The Beggar, the Thief and the Dogs, Autumn Quail by Naguib Mahfouz

Author:Naguib Mahfouz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2016-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

Nur watched him as he tried on the uniform, staring at him in surprised delight, until he’d done up the last button. Then, after a moment or two, she said, “Do be sensible. I couldn’t bear to lose you again.”

“This was a good idea,” Said said, displaying his work and examining his reflection in the mirror. “I suppose I’d better be satisfied with the rank of captain!”

By the next evening, however, she’d heard all about his recent dramatic adventure and seen pictures of him in a copy of a weekly magazine belonging to one of her transient male companions. She broke down in front of him. “You’ve killed someone!” she said, letting out the words with a wail of despair. “How terrible! Didn’t I plead with you?”

“But it happened before we met,” he said, caressing her.

She looked away. “You don’t love me,” she said wanly. “I know that. But at least we could have lived together until you did love me!”

“But we can still do that.”

“What’s the use,” she said, almost crying, “when you’ve committed murder?”

“We can run away together,” Said said with a reassuring grin. “It’s easy.”

“What are we waiting for, then?”

“For the storm to blow over.”

Nur stamped her foot in frustration. “But I’ve heard that there are troops blocking all the exits from Cairo, as if you were the first murderer ever!”

The newspapers! Said thought. All part of the secret war! But he hid his feelings and showed her only his outward calm. “I’ll get away all right,” he said, “as soon as I decide to. You’ll see.” Pretending a sudden rage, he gripped her by the hair and snarled: “Don’t you know yet who Said Mahran is? All the papers are talking about him! You still don’t believe in him? Listen to me; we’ll live together forever. And you’ll see what the fortune-teller told you come true!”

Next evening, escaping from his loneliness and hoping for news, he slipped out again to Tarzan’s coffeehouse, but as soon as he appeared in the doorway Tarzan hurried over and took him out into the open, some distance off. “Please, don’t be angry with me,” he said apologetically. “Even my café is no longer safe for you.”

“But I thought the storm had died down now,” Said said, the darkness hiding his concern.

“No. It’s getting worse all the time. Because of the newspapers. Go into hiding. But forget about trying to get out of Cairo for a while.”

“Don’t the papers have anything to go on about but Said Mahran?”

“They made such a lot of noise to everyone about your past raids that they’ve got all the government forces in the area stirred up against you.” Said got up to leave. “We can meet again—outside the café—anytime you wish,” Tarzan remarked as they said goodbye.

So Said went back to his hideout in Nur’s house—the solitude, the dark, the waiting—where he suddenly found himself roaring, “It’s you, Rauf, you’re behind all this!” By this time, all the papers had dropped his case, all except Al-Zahra.

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