decided to tell my mother of this matter... I called her to my room and locked the door, and without preliminaries I gave her a firm look and said:

— No agitation, if you please, and I beg you to keep your calm: my brother has married a Frenchwoman.

My mother did keep her calm — not because she was anxious to do as I asked, but because astonishment tied her tongue. She stared at me open-mouthed, then collected herself and said:

— There is no power and no strength save in God. And when did this happen?

— Some time ago. And please do not let my father know until you have prepared the way for the news, so that it does not take him by surprise.

— You know, my son, that I want

nothing but the happiness of you and your brother; your sister is no longer in my charge now... But do you think this Frenchwoman will make him happy?

— If he did not believe so, he would not have married her; and he is grown, and knows where his interest lies.

— May God send good, my son. Please leave the telling of your father to me; I know his ways.

— Be careful, Mother, for I am under a responsibility now: I told you only after long hesitation, for my brother wanted to leave the matter until he came and arranged things himself with Father.

— No; what you did is exactly right. To smooth the way before he comes is the sounder course.

Then my mother left me, and I came back to myself. I was like one unable to move; my thoughts were

disordered and unarranged: my brother... and Samia... and now my father, and all that would follow upon his learning of it... I felt my head like a spinning whirlpool, so I decided to read... but I could not follow the lines, so I stretched out on the chaise longue and sank into a deep sleep.

September 21

What a look there was on her face when I told her that it is I who love her, not my brother! She stared at me a long while and then said: I know that; I have noticed it since winter, and this summer I became entirely sure of it.

She is nearly driving me mad, this child... this cunning creature... How could she make me believe she knew nothing? Was it her conscience that would not let her accept my love? And was that because I am Ahmad's brother?