“What do we do then?” he asked sharply.

“Everything is fine,” she said calmly. “Last night I dreamed of my mother.”

“I shall absolutely despair of you.”

“That’s all I want you to do.”

He watched her as she gradually dissolved into her own world of illusions, keeping out of his way. He felt somewhat relieved, for in this way he was able to regain his solitude. And he decided, with an uneasy conscience, that this time he would let her go to pieces without opposition on his part. Addressing himself to God, he said, “Forgive me my thoughts, O God! They are part of life and therefore cruel like it.”

While he was on fire with these thoughts, Radiya Abd al-Khaliq was appointed his secretary. The Head of the Personnel Office had asked him to choose a suitable secretary for himself.

“It’s your right to choose your own secretary,” he said. “You may even appoint a relative of yours, somebody you trust.” Did the man really know nothing about his origins? Throughout his long service he had known the ingenuity of employees in digging up the most hidden secrets. It was certain that his “donkey cart” origins were no secret to anybody anymore.

“I leave the choice to you.”

“You really are a model of propriety, sir,” the Personnel Head flattered him.

On the following morning a young woman introduced herself to him.

“Radiya Abd al-Khaliq, Your Excellency’s new secretary if you will be so kind as to approve the appointment.”

“How do you do,” he said, feeling gratified. “Which section do you come from?”

“Personnel.”

“Fine, and what are your qualifications?”

“A B.A. in history.”

He nearly asked her about her age, but he checked himself. He put her at about twenty-five. She had a remarkably good figure and her coal-dark hair flowed on either side of her long, brown face, enveloping it like a halo. Her eyes were small, clear, intelligent, and attractively bright. She had protruding incisors, sometimes considered a defect, but in her case they made her face even more attractive. Her prettiness excited him and he privately cursed the Personnel Head for his happy choice. “In this inferno of mine how I need a place of refuge!” he thought.

From the first look he took to her, perhaps driven by a secret desire for protection. And as days went by his affection for her grew even stronger, particularly when he knew that she was an orphan who lived with a spinster aunt. His inner dreams and desires were no secret to himself, but he was in no frame of mind to consider, even to consider, committing a folly.

“It’s enough that I can see her face every morning,” he said to himself.