'affection, quelque tendre qu'elle paraisse, de peur d'avoir encore à perdre ce que j'ai déjà perdu.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

THE PRINCESS HEARS NEWS OF PEKUAH.

In seven months, one of the messengers, who had been sent away upon the day when the promise was drawn from the princess, returned, after many unsuccessful rambles, from the borders of Nubia, with an account that Pekuah was in the hand of an Arab chief, who possessed a castle or fortress on the extremity of Egypt. The Arab, whose revenue was plunder, was willing to restore her, with her two attendants, for two hundred ounces of gold.

This price was no subject of debate. The princess was in ecstasies when she heard that her favourite was alive, and might so cheaply be ransomed. She could not think of delaying for a moment Pekuah's happiness or her own, but entreated her brother to send back the messenger with the sum required. Imlac, being consulted, was not very confident of the veracity of the relator, and was still more doubtful of the Arab's faith, who might, if he were too liberally trusted, detain at once the money and