"Call to-morrow morning," he is told, for he has not the air of a purchaser, and he takes his departure meekly.
A creaky voice here breaks in from round the corner—
"Hast thou not a copper for the sake of the Lord?"
"No, O my brother."
After a few minutes another female comes on the scene, exhibiting enough of her face to show that it is a mass of sores.
"Only a trifle, in the name of my lord Idrees," she cries, and turns away on being told, "God bring it!"
Then comes a policeman, a makházni, who seats himself amid a shower of salutations—
"Hast thou any more of those selháms" (hooded cloaks)?
"Come on the morrow, and thou shalt see."
The explanation of this answer given by the[page 117] "merchant" is that he sees such folk only mean to bother him for nothing.