arm thrown over Lorenzo's shoulder to
steady his steps. It must have rained during the evening. The streets
were slippery, and the clean, vaporous scent of drying rain was stronger
than the usual odor of rotting rubbish piled between the houses in the
spaces the Orvietans called quintane.

"You feign the extremity of drunkenness quite well," said Lorenzo. They
had met by prearrangement on the street outside the Monaldeschi palace.
Sophia and Cardinal Ugolini left earlier and separately, carried in
sedan chairs and escorted by the cardinal's guards.

"What hour is it?" Daoud asked.

"Past the third nocturn. Do you know what that means?"

"It was explained to me once, but now my memory seems to be drunk."

"Simply, dawn is not far off," said Celino. "The third nocturn is
between midnight and dawn. The contessa's reception began at the first
nocturn, between sunset and midnight. Tell me, did you never experience
wine in Egypt?"

Daoud decided that, much as he liked Lorenzo, he did not want to confide
any of Saadi's most secret teachings to an atheist.

"Many times we stayed up all night, drinking kaviyeh, talking and
watching the dancers. But we do not drink wine."

"Really?" said Lorenzo, glancing at him. "Permit me to be skeptical. I
know many Muslims who drink wine."

Daoud shook his head. "Most Mamelukes do not drink wine. When Baibars
became sultan, he closed all the wine shops in El Kahira." He also
decided not to tell Lorenzo that in private Baibars enjoyed the Tartar
drink kumiss, made from the fermented milk of mares.

Lorenzo grunted. "Then you Mamelukes are stricter in your observance
than many others who were born to Islam."

They passed the cathedral of San Giovenale. It was lit within, and the
narrow stained glass windows glowed red, yellow, blue, and white.

_You go into a Christian church during the day, and the windows are all
alight with colors. At night the windows are black if you are inside the
church but brightly lit if you are outside. As if the church is calling
to those outside in the darkness._

"So beautiful," Daoud said, "even if the images were idolatrous."

"You should see some of the new cathedrals up near Paris. The windows
are much bigger, and the figures are more lifelike."

"Do you admire the Christian churches?" Daoud asked.

"I admire beauty wherever I find it. On Sicily, there are beautiful
stained glass windows in many synagogues."

"We are building a mosque in El