eyes, I remember too.
‘Homeless I am again,’ said he, ‘but not friendless. For besides Allah, I have you.—Oh, this straitness of the chest is going to kill me. I feel that my windpipe is getting narrower every day. At least, my father is doing his mighty best to make things so hard and strait.—Yes, I would have come now to bid you farewell, were it not that I still have in this town some important business. In the which I ask your help. You know what it is. I have often spoken to you about my cousin Najma, the one star in my sky. And now, I would know what is its significance to me. No, I can not leave Baalbek, I can not do anything, until that star unfolds the night or the dawn of my destiny. And you Shakib—’
“Of course, I promised to do what I could for him. I offered him such cheer and comfort as my home could boast of, which he would not accept.