"Would vengeance keep him away from me all these weeks? It's more than vengeance. It's love. Love for some other girl."
Rayma clutched at the woman with slim, jewelled hands.
"Tell me, Sara, you come and go at will through the palace. Is there one?"
"My pearl, if there was one, wouldn't she be here in the harem?" Sara answered diplomatically.
"Yes, and so she would," Rayma replied more quietly. "And I could measure my beauty against hers."
Then she started rocking herself to and fro, in an agony of grief.
"Did he but come, my love, my Lord Casim, his heart would be mine again," she sobbed.
Then she stopped wailing suddenly, and faced the old woman anxiously.
"Sara, tell me quickly, have these weeks of weeping made me less beautiful?"
However, she did not wait for any reply.