To those who have no wealth.

He said to her in his quavering, breathless voice: What is this? What do I see? And why this anxious withdrawal I find you in?.. Weeping eyes, a bewildered soul, a body holding itself as though choking on aches and pains, and the absent look of weary listlessness. And this paper in your hand? God, what is this? A card? A picture card! I knew it was the picture of that fool, your cousin!!

Woe to you, hand it over. I am certain that it is — isn't that so? Yes, hand it over, hand it over. I have told you again and again: no, and a thousand times no. Leave him, do not think of him at all, and turn away from him entirely. It is out of the question that I should go along with you in this matter. Your cousin!! I take refuge in God Almighty: I absolutely do not want him, and I never will.. Poor — poor as nothingness. How strange, by God!! What would you eat and what would you wear in his house? Would you be content with black bread and clothes

like rags? And that is all he has. Is it enough that he loves you and sings you love in prose and rhyme? What a simpleton you are.. No, this shall not be.. Suitors, God be praised, we have in plenty for your sake. So think of something else and do not stir

my anger. You are my daughter — under-stand this well..

— Father—

— No, hold your tongue; do not cast about for an answer. I am a father, not a son. You have from me the right of upbringing and guidance, and I have from you the right of obedience, so do not be defiant. Throw that picture from your hand. And do not try to persuade me. I am strict and stubborn.

— Father, let me say one word:

— I shout at you and I say no. No...

— Father, one word, only one word.

— Hold your tongue. I say with my whole voice no.. no..

— But Father, I hold that life is the right of every human being; let me have my portion of that right, as it belongs to every human being upon this planet:

— Woe to you: and what right do you mean? Who told you that the women of this world have any right to life?..

— God forgive you, Father. Every human being in the world has his right, be it woman or man. Both are free creatures, each bearing the responsibility of

his freedom.

— Shame on you, unbeliever! Is this what school taught you? Wretched learning! By God, had I known this from the first I would have snatched you out of it with the speed of lightning.. But ah.. the sword has outrun the blame.. Good God — she says she has a right to life!! And that she is a free creature!! And.. and..

— Father, let me make it clear to

you.. Yes, we all have a right to life. We come to it by a definite path in which there is no confusion and upon which there is no dust; and we all love life, and evenings awake in the light of the moon.. God in His glory has given each of us a life for his spirit and for his mind.. And you — had you remained in an isola-tion like the silence of the graves.. you would never have known the pleasures of the life God willed for you.. and so with my mother; and I too have a right to this natural portion, if God makes it easy for me..

— And what do you mean by all this, foolish girl? Do

you want me to accept your cousin's love for you?

— And why not? Is he not my cousin?

— Sakina! But have I not told you that he is a fish whose scales the little pebbles have eaten

away, and in a state of the most abject poverty...

— You are mistaken, Father. He is a gifted man of letters, and that is how men of letters usually are; he is not like the destitute. Is that not enough!.. What would you have my cousin be? A millionaire, or a monopolist? Or a great man of money? Look at him, and compare him with your son, and think the matter over well. Does your son live better than he does? Or have the great heaps of money in your strongbox won you and your son such esteem and standing in the assemblies and the societies as my cousin enjoys! And then, what personal difference is there between me and him — other than the difference by which he surpasses me, since he is a gifted man of letters, as I have said, and fame and renown all but crown his name, while I possess nothing, nothing at all, of all that. And if your son boasts of the breadth of his estates.. he, for his part,

glows with joy at his comprehension of life and of life's capacities, and of the ways of judging it under every kind of circumstance, on the widest scale..

— Do not be defiant, little one, and do not give anger room in my breast. I say that he is poor — that is,