Mahmoud fell to the ground.
He tore his hair and pulled out his beard.
“Woe is me, I cannot!”
“She is dead?” queried the Mahdi.
“Indeed it is true. Inshallah!”
Mahmoud then admitted that he was jealous of Max, and after throwing him into the river, Lalla had refused to be comforted, had called him a murderer, and refused to allow him to approach her. Then it was that in his anger he ordered her to be drowned.
Max told of the brutal way in which Mahmoud acted.
The Mahdi called the pashas and beys together, and in the presence of a great concourse of citizens, said:
“One of your number, Mahmoud Achmet, has at times made away with such of his wives that displeased him. Now, therefore, to prove to you how abhorrent such a thing is, it is my order that Mahmoud Achmet be taken from here in the sack which he has provided for others, and that he be thrown into the Nile.”
“Mercy!” cried the wealthy man—“mercy! I will give you wealth.”