Khadiia entered and said in a voice that was so deferential it was
barely audible, "Our neighbor Umm Maryam wishes to see you, sir."
Her father asked in amazement, "The wife of Mr. Muhammad Rid
wan? What does she want?"
"I don't know, Papa."
Attempting to curb his amazement, he ordered her to show the
woman in. Although it did not happen often, this would not be the
first time one of the respectable ladies from the neighborhood came
to call on him, either for some matter relating to his business or
because he was trying to reconcile her and a husband who was one
of his friends. All the same, he thought it unlikely that this lady was
coming to see him for one of these reasons. While he was wondering
about this, he happened to think of Maryam and his discussion with
his spouse concerning a possible engagement; but how could there
be any connection between that secret, which would not have gone
/
beyond the limits of his family circle, and this visit? Then he thought
of Mr. Muhammad Ridwan and the possibility that the visit had some
link to him. Yet he had never been anything more than a neighbor.
"
Their relationship had never been elevated to the rank of friendship.
In former times they had visited each other only when it was neces
sary.
Once the other man became paralyzed, he had called on him a
few times, but after that he had knocked on his door only during the r
religious festivals.
In any case, Maryam's mother, Umm Maryam, was no stranger to
him. He remembered she had been in his store once to buy some
items. On that occasion she had introduced herself to him to assure
herself favorable treatment. He had been as generous with her as he
thought appropriate for a good neighbor. Another time he had met
her at the door of his house when his departure coincided with her
arrival. Although accompanied by her daughter, she had astonished
II
him then with her daring, for she had greeted him openly, saying,
"Good afternoon, your honor, sir."
His dealings with his friends had taught him that some of the
PALACE WALK
2I9
were lenient where he was strict. He was extreme in his insistence
on retaining traditional standards for his family. These other men saw
nothing wrong with their wives going out to visit or shop. They were
not disturbed by an innocent greeting like Umm Maryam's. Despite
his ultraconservative, Hanbali bias in religion, he was not one to
attack his friends over what they found appropriate for them and their
women. Indeed, he saw nothing wrong with the fact that some of the
more distinguished ones took their wives and daughters along when
they went in a carriage for outings in the countryside or to frequent
wholesome places of entertainment. All he would do was repeat the
saying "You've got your religion and I've got mine." In other words,
he was not inclined to impose his views blindly on other people.
Although he could distinguish what really was good from what was
bad, he was not willing to embrace every "good" thing. In that respect
he was influenced by his sternly traditional nature, so much so
that he considered his wife's visit to the shrine of al-Husayn a crime
deserving the gravest punishment he had meted out during his second
marriage. For these reasons, he had felt an astonishment mixed with
panic when Umm Maryam had greeted him, but he had not thought
any the worse of her.
He heard someone clearing her throat outside his door. He perceived
that the visitor was warning him she was about to enter. When
she did come in, she was swathed in her wrap and her face was
concealed behind a black veil. Large black eyes enhanced by kohl
could be seen on either side of the golden cylinder connecting her
veil to her scarf. She brought her ample and corpulent body with its
swaying hips close to him. He rose to greet her. Putting out his hand,
he said, "Welcome. You honor our house and family."
She held her hand out to him after wrapping it in a corner of her
cloth, so she would not nullify his state of ritual cleanliness. She
replied, "Sir, your honor, may our Lord hold you in high esteem."
He invited her to have a seat. Then he sat down and asked her for
the sake of politeness, "How is al-Sayyid Muhammad?"
As though the question had reminded her of her sorrows, she
sighed audibly and responded, "Praise to God who is the only one
we praise for adversity. May our Lord be gracious to all of us."
AI-Sayyid Ahmad shook his head as though he were grieved and
murmured, "May our Lord take him by the hand and grant him patience
and good health."
The exchange of pleasantries was followed by a short silence while
the lady began to prepare for the serious conversation that had
Naguib Mahfou
brought her. She resembled a musician preparing to sing after the instrumental prelude has ended. Al-Sayyid Ahmad lowered his eyes
decorously while retaining a smile on his lips to announce his welcome
for the expected conversation. She said, "AI-Sayyid Ahmad, you're such a chivalrous person that you're proverbial throughout
the whole district. A person who comes to you and appeals to your
chivalry is not disappointed."
Although he was wondering to himself, "What's behind all this,"
he murmured modestly, "I ask God's forgiveness."
"The fact is that I came just now to visit my sister Umm Fahmy.
How appalled I was to learn that she's not here in her house and that
you're angry with her."
The woman fell silent to gauge the effect of her words and to hear
what he might think of them. For his part, a[-Sayyid Ahmad took
refuge in silence, as though he could not think of anything to say.
Although he felt uncomfortable that this topic had been raised, the
smile of welcome remained plastered on his lips.
"Is there a lady finer than Umm Fahmy? She is a wise and modest
lady, a neighbor for twenty years or more. During that time we have
never heard anything but the nicest things about her. What could she
possibly have done that would merit the anger of a just man like
you?"
Ai-Sayyid Abroad persisted in his silence and ignored her question.
Some ideas occurred to him that increased his discomfort. Had the
woman merely come to the house by accident or had she been invited
to carry out some schemer's plan?... Khadija? Aisha? Amina herself?.
The children would never tire of defending their mother. Could he
forget how Kamal had dared to scream in his face and ask him to
bring back his mother? That incident had led to a beating so fiery
that smoke had poured from the boy's ears.
"What a fine lady she is. She doesn't deserve such punishment....
And what a noble gentleman you are. Violence does not become you.
It's the work of cursed Satan, may God humiliate him, but your excellence
will prevail to spoil his scheme."
At that point, he felt he could no longer remain silent, not even
out of politeness to his guest. He muttered with deliberate brevity,
"May our Lord remedy the situation."
Encouraged by her success in getting him to talk, Umm Maryam
said zealously, "How it hurts me for our fine neighbor to leave her
home after a long life of seclusion and honor."
PALACE WALK
"The streams will return to their banks, but there is a right time
for everything."
"You are like a brother to me. Indeed, you're dearer than a brother.
I won't add a single word."
A new element had entered the affair and did not escape his attentive
mind. He registered it the way an observatory might record a
distant earthquake, regardless of how faint it seemed. He imagined
that when she said, "You are like a brother to me," her voice had
been tender and sweet. When she said, "Indeed, you're dearer than
a brother," her voice had revealed a warm affection that lent a pleasant
fragrance to the embarrassed atmosphere. He was amazed and
wondered about it. Perplexed, he could no longer bear to keep his
eyes lowered. He raised them hesitantly. He stole a look at her face.
Contrary to his expectations, he found her looking at him with her
large black eyes. He was flustered and lowered his again quickly. He
was partly surprised and partly embarrassed. To cover up his emotions,
he continued the conversation: "Thank you for considering me
your brother.... "
He wondered whether she had been looking at him that way
throughout their conversation or whether he had merely raised his
eyes at a moment when she happened to glance at him. What could
be said about her not lowering her eyes when their eyes met? He
immediately scoffed at these ideas, telling himself that his infatuation
with women and experience with them made him especially prone to
think ill of them. No doubt the truth was as far removed as possible
from what he imagined. She might be one of those women whose
nature gushes with affection, so that people who do not know them
think they are flirting when they are not. In order to confirm his
opinion, since confirmation was needed, he looked up again. How
appalled he was to see her still looking at him. He was a little more
courageous this time and fixed his eyes on her for a moment. She
kept gazing at him submissively but boldly. In total confusion he
lowered his eyes. At that time he heard her soft voice say, "After this
request I'll see whether I'm truly favored by you."
Favored? If the word had not been spoken in this atmosphere filled
with emotion and charged with doubt and confusion, it would have
passed without leaving any trace. But now...? With considerable
embarrassment he looked at her again. He discerned some hints in
her eyes that tantalized his suspicions. Had his feeling been right?
Was this possible at the very moment she was interceding for his
Naguib MaAfouz
wife? For a man as experienced with women as he was, that would
be no surprise... a playful wife with a paralyzed husband. His consciousness
was permeated by surges of delight that filled him with
warmth and pride. When had this sentiment begun? Was it an old
one that had simply been waiting for an opportunity? Had she not
visited him at the store once without doing anything to excite his
suspicions? Even so, the store was not a place where a woman like
her would feel comfortable revealing a secret passion, as the performer
Zubayda had, with no prior preparation for the announcement.
Was it a sentiment born of the moment that had arisen along
with the golden opportunity when she found herself alone with him?
If that was true, then she was merely another Zubayda disguised in
a lady's clothing.
Although he knew a lot about passionate women, it was not surprising
that he had overlooked her. He was zealous to respect the
honor of his neighbors in the most exemplary way. If she was flirting
with him, how should he respond? Should he say, "You're more in
favor with me than you can imagine"? It would be a pretty phrase,
but she might see it as a welcoming response to her invitation. He
certainly did not want that. He was completely opposed to it and not
merely because he was still enthralled with Zubayda. He would not
agree to a situation deviating from his principles, which called for
total respect for the reputations of honorable people in general and
of friends and neighbors in particular. In spite all his amorous and
sensual excesses, there was not a single blot on his page to embarrass
him with a friend, neighbor, or virtuous person. It had always been
his custom to fear God as much when he was amusing himself as
when he was being serious. He had only allowed himself things he
considered licit or within the bounds of minor offenses. This did not
imply that he had been endowed with supernatural willpower shielding
him from passion. What he did was revel in every passion allowed
him and turn his eyes away from respectable women.
Throughout his entire life he had never deliberately looked at the
face of a woman from his district. He was known to have rejected a
promising affair out of concern for the feelings of an acquaintance. A
messenger had come one day to invite him to meet the sister of that
man, a middle-aged widow, on a night he would name. AI-Sayyid
Ahmad had received the invitation silently and shown the messenger
out with his customary politeness. Then he had avoided the street
where her house was for years afterward.
Umm Maryam was possibly the first person to test his principles
PALACE WALK 223
face to face. Although he found her attractive, he refused to answer
the temptations of passion. The voice of wisdom and sobriety won
out, protecting his much-discussed reputation from a world of reproaches.
His good reputation seemed to mean more to him than
seizing a proffered pleasure. He consoled himself with the opportunities
that arose from time to time for romances with no unpleasant
consequences.
This will to respect his obligations and act honorably with friends
remained with him even in the realms of amusement and desire. He
had never been accused of making a pass at the mistress of a companion
or of looking lustfully at the sweetheart of a friend. He chose
friendship over passion. He would say, "The affection of a friend
endures. A girlfriend's passion is fleeting." For this reason, he was
content to select his lovers from unattached women or to wait until
a woman had ended her previous relationship. Then he would seize
his opportunity. At times he would even ask permission from her
former companion before beginning to court her. Thus he was able
to conduct his amorous adventures with a delight free of regret and
a serenity unblemished by ill will. In other words, he had successfully
balanced the animal within him that was voracious for pleasure with
the man in him that looked up to higher principles. He had succeeded
in harmoniously joining these two sides of his personality in a compatible
whole. Neither side dominated the other, and each was able
to pursue its own special interests easily and comfortably. Just as he
had reconciled the opposing forces of sensuality and ethics, he was
also able to merge piety and debauchery successfully into a unity free
of any hint of either sin or repression.
Yet his good faith was not inspired merely by loyalty to a code of
ethics. It was based most of all on his innate desire to continue to be
loved and enjoy a fine reputation. The success of his amorous forays
made it easier for him to avoid love marred by betrayal or depravity.
Moreover, he had never known a true form of love that could have
pushed him into succumbing either to emotion, without regard to
principles, or to a fierce emotional and moral crisis, in which he could
not keep from being burned.
Umm Maryam represented nothing more to him than a delicious
kind of food, which, if it threatened his digestion, he could easily turn
down in favor of some of the other tasty but wholesome dishes that
covered the table. Therefore, he answered her tenderly, "Your mediation
is accepted, God willing. You will hear something that will
please you shortly."
Naguib Mahfou
The woman said as she rose, "May our Lord be generous to you,
sir, your honor."
She stretched out her soft hand. He took it, but lowered his eyes.
He imagined that she squeezed his hand a little when they were
saying goodbye.He began to wonder whether this was the way she
usually shook hands or if she had deliberately squeezed it. He tried
to remember what her handshake had been like when she arrived,
but he could not. He spent most of the time before he returned to
the store thinking about the woman, what she had said, her tenderness,
and her handshake.
"Our aunt, the widow of the late Mr. Shawkat, wishes to see
you,'
AI-Sayyid Ahmad threw Khadija a fiery look and shouted at her,
"Why?"
His angry voice and irritated looks proclaimed that he meant more
than this "why" implied and that he would have liked to tell her,
"I've barely gotten rid of the intermediary who came yesterday when
you bring me a new one today. Who told you these tricks would
work on me? How can you and your brothers dare to try to put
something over on me?"
Khadija's face became pale. In a trembling voice she replied, "I
don't know, by God."
He nodded his head as though to say, "Yes, you do know, and I
know too. Your cunning will achieve nothing but the most disastrous
consequences for you." Resentfully he declared, "Let her come in. I
won't be able to drink my coffee with a calm mind after this. My
room has turned into a court with judges and witnesses. That's the
kind of rest I find at home. God's curse on all of you!"
Before he could finish speaking, Khadija had vanished like a mouse
that has heard the floor creak. Al-Sayyid Ahmad glowered angrily
for a few moments. Then he remembered the sight of Khadija retreating
so fearfully that her foot stumbled in its wooden clog and her
head almost collided with the door. He smiled sympathetically. His
impulsive fury was wiped away and left him feeling affectionate.
What children they were! They refused to forget their mother even
for a single minute.
He directed his eyes toward the door and readied a beaming face
to greet the visitor, as though he had not just seconds earlier fumed
with anger at the thought of her visit. When he got angry at home
for the most trifling reason or for none at all, he was not bluffing,
hut this visitor, as the widow of the late Mr. Shawkat, had a special
status and outranked all the women who called at the house from
time to time. Her husband had been a special friend and the two
families had been linked by a bond of affection since the days of their
Naguib Mahfou
grandparents. The departed gentleman had been like a father to hina.
His widow continued to be a mother to him and, consequently, to
his entire family. It was she who had arranged his engagement to
Amina. She had helped bring his children into the world. In addition
to all of these considerations, the Shawkat family were people it was
a privilege to know. Not only were they of Turkish origin, but they
had a high social standing and owned real estate in Cairo between
al-Hamzawi and al-Surayn. If al-Sayyid Ahmad was in the middle
ranks of the middle class, they were indisputably members of its top
echelon. Perhaps it was the woman's maternal feelings toward him
and his filial feelings for her that made him indignant and uncomfortable
about her anticipated intercession.
She was a person who would mince no words when she spoke to
him. She would not weary of appealing to his emotions. Moreover,
he knew her to be scathingly frank. Her excuses for it were her age
and her status. Yes, she was not one to...
He stopped brooding when he heard her footsteps. He rose to
greet her: "Welcome. It's as though the Prophet himself were visiting
US."
The elderly lady approached him. She was hobbling along, leaning
on her parasol. She looked up at him with a face that was fair and
full of wrinkles. Her transparent white veil did little to conceal her
features. She responded to his greeting with a smile that revealed her
gold teeth. She shook his hand and sat down beside him casually.
She said, "A person who lives a long time sees a lot. Even you, prde
of mankind... and even in this house... things are happening that
are unpleasant to discuss.... By the God of a|-Husayn, you've
grown senile. Your dotage has arrived unexpectedly."
She rattled on, giving her tongue free rein to say whatever it
pleased without allowing aloSayyid Ahmad an opportunity to inter°
rupt or comment. She told him how she had come to visit and had
discovered his wife was absent. "I thought at first that she was out
visiting someone. So I pounded my chest in astonishment. I exclaimed,
'What's become of the world?'... How could her husband
have permitted her to leave the house? Does he think so little of the
decrees of God, of human law, and of the edicts of the Ottoman
Empire?" She had quickly learned the whole truth. "I regained my
senses and said, 'Praise to God, the world's just fine. This truly is alSayyid
Ahmad. This is the least one could expect from him.'"
Then she abandoned her mocking tone and began to scold him for
his harshness. She was outspoken in her laments for his wife, whom
PALACE WALK
she considered the last woman to deserve punishment. Whenever he
attempted to interrupt she would yell at him, "Hush. Not a word.
Save your sweet talk that you make so flowery. It won't fool me. I
want you to do the right thing, not say something eloquent." She
told him frankly that he was excessively conservative in his treatment
of his family. It was abnormal. It would be a good thing if he would
act in a kindlier, more indulgent way.
AI-Sayyid Ahmad listened to her for a long time. When she allowed
him to speak, only after she was exhausted from talking, he
explained his point of view to her. Her passionate defense of his wife
and his respect for her did not prevent him from asserting to her that
his treatment of his family was based on principles he would not
abandon. He did promise at the end, as he had promised Umm Maryam
earlier, that everything would turn out for the best. He thought
the time had come for the meeting to conclude.
Before he knew what was happening she said, "The absence of
Mrs. Amina was an unpleasant surprise to me, since I needed to see
her for an extremely important reason. Because of my health it's not
an easy matter for me to go out. Now I don't know whether it would
be better for me to tell you what I was going to tell her or to wait
till she returns."
AI-Sayyid Ahmad replied with a smile, "We are all ready to serve
you."
"I would have liked her to be the first to hear, even though you
leave her no voice in the matter. Since this opportunity has escaped
me, I'll console myself by preparing a happy reason for her return."
The gentleman was baffled by her statement. He wondered as he
stared at her, "What's behind all this?"
Stabbing the carpet with the point of her parasol, she said, "I won't
keep you in suspense. I have chosen Aisha to be my son Khalil's
wife."
He was astounded. He was taken by surprise and by something
totally unexpected. He felt uneasy and even alarmed for reasons that
were hardly secret. He perceived immediately that he would have to
drop his long-standing resolve that the younger daughter should not
marry before the elder. He could not ignore this precious request
announced by a person who was well acquainted with his resolution.
She had obviously rejected it in advance and would refuse to be ruled
by his judgment.
"Why are you silent as though you hadn't heard me?"
AI-Sayyid Ahmad smiled in confusion and embarrassment. Then,
Naguib MaAfou
in order to say something pleasant while pondering the issue in all
its aspects, he replied, "This is an enormous honor for us."
The lady shot him a look that seemed to say, "Don't use your
honeyed phrases on me." She said combatively, "I don't need to be
made fun of with empty words. Nothing will satisfy me but total
acceptance. Khalii entrusted me with the task of finding a wife for
him. I told him, '.I've the best bride you could hope for.' He was
pleased by my choice. He had no reservations about becoming your
son-in-law.... Has the time come that you meet a request like this,
from me, with silence and evasion? My God, my God."
How long would he be tormented by this difficult problem, which
he could not resolve without inflicting a rude shock on one of his
daughters? He looked at her as though trying to beg her sympathy
for his situation. He mumbled, "The matter's not the way you imagine.
Your request is my command, but.. 2'
"A pox on 'but.' Don't tell me you've decided not to let the
younger marry until the elder has. Who are you to decree this or
that? Leave God's work to God. He's the most compassionate one of
all. If you want, I can give you tens of examples of younger sisters
who married before the older ones without their marriages keeping
their sisters from excellent matches. Khadija is an extraordinary
young woman. She will not go wanting for a fine husband as soon
as God wills it. How long will you stand in the way of Aisha's destiny.
Doesn't she too deserve your affection and compassion?"
He asked himself, "If Khadiia's such an extraordinary young
woman, why don't you choose her?" He thought about putting her
on the spot the way she had him, but he was afraid she would toss
him an answer that would insult, however innocently, Khadiia and
thus him as well. In a voice that was very serious and earnest he
said, "It's just that I feel sorry for Khadiia."
She replied sharply as though she was the one making the concession,
"Every day things like this happen without upsetting anyone.
God dislikes it if His servant is stubborn and proud. Accept my
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