Luleika and old Kurguz walked through Washington Street
"Ali knew, Luleika knew, yet she married him, because he was rich.
"And I, I worked myself tired and cried myself to sleep. Twice the soul of my mother stayed my hand from murder. Thousands of rings and brooches in silver and gold I have made for men and women, and in them I have engraved all the tortures of my soul and flesh. I have put sapphires and rubies in the eyes of the engraved serpents on the brooches and pale green topazes in the mouths of the carved monsters on the rings I made.
"And every day I took an oath afresh never to see her again.
"Then one day her last words to me rang in my ears: 'I wish he were older.'
"But Kurguz Mehmed got stronger and younger every day now. I saw him pass the street without leaning on his cane.
"Five years later, one morning, Luleika suddenly appeared at the door of my place.
"'That you make for me a brooch, Malouf,' she said, 'a brooch as beautiful as you ever made.'
"I looked at her. My heart grew cold, my mouth burned. Was this the same Luleika? She was still beautiful, but her flesh had lost its firmness, and the corners of her mouth drooped.