Chapters (40)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- INTRODUCTION
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- NOTES
- Naguib Mahfouz
- BOOKS BY NAGUIB MAHFOUZ
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Tears were pouring down her face and she looked like an inexperienced child. Suddenly he felt fear gripping him for some unknown reason. “No doubt you’ve something to say,” he said.
She shut her eyes in despair and pointed to her stomach without saying anything. His heart gave a violent thump, something it had done only during the terrible events that had finished him off. His fear turned to pure anger. Now it was quite clear what the sly little minx was after! “You poisonous little snake!” he yelled at her. “Is this how you pay me back for giving you a home?”
“I didn’t realize it until some time had passed,” she wailed.
“You little devil, are you pretending to be that naïve?”
“No, never,” she replied, “but it happened in spite of all the precautions I took.”
“You liar! Even if I believed you, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was afraid! I was so afraid, I couldn’t!”
“Even devils are afraid of people like you!” he yelled. “What are you waiting for then? When are you going to do something about it?”
“I can still remember a friend of mine,” she pleaded, sobbing as she did so, “who died while doing that…”
“So?” His voice was blocked because he was so angry. “Well then,” he yelled, “reveal your cunning plan! Now, just listen to me.” Then, warning her with his index finger, he said, “Don’t let me see your face from now on, ever again!”
“You haven’t wasted the opportunity to get rid of me now it’s come,” she pleaded, “but at least be kinder than that.”
“From now on,” he yelled like a demon, “I understand you! From now on! Never again.”
SEVENTEEN
Loneliness began to weigh heavily on him. He could no longer bear returning to the flat before late at night. However, his fear of the girl was even greater than all the tortures he was going through. He started wondering whether she was going to create a public scandal. Would he soon be standing in disgrace in front of the public prosecutor? How the newspapers would relish the thought of exposing him! What a wonderful opportunity it would be to expose the others as well, and his entire era! These anxious thoughts preyed on his mind like mosquitoes in a swamp.