goda is gone to a suttee which is now taking place, and not even a 'natica' is left to alleviate the horrors of my unhappy child's dreadful solitude in such an hour of despair!

Would you like to deliver her from her present situation?" demanded I, measuring, with a glance, the height of the massive wall; and perceiving, instantly, how readily it could be scaled by means of the branches of the old peepul tree, whose trunk, embedded in the granite chinks, seemed to form part of, and to be coeval with the ancient building itself.

The only answer the poor woman made was, to prostrate herself on the ground, lay her head upon my feet, and bathe them with

her tears.

"I shall get into an infernal row," thought I to myself, "should this escapade be traced to me; but no matter-coûte qui coûte, I will endeavour to save this unfortunate young creature from so horrible a death :" and, with this rather romantic determination-more romantic perhaps than wise-I continued to question the mother, in order to be able to mature my plans.

"Were I able to get your daughter from

within these walls, how long would it be before they discovered her flight ?"

"After their return from the suttee; perhaps two hours hence;" she replied; as hope began to lighten up her face.

"If you could take the place of your daughter, would they burn you in her stead, when it was found out that she was gone?"

"No! no!" eagerly gasped forth the anxious parent: “ and, even were it so, I would gladly sacrifice myself for my daughter's sake."

"Could you contrive for a few hours to personate her? and how long could you thus manage to conceal her escape escape?

A sudden light seemed at once to flash on the poor woman's mind, and she entered now eagerly into my scheme; she replied that, wrapped up and concealed in the folds of the ample douputtah, she probably would be able to represent her daughter till the time when her intended suttee was to take place; which would not probably be till late on the following day.

I immediately formed my plan; and—regardless, on the impulse of the moment, of any consequences that might ensue,-resolved to

1

leave nothing in my power untried, to save this young creature from so horrible a death.

It was, moreover, an adventure, not without a spice of danger and of romance, to stimulate me in the attempt, to which I was further urged by the youth and sex of the poor victim; and must the truth be told?—I hoped also she might prove lovely and amiable, as well as young; and, who knows, perhaps repay me, if successful, with warm gratitude for what I was about to attempt in her behalf!

Thus, were we to analyse minutely, even our noblest impulses and most generous deeds, how often-had we only sufficient candour to avow it-would self-interest, vanity, or pride, be the chief movers, prompting the performance of actions, which often excite the misapplied admiration and approval of the world!

CHAPTER XVII.

SITAYAH; OR, THE INCARNATION OF LUCHMEE,
THE GODDESS OF BEAUTY.

" 'Twas Camdeo riding on his Lory,
'Twas the immortal youth of Love—

Of men below, and gods above

Subject alike,' quoth he, have felt those darts;
Shall ye alone of all in story,

Boast impenetrable hearts?''

Curse of Kehama.

As I had resolved on trying to save the youthful Hindoo widow, no time was to be lost; the fast-increasing darkness, together with the circumstance of every one being absent at the suttee, proved favourable for the attempt.

With little difficulty I succeeded in placing her mother, by the assistance of the branches of the old peepul tree,-on the top of the high enclosure wall; from whence I, by means of the lengthened folds of her capacious drapery,

lowered her in safety into the interior of the sacred precincts; having previously given her directions to prepare her daughter for the anticipated flight.

I next proceeded to my tent; despatched my factotum, old Achmet, to collect as quickly and as quietly as possible all my people, who were no doubt witnessing the performance of the suttee.

This done, I went to the little bichover tent appropriated to Seyud Ishmael, whom I found reclining on his carpet, smoking a caleeoun; for the Seyud was too good a Mussulman not to look with the most sovereign contempt on every Hindoo ceremony-even on so important a one as a suttee.

Old Ishmael, on hearing my plans, gravely stroked his long white beard, and opened the eyes of astonishment and dismay: he represented the disturbance which the abduction of a Brahminee was likely to cause in a part of the country inhabited chiefly by Hindoos; the probability of a rising en masse of the exasperated population; incited, as he observed, by those "sheitans " (devils) of priests; and of the complaints, which would probably be