Donovan Pasha, and Some People of Egypt — Volume 2 by Gilbert Parker
page 10 of 78 (12%)
page 10 of 78 (12%)
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sewn up like a cat's liver in a pudding, and cast into the Nile before
God gives tomorrow a sun." Dicky pushed away the camel-stew. "It is time to go," he said. The ghdzeeyeh rose with a laugh, caught Dicky by the hand, sprang out among the Arabs, and leapt over the head of the village barber, calling them all "useless, sodden greybeards, with no more blood than a Nile shad, poorer than monkeys, beggars of Beni Hassan!" Taking from her pocket a handful of quarter-piastres, she turned on her heels and tossed them among the Arabs with a contemptuous laugh. Then she and Dicky disappeared into the night. II When Dicky left her house, clothed in his own garments once more, but the stains of henna still on his face and hands and ankles, he pressed into the ghazeeyeh's hand ten gold-pieces. She let them fall to the ground. "Love is love, effendi," she said. "Money do they give me for what is no love. She who gives freely for love takes naught in return but love, by the will of God!" And she laid a hand upon his arm. "There is work to do!" said Dicky; and his hand dropped to where his pistol lay--but not to threaten her. He was thinking of others. "To-morrow," she said; "to-morrow for that, effendi," and her beautiful |
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