"
"Speak, light of the morning and blessing of thy mother's soul," he said,
and crowded into his mouth a roll of meat and cucumber. "Against thy
feddan shall be set my date-tree; it hath been so ever."
"Listen then, and by the stone of the Kaabah, keep the faith which has
been throe and mine since my mother, dying, gave me to thy mother, whose
milk gave me health and, in my youth, beauty--and, in my youth, beauty!"
Suddenly she buried her face in her veil, and her body shook with sobs
which had no voice. Presently she continued: "Listen, and by Abraham and
Christ and all the Prophets, and by Mahomet the true revealer, give me
thine aid. When Harrik gave his life to the lions, I fled to her whom I
had loved in the house of Kaid--Laka the Syrian, afterwards the wife of
Achmet Pasha. By Harrik's death I was free--no more a slave. Once Laka
had been the joy of Achmet's heart, but, because she had no child, she
was despised and forgotten. Was it not meet I should fly to her whose
sorrow would hide my loneliness? And so it was--I was hidden in the harem
of Achmet.
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