He told her that he had no experience in that field. He was amazed at mankind’s power of self-deception, more powerful than the atom itself. She told him stories about the stars, and he had no idea of where she got them from; this was all to convince him that she was worthy of the bright lights and that it was a question of luck—no more and no less!

“You should be looking for a producer’s or director’s flat,” he told her with a laugh, “so that you can share it with him!”

Since the nights were so long and he refused to go to bed before dawn, she taught him various kinds of card games. She gambled with him a great deal and won some money from him, but this was the only money from him that she ever put in her pocket.

Once it occurred to him to ask her what she knew about politics, which had swallowed him as a hero and then spat him out as a corpse. So he asked her about some names and events, but she shrugged her shoulders and did not bother to answer. He was amazed that there could be a human being in existence who did not care about the world of politics. “What do you know about the constitution?” he asked mockingly.

Her eyes showed no signs of understanding.

“What are your views on independence?” he continued.

Her look did not change.

“I mean the departure of the English,” he said by way of explanation.

“Oh!” she shouted. “Let them go if you want them to. But I’ve heard a lot about how good things were in their day. My mistress, the café proprietress, opened her café on their money!”

For her, he thought, real independence meant being rid of the need for me and others like me.

She opened her heart to him and told him about her past with an unusual frankness. “I have a mother, aunt, and sisters,” she said. “The only male relative I have left is an uncle in his nineties. So I don’t expect to be killed for honor’s sake.” She had been a devil since she was young. Her father had died when she was ten, and her mother had been unable to control or discipline her. She could not keep her daughter away from the boys and no amount of scolding or beating was of any use. “I loved a boy before I had even reached maturity and became proverbial in the village for that reason…” Then the inevitable thing had happened. “My mother hit me, then slapped her own cheeks until she fell to the ground as if she were dead.” She had run away with the boy to Alexandria where he was going to finish his education. He got rid of her after a few months and she had found herself alone. It was then that she had begun this life.