"I come to you only as what I am: a heart-broken man, too young to give
myself over for lost, and at the same time determined to make use of all
that remains to me of the steadfast will, the talents, and the self-
respect of my forefathers to render me worthy of them, and I implore you
to grant me a brief interview. Not a word, not a look shall betray the
passion within and which threatens to destroy me.

"You must on no account fail to read what follows, since it is of no
small real importance even to you. In the first place restitution must
be made to you of all of your inheritance which the deceased was able to
rescue and to add to by his fatherly stewardship. In these agitated
times it will be a matter of some difficulty to invest this capital
safely and to good advantage. Consider: just as the Arabs drove out
the Byzantines, the Byzantines might drive them out again in their turn.
The Persians, though stricken to the earth, the Avars, or some other
people whose very name is as yet unknown to history, may succeed our
present rulers, who, only ten years since, were regarded as a mere
handful of unsettled camel-drivers, caravan-leaders, and poverty-stricken
desert-tribes. The safety of your fortune would be less difficult to
provide for if, as was formerly the case here, we could entrust it to the
merchants of Alexandria. But one great house after another is being
ruined there, and all security is at an end. As to hiding or burying
your possessions, as most Egyptians do in these hard times, it is
impossible, for the same reason as prevents our depositing it on interest
in the state land-register. You must be able to get it at the shortest
notice; since you might at some time wish to quit Egypt in haste with all
your possessions.

"These are matters with which a woman cannot be familiar. I would