“People would.”

“There’s nothing bad between us.”

“But that’s what people are like, my dear.”

She laughed lightheartedly and asked, “Did you ask me to go out with you, sir, in order to preach to me?”

“I asked you because I wanted us to get to know each other and because I wanted to make sure my heart was right.”

“And what did you find out?”

“I have become certain that the heart is the best guide!”

All the way back he was wondering why he had not revealed his love to her in direct terms. Why did he not ask her hand? Even supposing she would turn his life upside down and make him face a new direction at the altar of life, was she not more capable of making him happy than the polestar?

TWENTY-FOUR

Asila Hijazi, the headmistress, came again on the pretext of asking whether his good offices had succeeded—or so Omm Husni told him when she invited him to come down to her flat. He was staggering under the weight of his usual cares in addition to the new love which intensified the conflict inside his mind to the point of madness. Thus he welcomed the visit of Asila Hijazi in the hope of escaping from himself. Even if that meant committing a folly that would cost him nothing. He needed a way out and Qadriyya was not available every day. He shook hands with the headmistress and sat down, saying, “Your problem is moving toward a solution.”

Soon her physical charms, emphasized by her flower-spotted dress, began to chant their infernal song. She looked at him affably and asked, “Will I have to wait long?”

Omm Husni thought she would go and make the coffee and he was seized with an insane determination to settle the matter there and then and strike an unexpected blow regardless of consequences.

“No, you won’t have to wait for long.”

“I’m really grateful.”

“In fact, everything depends on the strength of your nerves.”

“It seems I will have to wait for some time?”

“Allow me to express my admiration!” He said this in a completely different tone as if to introduce an entirely new subject. She blushed and lowered her eyes.

“I really admire you,” he went on, “as a man admires a woman. You understand what I mean.”

She did not utter a word, but she looked happy as though she were about to be admitted to Paradise.

“But we must be careful. I must tell you something else which I know you might not like.”

She gave him an inquiring glance.

“The idea of marriage is out of the question!” He watched her as she turned into ashes, then added boldly and ruthlessly, “I’ve got a thousand and one reasons, and life, you know, is full of secrets.”

“What makes you tell me that?” she asked weakly.