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296 LIFE IN THE DAWAR

ing that the accused, far from being a beggar, had brought to the Kebir's household many carpets, and since the marriage had inherited sheep and camels. But she does no good, this charitable advocate.

" All the more shame to her, if she is rich, to behave as she does."

" And the Kebir only took her for her money, for he has an eye to the main chance."

" Yes, we all know that, to our cost. He keeps, tight hold of what he gets ; his right hand will never give anything to his left."

"He has forgotten the proverb : ' Marry a well- born woman, even if you have to sleep on a mat.' "

" But what would you have ? Is it not written ? "

" It is written ! "

Then that strange silence, the outcome of the silence of the Desert, falls on them all, and they become mute, with heads bowed, at this reminder of the beyond, of Maktub, or Fate ; which does not, however, mean ouite the same to them as it does to Europeans, when they speak of resigning themselves to their fate. To them Maktub represents the mystery, the power, and the magic of an often cruel Will. Very curious and dream-like is their con- ception of the Angel-scribe, the arbiter of Fate of the Mussulman, who in the third Heaven writes in a register the future of men. They try to understand him, to make a mental picture of his appearance — his terrible appearance. The distance between his