“Tell me how it happens that you are here,” he urged.
“I cannot,” she answered, in apparent great confusion. “It is a tale of misfortune. Speak of something else.”
“Are you aware what you are doing?”
“Fully.”
“Do you know that once you have entered the harem of any man who may purchase you there can be no backing out—no escape?”
“I have thought of it all.”
“And you will not be the only wife of the husband who secures you.”
“I know.”
“Still, I cannot understand you. It is utterly unlike one of your blood to do such a thing. There must be a reason for it.”
“Of course there is. Perhaps I have a brother or a friend who is in deep distress and needs money at once. Perhaps I have arranged with the trader that a certain portion of the price paid for me shall be sent at once to this person. Does that not offer an explanation?”