in another room. In that there was an insult to her, for he had not merely dismissed her as a housewife but had cast her off as a wife.

— "He did that when he sensed the coming of the little girl — and that meant an increase in expenses. My thinking led me to believe that he no longer wanted me as a wife: otherwise, why this coldness, if he still loved me? I grew angry, and made no attempt to understand the situation, at the very time when I was in the greatest need of discussing it with him, instead of taking the negative side of the matter."

I encouraged Layla to go on corresponding with her husband, and I kept up my own corre-spondence with him as well, and I felt a tangible progress. Seven weeks passed after the incident before he came to see me. He was of medium height, good-looking, of composed bearing, and it appeared to me that he had made

an extreme effort in his struggle to bring himself to meet me. But he was at ease once he opened the conversation, saying: "Layla has told me about her dealings with you. What I have not understood is that you directed your attention to her faults alone, when I was the one at fault in leaving my home."

— "That is true; but you did not leave the house of your own free will, for you have loved no one but her. You said in your letter that you no longer had the strength to be away from home; a feeling like that moves her to face her faults and mend them. Nothing need have kept you from talking it over with her, for husband and wife take their stand to declare their faults, not to conceal them."

— "I have been at fault in several situations, and before now I never admitted my faults; but ever since Layla began to show her own points of weakness, I have felt it my duty to face this myself."

— "Then tell me: what was going through your mind at the hour you came to me?"

He fell silent a moment, then went on:

— "You want me to go back to the house, and I want that; only I cannot — I feel a paralysis when I think of returning."

— "Can you not make out what stands in the way of your going back?"

— "I think my pride holds me back. I have not faced her family, and I do not like to meet them, or any of the neighbors who learned that I left the house. I burn to see my children — but what shall I say to them if they ask the reason for my absence? I cannot master my feelings."

— "Listen, Jamil. In this situation you need Layla's help, and she will hold out her hand to you if she wants you back. The important thing is that you want to return — are you sure of that?"

— "Completely sure. I have been miserable ever since I left Layla. Tell her that yourself."

I did not think that Jamil's return home would solve the problem at bottom, and I wanted to learn more about him so