Page:Muhammad Diyab al-Itlidi - Historical Tales and Anecdotes of the Time of the Early Khalîfahs - Alice Frere - 1873.djvu/159

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Then she answered him, saying:

So when night fell, the son of the slave-merchant girt on his sword, and came to the girl, and found her standing up awaiting his approach. And he took her and hoped to make his escape with her. But his masters became aware of it, and seized him, and bound him with cords, and loaded him with irons. And he was kept as a prisoner amongst them until they stood before ʾAbd-el-Málik.

And when they presented themselves to him with the slave-girls, he took the letter and opened it and read it, And he found that two of the girls answered to the descriptions, but that the third did not, and she was the girl from el-Kûfah. And perceiving that her face was wan, he said to the slave-merchants, "What ails this girl? She does not answer to the description given of her by el-Hajjâj in his letter. And what means this pallor and wasting away?"