It was obvious she wanted everything out in the open, and what that meant was also obvious. Was he then at her mercy already? Would circumstances compel him to accept things that were not in his plan? Would the powers of destruction besiege him and shatter for good his solitary, sacred, unattainable dream? Through his fearful thoughts he challenged the unknown and threatened it with murder. But then he felt ashamed of his thoughts as he noticed the gazellelike figure prancing merrily along beside him, her arm in his, while the clouds moving through the sky above the gardens seemed to give a benison to her joy. He soon calmed down and buried his misgivings. He made peace with his importunate ambitions so that he might melt away into the glow of enchantment and swallow down the taste of hellfire burning inside him. He felt his elbow touch her supple body and receive from its youthful and untrodden territories vibrations of magic. He looked carefully around with a stealthy and guilty look, then kissed her cheek and her neck. Their lips met. He said in a voice which he did not recognize, “You’re adorable, Onsiyya.”

She smiled coyly and happily.

“I wish,” he murmured passionately, “I wish I could…” and then he fell silent, breathing audibly.

“Yes?” she said.

“It’s as if I’d known you since eternity.”

She smiled contentedly, though her eyes asked for more.

“How beautiful the place is!” he said. “Everything is so unspeakably beautiful.”

“You love nature!”

Her remark struck him as strange and ironic, seeing that the reality of his life was so different.

“It’s you who have made everything beautiful.”

“Don’t exaggerate! Would you mind if I told you something?”

“Not at all!”

“You don’t seem to be interested in anything.”

“Really? And do you believe that?”

“I don’t know. But I feel you’re a man of riddles just as I feel you’re a good man.”

“All this is nonsense! There’s only one universally acknowledged truth: that you’re charming.”

“And so?”

“What’s between us must remain forever, whatever happens in the future.”

“In the future?”

“Didn’t you learn something unpleasant from my service file?”

“Nothing at all.”

“You’re the most beautiful thing in my life.”

“And you too,” she said in a quiet voice of surrender.

He kissed her cheek again as he passionately squeezed her hand.

“I’m torn between what I want and what I am able to do.”

“Is there something that you wish for and cannot do?”

“Life is full of unattainable wishes.”

“Tell me about what concerns me!”

She was right. His mouth was still moist from kissing her and his elbow still touched her soft sweet body as they paced in front of the elephant which saluted them by lifting its trunk.

“Let our relationship remain a secret!”

“Why?”

“So that nobody may think badly of us.”

“And why should anybody do so?”