But Barakah thought only of their son.
CHAPTER XXXI
“A splendid victory at Kafr ed-Dowâr! A thousand infidels dispatched to Hell, and not a single blessed martyr gone to Paradise!” cried Umm ed-Dahak, entering her lady’s presence on a summer evening. “Ghandûr has got the news-sheet, and craves leave to read it to thee.”
The lady ordered him to be admitted instantly. Muhammad and his servant Ali were at Kafr ed-Dowâr. Drawing her head-veil so as to leave one eye visible, she listened to the short triumphant notice, which began and ended with “the praise to Allah!”
“The praise to Allah truly!” she suspired. “Not one was killed.”
Ghandûr assured her then, as he had done a score of times, that Muhammad, with the blessing of the Highest, ran no danger. By arrangement with the leaders he was kept at work in the trenched camp, away from fighting. But her anxiety was not allayed, her boy was venturesome and, burning as he was to fight, might break through rules.
Every evening in Arâbi’s journal there was news of some fresh triumph, either at Kafr ed-Dowâr, by Alexandria, or on the banks of the Canal, where the main force of the English was now operating. She heard it said on all hands that the war would soon be over. Yet, though every one abounded in exultant phrases, no single soul appeared exceptionally cheerful; and she herself did not disguise her sorrow. The absence of Muhammad was a constant pain. She gave attention to her little daughter fitfully.
The weather was intensely hot, the town a desert full of dismal noises. So many men had been compelled to join the army, so many beasts of burden had been pressed for transport purposes, that trade was paralysed and traffic almost ceased. When she drove out, the aspect of the streets dismayed her; it was as if the city had been ravaged by a pestilence. The European, Syrian, Armenian quarters were utterly deserted, all the houses closed; and elsewhere there was very little movement. In other summers the harîm had gone into the country, and Barakah would gladly have drawn nearer to the seat of war; but her husband vetoed the proposal instantly, the country districts were unsafe and overrun by brigands. Yûsuf was irritable in those days. He had his bed in the selamlik and seldom could spare time to visit Barakah.