Mistress Rose fell silent for a moment. She was sitting in a seat by the window, her soul seemingly wearied by roaming the bedchambers of those secret houses. Then she slowly began to speak again: “These palaces—I did not wish to be among their inhabitants. They are graves: I did not wish to be buried alive among these sepulchres. These people—I have been emancipated from their customs. The yoke of their society has been lifted from me. These are the married people who are wedded in body yet loathe each other in spirit. Nothing will intercede for them before God save their own ignorance of the law of God. I do not condemn them now; rather, I pity them. I do not hate them; rather, I hate their thoughtless submission to hypocrisy, falsehood, and evil. I do not tell you the secrets of their hearts and of their lives because I like gossip and slander. Rather, I do this to show you the truth about a people. Only yesterday I was no different than them, yet I was saved. I am explaining to you the way of life of a people who say every sort of wicked thing about me because I sacrificed their friendship to gain my own soul. I left the dark paths of their duplicity and turned my eyes toward the light where there is salvation, truth, and justice. They have exiled me now from their society, yet I am content. Mankind only exiles the one whose large spirit rebels against injustice and tyranny. He who does not prefer exile to servility is not free in the true and necessary sense of freedom. Yesterday I was like an inviting table, and Rasheed Bey would come to me whenever he felt a need to taste of it, but our souls remained far apart like two lowly servants. When I comprehended this knowledge, I hated the servitude. Though I tried to submit to what they call ‘my lot,’ I could not. My spirit refused to spend all of life bowing before a fearful idol raised by dark generations of the past, an idol which they made law. So I broke my bonds, but I did not cast them away until I heard love calling and saw my soul prepared for a journey.