that to express displeasure against Osmyn was to betray his
own secret, endeavoured to suppress his anger; but his anger was
succeeded by remorse, regret, and disappointment. The anguish of his
mind broke out in imperfect murmurs: 'What I am, said, he, 'is, to this
wretch, the object not only of hatred but of scorn; and he commends
only what I am not, in what to him I would seem to be.

These sounds, which, tho' not articulate, were yet uttered with great
emotion, were still mistaken by Osmyn for the overflowings of capricious
and causeless anger: 'My life,' says he to himself, 'is even now
suspended in a doubtful balance. Whenever I approach this tyrant, I
tread the borders of destruction: like a hood-winked wretch, who is left
to wander near the brink of a precipice, I know my danger; but which way
soever I turn, I know not whether I shall incur or avoid it.'

In these reflections, did the reign and the slave pass those moments in
which the sovereign intended to render the slave subservient to his
pleasure or his security, and the slave intended to express a zeal which
he really felt, and a homage which his heart had already paid. Osmyn was
at length, however, dismissed with an assurance, that all was well; and
ALMORAN was again left to reflect with anguish upon the past, to regret
the present, and to anticipate the future with solicitude, anxiety, and
perturbation.

He was, however, determined to assume the figure of his brother, by the
talisman which had been put into his power by the Genius: but just as he
was about to form the spell, he recollected, that by the same act he
would impress his own likeness upon HAMET who would consequently be
invested with his power, and might use it to his destruction. This held
him some time in suspense: but reflecting that HAMET might not, perhaps,
be apprized of his advantage, till it was too late to improve it; that
he was now a fugitive, and probably alone, leaving Persia behind him
with all the speed he could make; and that, at the worst, if he should
be still near, if he should know the transformation as soon as it should
be made, and should instantly take the most effectual measures to
improve it; yet as he could dissolve the charm in a moment, whenever it
should be necessary for his safety, no formidable danger could be
incurred by the experiment, to which he, therefore, proceeded without
delay.

CHAP. XIV.

In the mean time, HAMET, to whom his own safety was o