“I perceive no cause for wonder. The bridegroom had not thought of her before in that relation, had not truly known her⁠—that is all. Love is a blessing that brings gratitude as surely as the Nile makes plants to grow.”

Gulbeyzah and Bedr-ul-Budûr⁠—nay, all her friends⁠—viewed love, apart from any individual man, as a material boon. Bred up to it and ripened for it cunningly, they were ready to adore the man who gave it, however unattractive from a European standpoint. This view of love, when realized, explained to Barakah the happiness which every girl of her acquaintance seemed to find in marriage, even where, as in Gulbeyzah’s case, the husband was a greybeard thrice her age. Those who possessed it were content and virtuous. In those who had it not, or were deprived of it, all amorous crime was reckoned pardonable.

Gulbeyzah and Bedr-ul-Budûr explained all this to Barakah in thrilling tones, as if they uttered truths divine.