“Try her, and if she succeeds, I will reward you as if you had done everything.”

“You’re mean, Mr. Bayyumi,” she said laughingly.

“That’s unjustly said, woman. I give you my word.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“I don’t care if she has been married before. Let her be a widow…a divorcée…a spinster. Good looks don’t matter as long as she is acceptable; and she doesn’t have to be young or wealthy either.”

The woman shook her head in bewilderment as he went on: “As for my origins, you can say that my father was a merchant, for example. Do they look into these things to check up?”

“Yes, they do. God bless your parents’ souls!”

“Anyway, my person may intercede for me. Just let’s try!”

Days went by tiresomely as he waited. And every time he went to Omm Husni, she told him to be patient. His imagination brooded on the reasons for the delay and his spirits were plunged in gloom. He began to frequent the shrine of al-Husayn.

During that period it happened that the Director of Administration, Hamza al-Suwayfi, was confined to bed for some time with high blood pressure. The general situation was critical because the administration was about to start drawing up the new budget. Othman visited the man on his bed of sickness and sat by him for long hours. He showed such sorrow and sympathy that the man sang his praises and prayed that God might protect him against the days of evil. As he sat there, Othman remembered how he had not visited Sa‘fan Basyuni and had heard nothing about him as if he had been dead. He said to Hamza al-Suwayfi, “You must rest completely and stay in bed until you’re fully recovered. Have no worries about work. My colleagues and I are at your service.”

The man thanked him and mumbled anxiously, “The budget draft!”

“It will be done,” he answered him confidently. “They’re all your pupils and their work under your direction has taught them how to go about it.”