“Let her be taken into the house,” said the Sheikhel-beled. Turning to the holy men, he added: “Ye and the Inglesi shall hear.”
When they were within the house, the woman was brought in and stood before them.
“Speak,” said the Sheikh-el-beled to her roughly. She kept her eyes fixed on Dicky as she spoke: “For the thing I have done I shall answer. I had no joy in the harem. I gave no child to my lord, though often I put my tongue to the sacred pillar of porphyry in the Mosque of Amrar. My lord’s love went from me. I was placed beneath another in the harem.... Was it well? Did I not love my lord? was the sin mine that no child was born to him? It is written that a woman’s prayers are of no avail, that her lord must save her at the last, if she hath a soul to be saved.... Was the love of my lord mine?” She paused, caught a corner of her robe and covered her face.
“Speak on, O woman of many sorrows,” said Dicky. She partly uncovered her face, and spoke again: “In the long night, when he came not and I was lonely and I cried aloud, and only the jackals beyond my window answered, I thought and thought. My brain was wild, and at last I said: ‘Behold, I will go to Mecca as the men go, and when the fire rises from the Prophet’s tomb, bringing blessing and life to all, it may be that I shall have peace, and win heaven as men win it. For behold! what is my body but a man’s body, for it beareth no child. And what is my soul but a man’s soul, that dares to do this thing!’...”
“Thou art a blasphemer,” broke in the chief of the Ulema.
She gave no heed, but with her eyes on Dicky continued:
“So I stole forth in the night with an old slave, who was my father’s slave, and together we went to Cairo.... Behold, I have done all that Dervishes do: I have cut myself with knives, I have walked the desert alone, I have lain beneath the feet of the Sheikh’s horse when he makes his ride over the bodies of the faithful, I have done all that a woman may do and all that a man may do, for the love I bore my lord. Now judge me as ye will, for I may do no more.”
When she had finished, Dicky turned to the Sheikhel-beled and said: “She is mad. Behold, Allah hath taken her wits! She is no more than a wild bird in the wilderness.”
It was his one way to save her; for among her people the mad, the blind, and the idiot are reputed highly favoured of God.
The Sheikh-el-beled shook his head. “She is a blasphemer. Her words are as the words of one who holds the sacred sword and speaks from the high pulpit,” he said sternly; and his dry lean face hungered like a wolf’s for the blood of the woman.