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 CHAPTER XVIII

THE INVENTIVENESS OF SEMMEYA HANOUM

It was from curiosity rather than from friendship that I accepted Semmeya Hanoum's pressing invitation to spend a few days with her, shortly after Nashan's wedding. As I said in a previous chapter, we had never looked on Semmeya as one of us. We did not trust her, and where there is no trust how can there be friendship? Still, since I was burning to know what sort of a wife she had made, I replied to her pressing invitation with alacrity.

I did not have to wait very long before I knew that Semmeya Hanoum was the same as ever—that she would rather cheat than play fair. She was the mother of a dear, little boy; and it was easy to see that Sendi Bey was the slave of his wife. At the same time it required no cleverness on my part to discover that he did not trust her, and did not believe her word.

I have always wondered, and I suppose that I shall continue to wonder till I die, and learn the explanation of many riddles, how it is that a good, upright man can remain in love with a woman whom he cannot trust. On the contrary,