The Arab's Pledge: A Tale of Marocco in 1830

by Edward Ledwich Mitford

assan returned to his home, a prey to remorse. Azora had escaped this time, but the final scene awaited her. Men's motives are of a mixed nature, and difficult to analyse. I do not assume that he was solely moved by the stings of conscience, or that he had any great horror of perjury in the abstract; but, however the customs of a country may modify the modes of expressing the feelings, and of acting under their guidance, there is no doubt that he entertained for Azora a pure and ardent love. Prompted by his false friend and urged on by his passion, he had adopted the only course which appeared to him capable of compassing his end, without calculating the obstacles which might arise, and which he could not foresee, and when the full view of the consequences of his act was forced upon him he was appalled. Not only to lose one he loved so deeply, but to feel that he, who would willingly have sacrificed his life for her, had been the means of bringing her to an awful and cruel death; it was more than his mind could bear. Azora's forgiveness was no relief to him in the bitterness of his grief; the more he felt the innocence and purity of her nature, the deeper he felt the enormity of his own guilt, in devoting such an angel to destruction; reproaches, even curses, he could have borne, her gentleness and forgiveness were intolerable.

To-night, as he entered his dwelling, he felt a gloomy foreboding, as if some heavy retribution were hanging over him. His little sister,—a bright creature with hazel eyes and a laughing face,—ran to meet him. The care of this child had devolved upon him since the death of his parents, and she was now coming to the age when her playful and affectionate manners began to reward him for his care and protection; his little darling sprang joyfully into his arms, and kissed his cold lips; he clasped her to his breast, and felt a transient feeling of relief.

"Oh, how happy we might have been," he said, half aloud,—"lost!—lost!" and the conviction of his misery overpowered every other sensation. He smoothed back the silken tresses from her fair forehead, and gazed on her sweet face, talking almost involuntarily. "Once I was like you,—innocent,—but now—"

"Are you ill, brother dear?" said the child, putting its arms round his neck. "Brother, don't play with me, but brother is pale,—not well, and I don't want to play. If you are sick, I shall cry all night."

"No, love," said Hassan, shrinking from her innocent scrutiny, "I am not sick, but very tired; and now it is time for you to go to bed; is it not late?"

The child allowed itself to be put to bed quietly, in the adjoining room, the door of which was left ajar, that Hassan might hear if she wanted anything during the night. He was now alone, he tried in vain to make light of the weight, and cast off the gloom which oppressed his spirits, and he sat with his hands pressed to his forehead harrowed with inward suffering; presently a ghastly smile overspread his features, as a horrible thought presented itself to his mind, and he drew his dagger with a convulsive start. "Thus, then, I can escape this load of misery," said he, gazing at its keen tapering point. "Why should man live and suffer with such an antidote as this?—But stop! will not this add another crime to my account? And I may yet be of service to Azora. O Azora, Azora! what woe has not your love brought upon me? And alas! upon you. And who, when I am gone, will take care of this sweet child?" As these thoughts succeeded each other, his resolution gradually gave way, and with a shudder he hurled the weapon of death to the other end of the room. A shrill, prolonged scream of infant agony instantly burst on his ears; and as he sprang aghast to the spot, his little sister fell writhing at his feet transfixed by the deadly steel. The child had been impressed with the idea that her brother was ill; and when she heard him talking to himself, and so uneasy, with child-like curiosity she crept quietly from her bed, and had just entered the half-open door, when she was struck by the fatal dagger, and fell deluged in blood.

Hassan remained fixed to the spot, paralysed with horror, his eyes starting from their sockets, his mouth open, his hands clenched, a petrified image of despair. For some minutes he seemed not to breathe; presently he dropped on his knees, he raised the child's head, and pressed his lips to hers; the blood oozed from the pressure and ran a crimson stream down her neck, staining her silken hair; his lips were damp with her blood; his brain, already shaken, could no longer bear up against the shock, gasping for breath he fell senseless on the floor. Gradually, after some time, sensation returned, but when it did, his reason had left him. He sat up, and looked round the room with a vacant stare, till his eye rested on the body of the child; this recalled the lost thread of his thoughts; snatching the dagger from the wound, he sprang to his feet with a heart-freezing yell, as he brandished it aloft.

"Ha! ha! ha! fiends, are ye content? No! I come! I come! Shower down upon me the burning rafters of hell!—O Azora, you are avenged! God, how my heart burns, it is like a ball of fire in my bosom, and this red-tempered steel will fuse, ere it pierce it. Lo, I come!"

His hand was already raised to accomplish his purpose, when Ali, who had just entered, rushed forward and wrenched the dagger from his grasp, in doing which he stumbled against the child.