Nevertheless, an event of equal significance was destined to prove the
wisdom of the well-known remark concerning thoughts which are
occupying one's intellect and the unexpected appearance of a very
formidable evil spirit; for as she passed along, quickly yet with so
dignified a motion that the moss received no impression beneath her
footsteps, she became aware of a circumstance which caused her to stop
by imparting to her mind two definite and greatly dissimilar emotions.
In a grassy and open space, on the verge of which she stood, lay the
dead bodies of seventeen rebels, all disposed in very degraded
attitudes, which contrasted strongly with the easy and becoming
position adopted by the eighteenth--one who bore the unmistakable
emblems of the Imperial army. In this brave and noble-looking
personage Mian at once saw her preserver, and not doubting that an
inopportune and treacherous death had overtaken him, she ran forward
and raised him in her arms, being well assured that however indiscreet
such an action might appear in the case of an ordinary person, the
most select maiden need not hesitate to perform so honourable a
service in regard to one whose virtues had by that time undoubtedly
placed him among the Three Thousand Pure Ones.
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