Then I fell into a deep sleep; but when
I awoke, I found myself thrown down at the gate of the garden. I
rose, groaning for pain and misery, and made my way to my
mother's house, where I found her weeping for me and saying, "O
my son, would I knew where thou art!" So I drew near and threw
myself upon her, and when she saw me, she knew that I was ill,
for my face was at once pale and livid. Then I called to mind my
cousin and all the kind offices she had been wont to do me and
knew that she had indeed loved me; so I wept for her and my
mother wept also. Presently, she said to me, "O my son, thy
father is dead." At this my anguish redoubled, and I wept till I
lost my senses. When I came to myself, I looked at the place
where Azizeh had been used to sit and wept anew, till I all but
fainted for excess of grief; and I ceased not to weep and lament
thus till midnight, when my mother said to me, "Thy father has
been dead these ten days." "I shall never think of any one but my
cousin Azizeh," answered I; "and indeed I deserve all that hath
befallen me, in that I abandoned her who loved me so dear." "What
hath befallen thee?" asked my mother. So I told her all that had
happened, and she wept awhile, then rose and set meat and drink
before me. I ate a little and drank, after which I repeated my
story to her, and she exclaimed, "Praised be God that she did but
this to thee and forbore to slay thee!" Then she tended me and
medicined me till I regained my health: and when my recovery was
complete, she said to me, "O my son, I will now bring out to thee
that which thy cousin committed to me in trust for thee; for it
is thine.
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