this woman and let her be with you till day shall dawn, for that
the lieutenant of the Emir Alam al-Din hath found her with
trinkets and fine apparel on her, sitting at the door of your
house, and we feared lest her responsibility be upon you;[FN#23]
wherefore I suggested 'twere meetest she night with you." So the
chattel opened and took her in with him. Now when the morning
morrowed, the first who presented himself before the Emir was the
Kazi Amin al-Hukm, leaning on two of his negro slaves; and he was
crying out and calling for aid and saying, "O Emir, crafty and
perfidious, yesternight thou depositedst with me a woman and
broughtest her into my house and home, and she arose in the dark
and took from me the monies of the little orphans my
wards,[FN#24] six great bags, each containing a thousand
dinars,[FN#25] and made off; but as for me, I will say no
syllable to thee except in the Soldan's presence."[FN#26] When
the Wali heard these words, he was troubled and rose and sat down
in his agitation; then he took the Judge and placing him by his
side, soothed him and exhorted him to patience, till he had made
an end of talk, when he turned to the officers and questioned
them of that. They fixed the affair on me and said, "We know
nothing of this matter but from Captain Mu'in al-Din." So the
Kazi turned to me and said, "Thou wast of accord to practice upon
me with this woman, for she said she came from the Citadel." As
for me, I stood, with my head bowed ground-wards, forgetting both
Sunnah and Farz,[FN#27] and remained sunk in thought, saying,
"How came I to be the dupe of that randy wench?" Then cried the
Emir to me, "What aileth thee that thou answerest not?" Thereupon
I replied, "O my lord, 'tis a custom among the folk that he who
hath a payment to make at a certain date is allowed three days'
grace: do thou have patience with me so long, and if, at the end