And now
I would have thee tell me what has been the cause of thine
absence this year long." So I told her all that had happened: and
when she knew that I was married, her colour paled. "I have come
to thee to-night," added I; "but I must leave thee before day."
Quoth she, "Doth it not suffice her to have tricked thee into
marrying her and kept thee prisoner with her a whole year, but
she must make thee take the oath of divorce to return to her
before morning and not allow thee to divert thyself with thy
mother or me nor suffer thee to pass one night with either of us,
away from her? How, then, must it be with one from whom thou hast
been absent a whole year, and I knew thee before she did? But may
God have compassion on thy cousin Azizeh, for there befell her
what never befell any and she endured what never any endured else
and died, oppressed and rejected of thee; yet was it she
protected thee against me. Indeed, I thought thou didst love me,
so let thee take thine own way; else had I not let thee go safe
and sound, when I had it in my power to hold thee in duresse and
destroy thee." Then she wept and waxed wroth and shuddered in my
face and looked at me with angry eyes. When I saw this, I was
terrified at her and trembled in every nerve, for she was like a
dreadful ghoul and I like a bean over the fire. Then said she,
"Thou art of no use to me, now thou art married and hast a child,
nor art thou any longer fit for my company.
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