When she heard
them, she gave a loud cry and was greatly moved and exclaimed,
"Alas! Alas! She who said these words is dead!" Then she wept and
said to me, "Out on thee! What kin is she, who spoke thus, to
thee?" "She is the daughter of my father's brother," replied I.
"Thou liest," rejoined she. "By Allah, were she thy cousin, thou
wouldst have loved her even as she loved thee! It is thou who
hast killed her, and may God in like manner kill thee! By Allah,
hadst thou told me thou hadst a cousin, I would not have admitted
thee to my favours!" Quoth I, "Indeed, she is my cousin, and it
was she who interpreted to me thy signs and taught me how to come
at thee and how I should deal with thee; and but for her, I had
never won to thee." "Did she then know of us?" asked she. "Yes,"
answered I; and she exclaimed, "God give thee sorrow of thy
youth, even as thou hast wasted hers!" Then she said to me, "Go
and see after her." So I went away, troubled at heart, and when I
reached our street, I heard a sound of wailing, and asking about
it, was answered, "We found Azizeh dead behind the door." I
entered the house, and when my mother saw me, she said to me,
"Her death lies at thy door, and may God not acquit thee of her
blood! Out on thee for a cousin!" Then came my father, and we
laid her out and did her the last offices and buried her.
Moreover, we let make recitations of the Koran over her tomb and
abode there three days, after which we returned home, grieving
for her.
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