‘We haven’t much time. The sun is setting and we must pray. If it is a child you want, we will give you an amulet to wear when you are being intimate with your man. If Allah is pleased, your womb will fill again and again.’

Shunno blushed. She nearly fifty and children! How far this young man of God was from worldly things! Perhaps he did not know the first thing about sex. Such were the pure in heart!

‘Peer Sahib, my man was summoned by the Great Guru thirty years ago,’ she explained. ‘I do not want to child. My troubles are of a different sort.’ She drew her veil across her face and hurriedly whispered her ailment to the holy man. ‘You are the only one who can cure me. I have no faith in English-trained doctors, nor in hakims or vaids. If you make me well, I will give you all you want. I will give marble for the headstone of the tomb of your great one.’

Peer Sahib pondered in silence.

‘Daughter, this will need careful examination. Would you not rather see a lady doctor?’

‘You are the knower of all secrets; what is it that I can hide from you? I have no fear.’

‘Then wait till we have finished our evening prayer.’

The Peer Sahib bolted the door of the courtyard. He washed himself once more and faced west towards Mecca. He put his hands to his ears, turned his face to the heavens, and in his rich mellifluent voice beckoned the faithful to prayer. His voice floated across space with no one to hear it, for habitation was a long way off. Peer Sahib himself hearkened to his call and proceeded to whisper his prayer and go through the series of genuflections. He sat on his shins with his palms open as if he were reading them like an open book. He turned his face to the right and blessed those on his right side. He turned his face to the left and blessed the rest. He rubbed his face with his palms and stood up still praising Allah. The short twilight gave way to the night. The sparrows on the jujube tree were silent. Only the dogs barked in the distance.

Peer Sahib brought an earthenware lamp from his room, lit it, and placed it in the niche in the headstone of the tomb. He whispered yet another prayer for the peace of the departed soul, again holding his hands in front of him like an open book. He went back and brought another oil lamp. ‘Daughter, let us see your trouble,’ he said holding the lamp up to his shoulder.

‘Here? In the open?’

‘The door of the courtyard is shut. No one comes here after sunset.’

‘If you look away, I can take my clothes off.’