as with women, bold of speech and free of manner, going and coming as
it pleased them best. They knew much of the world, managed their own
affairs, and devised their own marriages, often changing their minds
and marrying another than the betrothed."

"Bismillah! And men could love these things?" exclaimed Lev-el-Hedyd
with much feeling.

"So it appears."

"But I should say the Mehrikan bride had much the freshness of a dried
fig."

"So she had," said Nofuhl; "but those who know only the dried fig have
no regret for the fresh fruit. But the fault was not with the maidens.
Brought up like boys, with the same studies and mental development,
the womanly part of their nature gradually vanished as their minds
expanded. Vigor of intellect was the object of a woman's education."

Then Lev-el-Hedyd exclaimed with great disgust:

"Praises be to Allah for his aid in exterminating such a people!" and
he walked away from the bed, and began looking about the chamber. In a
moment he hastened back to us, saying:

"Here are more jewels! also money!"

Nofuhl eagerly took the pieces.

"Money!" he cried. "Money will tell us more than pages of history!"