it not for that long hair and that cap of yours, I would not have known you. Let me see, isn’t that the cap I bought you in New York?” And she takes it off my head to examine it. “Yes, that’s it. How good of you to keep it. Well, how are you now? Do you cough any more? Are you still crazy about books? I don’t think so, for you have rosy cheeks now.” And sobbing for joy, she embraces me again and
She is neatly dressed, wears a silk fiché, and is as alert as ever. In the afternoon, I visit her at the Hotel, and she asks me to accompany her to the Bank, where she cashes three bills of exchange for three hundred pounds each! I ask her what she is going to do with all this money, and she tells me that she is going to build a little home for her grandson and send him to the College of the Americans here.
“And is there like America in all the world?” she exclaims. “Ah, my heart for America!” And on asking her why she did not remain there: “Fear not; just as soon as I build my house and place my son in the College I am going back to New York. What, O Khalid, will you return with me?” She then takes some gold pieces in her hand, and lowering her voice: “May be you need some money; take, take these.” Dear old Im-Hanna, I would not refuse her favour, and I would not accept one such. What was I to do? Coming through the Jewellers’ bazaar I hit upon an idea, and with the money she slipped into my pocket, I bought a gold watch in one of the stores and charged her to present it to her grandson. “Say it is from his brother, your other grandson Khalid.” She protests, scolds, and finally takes the watch, saying, “Well, nothing is changed in you: still the same crazy Khalid.”