.« Nekayah thought
this a reasonable demand, and made the promise to her brother, who had been
advised by Imlac to require it. Imlac had, indeed, no great hope of regaining
Pekuah, but he supposed, that if he could secure the interval of a year, the
princess would be then in no danger of a cloister.
 

                                 Chapter XXXVI

               Pekuah is still remembered. The progress of sorrow

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 degrees 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 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.«
 

                                 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 hands
of an Arab chief, who possessed a castle or fortress on the extremity of Egypt.
The Arab, whose
