“What!” said I. “You’re joking!”
“Not at all,” said Perolli, indignantly. “Do you think marriage is a thing to joke about?”
“But I never know what you mean,” I complained. “And why should anyone want to marry me, here?”
“You needn’t take it as a compliment to your personal charm, if that’s what you mean,” said Perolli, coldly. “It’s really your short hair. But I can get twenty thousand kronen for you, if you want to marry and stay here.”
“Twenty thousand kronen!” said I. “Two thousand dollars? For me? Here? But for Heaven’s sake, why? You don’t mean anyone thinks me beautiful, among all these Albanian women?” said I, indignantly.
“Of course not,” said Perolli.
“And I can’t even talk their language. What do you mean, twenty thousand kronen? And what has short hair to do with it? Don’t be so annoying, Perolli. What do you mean?”
“Well,” said Perolli, “Lulash would like to have an American wife. I don’t mean he put it to me so crudely as that. He didn’t actually put it to me at all, in fact. But I know that he will give twenty thousand kronen for you, and you can stay here and make over the whole life of Shala, if you like.”
“But why me? Why not Frances, or Alex?”
“Because you are all a long way past marrying age, in Albania, and their hair is long, so naturally these people think they are already married. But your hair is short, so they think you are a sworn virgin. In these mountains, when a girl is old enough to marry and absolutely refuses to marry the man to whom she has been promised, she may escape the marriage by swearing before the chiefs of the two tribes an oath of life-long virginity, and she cuts her hair and takes a man’s place in the tribe. Naturally, when they see you, at your age, with short hair, they think that is what you did. If you were an Albanian no one would dream of marrying you, for the man to whom your parents gave you would have to kill your husband to clear his honor, and all the chiefs before whom you had sworn would be bound in honor to see that your husband was killed. But America is a long way off; that man and the chiefs would hardly come so far after you, especially as your customs are so different. Besides, I think Lulash would take the chance, anyhow. He really very much wants a woman to help him with the people, and he will not marry a mountain woman.”