" When I heard this, I marvelled exceedingly
and said, "Who made thee to know of her, O my lady?" "I know of
her," said she, "as the age knows of its calamities: but now I
would fain have thee tell me all that has passed between you,
that I may know the cause of thy deliverance from her." So I told
her all that had happened, including the story of my cousin
Azizeh. When she heard of the latter's death, her eyes ran over
with tears and she smote hand upon hand and cried out, "God have
mercy on her, for she lost her youth in His service, and may He
replace her to thee! By Allah, O Aziz, it was she who was the
cause of thy preservation from the daughter of Delileh and but
for her, thou hadst been lost! Now she is dead and I fear for
thee from the other's perfidy and mischief; but my heart is full
and I cannot speak." "By Allah," quoth I, "all this happened,
even as thou sayest!" And she shook her head and said, "There
lives not this day the like of Azizeh." "And when she was dying,"
continued I, "she bade me repeat to my mistress these two words,
'Faith is fair and perfidy foul.'" When she heard this, she
exclaimed, "By Allah, O Aziz, it was this that saved thee from
dying by her hand: and now my heart is at ease for thee from her
for she will never slay thee and thy cousin preserved thee, both
in her lifetime and after her death. By Allah, I have desired
thee this many a day, but could not get at thee till now and
except by a trick, which succeeded with thee for thou art
inexperienced and knowest not the malice of women nor the wiles
of old women.
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