"My usual practice, on arriving at any town, was to endeavour to learn
if Balty Mahu had passed through it; if so, when and in what direction;
and to get the information, if possible, without seeming to seek it. On
one of these occasions, I heard from a party of merchants that the Omrah
Addaway, whose health had been declining for some time, had gone to
Benares, for the benefit of medical advice; that his disease, however,
had become more serious; and that it was generally thought it would soon
occasion his death. What a train of new thoughts, hopes, and desires,
did this intelligence excite in me! At first, influenced by the custom
of my country, which prohibits widows from marrying again, I thought
only of the pleasure of Veenah's society, which I should, of course, be
permitted to enjoy, when duty no longer forbade it; but my imagination
kindling in its course, I soon pictured her to myself as my wife. The
usages which stood in the way of our union, appeared to me barbarous and
absurd, and I thought that, banishment from my country, with Veenah,
would be infinitely better than any other condition of life without her.
These new-born visions so entirely absorbed me, that Balty Mahu was
entirely forgotten, or remembered only as we think of an insect which
had stung us an hour before. I travelled on at a yet more rapid rate
than I had done; and, without stopping on the road to make inquiries, I
heard enough to satisfy me that the Omrah could not long survive.
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