No diversions were left, other than dancing on the peak of the pyramid, plunging from a bridge into the depths of the Nile, or breakfasting nude at the Hilton. Rome was set aflame by desperate passions, not by Nero. They cause the earth to quake, the volcanoes to erupt.

Warda spoke on the telephone. “I wonder whether you’ve forgotten my voice.”

He answered listlessly, “Hello, Warda.”

“Won’t you visit us even once a year?”

“No, but I’m at your service if you need anything.”

“I’m speaking to you from the heart.”

“The heart,” he scoffed, “is a pump.”

He sought relief from distress by speeding like a madman to the outskirts of Cairo, and further on to Fayum, Tanta, and Alexandria. Often he would leave Cairo in the morning and return the next day, having roamed around all night. He might go into a grocer’s for a drink or doze off briefly at a café, or he might join a funeral procession, honoring some unknown deceased, and when he returned at dawn, overcome by fatigue, he would sleep right in the car or on the banks of the Nile.

He went back to the office one day and found Othman zealously working away.

“Where have you been these past days?” the man asked.

He looked at him disparagingly. “Innumerable places.”

“You must be tired. I wonder what’s going on in your head.”

His distress had freed him of self-consciousness and fear, even in confronting Othman. “I’m thinking of exploding the atom, or murdering if that fails, or committing suicide at the very least.”

Othman laughed. “But your office.”

“You’ve been with me long enough to understand me.”

“Tell me what you plan to do.”

He said decisively, “It’s time to do something I’ve never done before—that is, to do nothing.”

“You must be joking.”

“I’ve never been more serious.”

Omar’s stern expression caused Othman to change his tone. “Have you consulted your doctor?”

“I won’t consult anyone on something of which he’s ignorant.”

An oppressive silence fell. “And you, are you confining your energies to the practice of law?” Omar finally asked.

“Yes, but I haven’t stopped thinking.”

“So, you’ll become once more a menace to the country’s security.”

Othman smiled. “I can’t claim that honor yet.”