Created by Christian Dior

(Presented by the Mun Hayim shops — Beirut)

(Cosi Fan Tutte)

An evening gown of tulle, trimmed with gray velvet and embroidered with gilt metallic thread, which glitters when the light strikes it.

We were gathered with some friends, passing the evening in talk, each of us telling some amusing story she had heard or had witnessed herself, when my companion "A." stood up, raising her hand, her features showing that she wished to tell us a story that had filled her soul. Do you know, my friends, that Waked Sarofim has come back from his long journey — but come back no longer that merry man you used to know? He is now a man of shattered nerves and broken strength; not a trace remains on him of that handsomeness and that charm which set him apart from other men. He keeps company with no one, and stays shut up in his room all the time, passing his days reading books and pruning the flowers in his garden. Listen, and I will tell you what drove this man to become so: on this last journey of mine I happened upon one of my mother's friends and stayed with her some days, and our talk came round to Waked — that young man who left his town long ago and of whom we no longer knew anything. I asked her for news of him, and my friend said to me: Have you not heard of his marriage, and of the calamities it brought upon him? Lend me an attentive ear to what I shall tell you:

We came to know Waked when he arrived in this town of ours. He was an elegant, agreeable young man who loved company and mixed much with the higher class, and so he was the focus of the girls' eyes; for he was by nature generous of character, ready of wit, sweet of speech, and it is no wonder that all the girls inclined toward him and vied to win his favor. Then one day we heard that Waked had become engaged to the daughter of one of the wealthy merchants. We all knew the matter would end in his marrying; but we had never expected Waked to become engaged to this girl