Whilst this scene of innocence was exhibiting in the mountains, the Caliph presented himself to the Emir in a new light; the instant he recovered the use of his senses, with a voice that made Bababalouk quake, he thundered out: "Perfidious Giaour! I renounce thee for ever! it is thou who hast slain my beloved Nouronihar! and I supplicate the pardon of Mahomet, who would have preserved her to me had I been more wise; let water be brought to perform my ablutions, and let the pious Fakreddin be called to offer up his prayers with mine, and reconcile me to him; afterwards we will go together and visit the sepulchre of the unfortunate Nouronihar; I am resolved to become a hermit, and consume the residue of my days on this mountain, in hope of expiating my crimes."Nouronihar was not altogether so content, for though she felt a fondness for Gulchenrouz, who, to augment the attachment, had been left at full liberty with her, yet she still regarded him as but a bauble, that bore no competition with the carbuncle of Giamschid.At times she indulged doubts on the mode of her being, and scarcely could believe that the deadhad all the wants and the whims of the living.To gain satisfaction, however, on so perplexing a topic, she arose one morning whilst all were asleep, with a breathless caution, from the side of Gulchenrouz, and, after having given him a soft kiss, began to follow the windings of the lake till it terminated with a rock, whose top was accessible, though lofty; this she clambered up with considerable toil, and having reached the summit, set forward in a run, like a doe that unwittingly follows her hunter; though she skipped along with the alertness of an antelope, yet at intervals she was forced to desist, and rest beneath the tamarisks to recover her breath.Whilst she, thus reclined, was occupied with her little reflections on the apprehension that she had some knowledge of the place, Vathek, who, finding himself that morning but ill at ease, had gone forth before the dawn, presented himself on a sudden to her view; motionless with surprise, he durst not approach the figure before him, which lay shrouded up in a simar, extended on the ground, trembling and pale, but yet lovely to behold.At length Nouronihar, with a mixture of pleasure and affliction, raising her fine eyes to him, said: "My lord, are you come hither to eat rice and hear sermons with me?""Beloved phantom!" cried Vathek; "dost thou speak? hast thou the same graceful form? the same radiant features? art thou palpable likewise?" and, eagerly embracing her, added: "here are limbs and a bosom animated with a gentle warmth! what can such a prodigy mean?"Nouronihar with diffidence answered: "You know, my lord, that I died on the night you honoured me with your visit; my cousin maintains it was from one of your glances, but I cannot believe him; for to me they seem not so dreadful.Gulchenrouz died with me, and we were both brought into a region of desolation, where we are fed with a wretched diet.If you be dead also, and are come hither to join us, I pity your lot; for you will be stunned with the noise of the dwarfs and the storks; besides, it is mortifying in the extreme that you, as well as myself, should have lost the treasures of the subterranean palace."At the mention of the subterranean palace the Caliph suspended his caresses, to seek from Nouronihar an explanation of her meaning.She then recapitulated her vision, what immediately followed, and the historyof her pretended death, adding also a description of the place of expiation from whence she had fled, and all in a manner that would have extorted his laughter, had not the thoughts of Vathek been too deeply engaged.No sooner, however, had she ended, than he again clasped her to his bosom, and said:
"Light of my eyes! the mystery is unravelled; we both are alive! your father is a cheat, who, for the sake of dividing, hath deluded us both; and the Giaour, whose design, as far as I can discover, is that we shall proceed together, seems scarce a whit better; it shall be some time at least before he find us in his palace of fire.Your lovely little person in my estimation is far more precious than all the treasures of the pre-adamite Sultans, and I wish to possess it at pleasure, and in open day, for many a moon, before I go to burrow underground like a mole.Forget this little trifler, Gulchenrouz, and--""Ah! my lord!" interposed Nouronihar, "let me entreat that you do him no evil.""No, no!" replied Vathek, "I have already bid you forbear to alarm yourself for him; he has been brought up too much on milk and sugar to stimulate my jealousy; we will leave him with the dwarfs, who, by the bye, are my old acquaintances; their company will suit him far better than yours.As to other matters, I will return no more to your father's; I want not to have my ears dinned by him and his dotards with the violation of the rites of hospitality; as if it were less an honour for you to espouse the sovereign of the world than a girl dressed up like a boy!"Nouronihar could find nothing to oppose in a discourse so eloquent; she only wished the amorous monarch had discovered more ardour for the carbuncle of Giamschid; but flattered herself it would gradually increase, and therefore yielded to his will with the most bewitching submission.
When the Caliph judged it proper, he called for Bababalouk, who was asleep in the cave of Meimoune, and dreaming that the phantom of Nouronihar, having mounted him once more on her swing, had just given him such a jerk, that he one moment soared above the mountains, and the next sunk into the abyss; starting from his sleep at the voice of his master, he ran gasping for breath, and had nearly fallen backward at the sight, ashe believed, of the spectre by whom he had so lately been haunted in his dream.
