— The teacher said we have to buy a new history book, for three liras. Salim shouted at her: — Every day a new book! Every day, "hand over money"!

Asma fell silent and shrank into another corner of the room, as if the fault were hers when the teacher asked them for a new book. Salim reproached himself for failing to curb his nerves, then said in a gentler tone than before, in which weariness and sorrow showed: — Put out the supper.

Then he went out to the terrace shared between them and the other tenants of the house and stretched out on a chair whose seat was broken through. Wherever he goes they say to him, "We have no need of workers," or they say, "Give us your address, and if we need you we'll send you word" — and time passes and Salim receives no word. Now his last hope has vanished; where is he to go? He once complained of his situation to the priest, who answered that he must hold fast to patience, and that their condition was better than that of many others, since his sister was a seamstress... But how long is he to be patient? Two years of his life have gone by, spent bewildered and anxious of mind; he sees himself a strong young man with health and brains and zeal for work, yet unable to do anything, condemned to live in scantness and want.

What is to be done, then? His head is about to burst! And here he is thinking of Thurayya — one of the loveliest girls of the quarter, with many suitors... He pictured himself asking for her hand in this state of poverty, and he nearly laughed out loud, mocking himself, while his heart was torn with anguish and grief.

Then there returned to his mind an idea that had been troubling him for many days, one he had always refused and pushed away from him, but it kept coming back insistently: there, not far from their house, lives the merchant Said al-Azraq, who made vast

sums in the cloth trade during the war days. Every night he stakes thousands of liras at the gaming table, and he still lives in his old house because of its cheap rent — a ground floor surrounded by a small garden guarded by a low wall; robbing it would therefore be easy — possible without the thief being caught... And what would it matter to Said al-Azraq if he lost a few hundred liras out of his pocket? Salim remembers what he used to hear about incidents of theft: with a stick with a nail in its head they pull the garment through the window and take whatever money is in it.

Before him on the terrace there

is a stick with a nail in it, used to hold the clothesline taut. Just then his mother opened the terrace door: — Come and have your supper.

Supper was a plate of boiled pota-toes and a single egg. Salim will not ask his mother why all their food is boiled, because he knows the oil and the samn ran out more than a month ago and the grocer gives nothing on credit. And potatoes are the cheapest thing in the market, so they eat them most days. Salim took a potato, and his mother said to him: — Take the egg. — I don't like eggs. You take it. — No; eggs disagree with me.

Elegance for All — Tootal Robia

Elegance for All

Robia is one of the Tootal products whose fame has spread throughout the world.

It is made of soft cotton that does not irritate the body; it is not liable to shrinking, and it is not affected in the least by washing or wear.

All Tootal Robia products are guaranteed and worthy of the confidence of you all.

To be sure, insist that the words Robia and Tootal appear on the cloth, for the words Robia and Tootal are registered trademarks.

TOOTAL REGD

GUARANTEED FABRICS

The words 'TOOTAL' and 'ROBIA' are Registered Trade Marks