A look of resentment and indignation crept into his eyes. “Wait,” she said, “don’t look at me like that. Listen to the rest of it. He is a man of means in every sense of the word. At the time he was a student, but even then he had considerable means and prestige.”

He looked at her with increasing interest but somewhat distantly.

“He loved me. I was a beautiful, lost girl. He kept me secretly, in a golden cage.”

“He married you?”

“Yes. I still have the marriage certificate.”

“He divorced you?”

She sighed, “I ran away.”

“You ran away?”

“I ran away after some years. I was pregnant. I ran away with a man from the gutter.”

“Unbelievable,” he muttered, shaking his head.

“Now you are going to blame me for your problem.”

“I’m not blaming you for anything. But didn’t he look for you?”

“I don’t know. I ran away to Alexandria and never heard any more about him. Many times I expected to see him in one of my establishments, but I never set eyes on him again.”

He laughed coldly and said, “And thirty years later you send me to look for him.”

“Despair drives us to do even stranger things. You’ll have the marriage certificate to help you. Also the wedding photograph. You’ll see the striking resemblance.”

“Strange that you kept the certificate and photograph.”

“I was thinking of the picture. I was a poor girl living with a hustler, and when I became successful my intentions of avenging you were realized.”

“And yet you never got rid of the rest of your memories.”

She wiped her face and neck impatiently and said, “I intended to many times but changed my mind, as though I had a premonition of what would happen.”

He paced back and forth, then stopped in front of her bed. “What if after all my efforts he denies me?”

“Who can deny you after seeing the photograph?”

“Cairo is a big city, and I’ve never been there before.”

“Who says he’s in Cairo? He might be in Alexandria, Assiut, or Damanhour. I have no idea. Where is he today? What is he doing? Is he married or single? God only knows.”

He waved his arm angrily. “And how am I supposed to find him?”

“I know it won’t be easy. But it’s also not impossible. You know some police officers and lawyers. No prominent personality is unknown in Cairo.”

“I’m afraid that my money might run out before I find him.”

“That is why you must start at once.”

He thought for a moment, then asked, “Is he worth all that effort?”

“Without the least doubt. You will find the life you want with him. You won’t suffer the indignities of work or be forced to lead a life of crime.”

“And if I find him poor? Weren’t you extremely rich?”