She  was'  successful :  all  went  right.  The  Khan  partook  of  her
food  ;  she  sang  and  played  to  him,  and  displayed  the  witchery  of
her  charms.  He  had  never  thought  her  so  lovely ;  she  was  his
wife,  his  own  Kummoo,  once  more  such  as  she.  had  been  when
he  took  her  from  her  home  to  his ;  and  a  bright  field  of  enjoy-
ment was  spread  out  before  them,  wherein  were  flowers  blooming,
and  no  shadow  to  dim  their  brilliancy.  Then  came  new  clothes
and  jewels,  and  money  and  rich  gifts,  and  the  old  woman  partook
of  all,  and  laughed  in  her  heart  that  she,,  and  she  alone,  knew  the
depths  of  the  human  mind,  whose  own  passions  and  not  her
demons  were  working  the  issue  which  she  contemplated.
When  is  it,  however,  that  guilt  is  satisfied  by  one  step  to  gain
an  end  desired?  The  very  progress,  the  watching  the  slow  pro-
cess of  the  machinery  of  the  plot,  only  causes  insatiate  desires
to  accelerate  its  motion,  endless  yearnings  after  the  end ;  fears
and  doubts  Of  success  alternate  with  guilty  terrors,  which  turn
back  again  and  meet  the  desires  for  completion.  Now  that
Kummoo  had  gained  her  purpose,  that  the  Khan  was  her  daily
companion,  that  Ameena,  sick  to  death,  neglected  and  thrown
aside,  mourned  over  her  lost,  happiness,  and  was  regarded  as  one
in  whom  even  devils  abode,  one  whose  fate  it  was  to  linger  for


38o  TIPPOO  SULTAUN.
a  while,  and  then  to  pass  away  from  the  memories  of  men,  even
now  Kummoo  longed  for  her  death,  and  looked  to  it  impatiently.
Once  the  devil  within  her  had  suggested  poison,  but  she  put  that
back  with  a  strenuous  effort.  '  It  cannot  last  long,'  she  thought ;
but  it  did,  for  Ameena  lingered.
