Nazik said, glancing about her with looks full of rancor: No, not because of my age — but my family, may they go to the devil. I have an invalid father, a wicked brother who spends nine months of every year in prison, and a fat mother whose bulk fills the entrance of Souq al-Hamidiyeh.

And she laughed carelessly.

Suad said: I see no reason for your father's withholding consent to your marriage.

— In fact there is no reason for it, except that she spent everything we had saved on my father's illness and my brother's misdeeds. A short while ago my brother came out of prison, and the first word out of his mouth was to demand that I ask my fiancé to pay three thousand Syrian liras, the advance portion of the dowry.

— And what did you do when your brother demanded that of you? And what was your fiancé's answer?

— I knew his answer in advance. It so happened that my fiancé had bought a farm tractor a few days before my brother came out of prison, and it used up all the money he had saved. He asked for a delay of six months so that he could pay; and the moment my brother heard that, he flew into a rage and rained blows upon me. That happened last night, and I fled today while he was asleep. I thought I would find a house where I could work as a maid.

Not long afterward the telephone rang in Suad's house. She took up the receiver and heard the gendarmerie officer say: Please keep the girl in your house until tomorrow morning.

— Have there been developments in the village?

— Her family do not believe that she ran away alone; they are convinced she ran away with

her fiancé. Her fiancé must be searching for her in Damascus at this moment. Poor fellow. He will come back to the village tonight and we will tell him what happened. I will telephone you again tomorrow morning. Suad turned to Nazik and said to her:

— You will sleep at my house tonight, and tomorrow we shall see what we can do for you.

The next morning a woman of middle years knocked at the door of Suad's house, accompanied by a young man of good appearance. She greeted Suad and said that she was Nazik's mother, come with her daughter's fiancé. Suad left them in the sitting room and went to fetch Nazik, who refused to meet her mother and was stubborn about it.

Nazik said, in a voice all but choked with tears: And why must I see her? She has come to take me back to the village, where they will rain blows upon me. I will not go back with her. Please keep me in your house, and I promise to serve you with my very eyes. I can sweep the floors and mop them and wash the dishes; I can also wash the clothes and iron them, and do many other tasks besides the cooking. I will do all these tasks for the rest of my life and expect neither wage nor reward for it. Please help me. Do not let them take me back to the village.

— But your fiancé is here too... Do you not wish to see him?

Hardly had Nazik heard this than her face lit up and she said hastily: Where is he?

A few minutes had not passed before Nazik and her fiancé came into the sitting room, both smiling the smile of a happy child. The mother planted a kiss on her daughter's face and then pinched her nose. After drinking a cup of coffee, she asked leave

to return with her daughter to the village. But Nazik refused, saying: I would rather stay in this house as a servant than go back to my former prison.

Her mother was at a loss, and she looked at Suad with an expression that said: I appeal to you for help.

The mother said: I have no authority over my daughter. And she began to weep, saying: If the matter were in my hands, I would not take her back to the village before she married him, and I swear I will not charge him a single piaster.

The telephone rang, breaking in on Suad's quiet reflection, and her hand reached for the receiver. The caller was the officer of the gendarmerie post in Nazik's village, who wanted to know whether Nazik's mother and fiancé had reached Suad's house. Suad reassured him that they had arrived, and asked him whether it would be wise to allow the girl to return to the village.

The officer answered: Yes, there is nothing to fear in her returning.

— But Nazik refuses to return so long as her brother is in the house. What is to be done?

— Tell her that men of the military police arrived in the village after her mother left, and notified him that he must report at once to the general recruiting headquarters to perform his mil-itary service. Two years in the Syrian army will discipline him, no doubt of it, and make a good citizen of him.

Suad said: Thank you.

— Thank you, khanum. And the officer rang off.