"'And it would be a great sin?'
"'Oh, yes!'
"'So you ate nothing all day, until sunset?'
"'No, nothing.'
"'But you had something to eat after sundown?'
"'Yes.'
"'Well, then, as it is quite dark now, you ought not to be more strict about the rest than you are about your mouth.'
"She seemed irritated, wounded, and offended, and replied with an amount of pride that I had never noticed in her before:—
"'If an Arab girl were to allow herself to be touched by a Roumi during the Ramadan, she would be cursed for ever.'
"'And that is to continue for a whole month?'