daughter.

"He listened quietly, with his eyes fixed on my face, and when I had
finished, said:--

"'Alas! my son, the girl Khadijah is ugly, and has the temper of a
mule.'

"'For these things, O Sheikh,' I replied, 'I care not.'

"'You think you will get a heavy dowry with her,' he said, coldly; 'it
is for that you have come.'

"'I swear by the holy Prophet,' I cried, 'that I want the girl and not
the money. Nay, I will even take her without a single piastre, to prove
it.'

"At these words his eye brightened, and on my promising that no one
should know that I was not to receive a dowry with her, he embraced me,
saying, 'She is yours, my son,' and the matter was settled.

[Illustration: "A SHARP-FACED, UGLY WOMAN".]

"Of course, I did not see my bride till we were married, which we were
in seven days. What was my horror when, after the ceremonies were over
and my wife unveiled, I beheld, instead of the lovely girl who had come
to my shop, a sharp-faced, ugly woman with a sour expression. I was dumb
with amazement; but, by a great effort, I controlled my temper, and
pretending to seem satisfied with my bargain, inwardly resolved to find
out why I had thus been duped. My wife soon showed her temper, and
quarrelled with my mother the very first day. She seemed to think she
had married beneath her, and to show her superiority, began to
ill-treat the servants, and usurped my mother's place in the house.

"Some days after my wedding I was in my shop as usual, when the two
women appeared as before. I immediately beckoned them to follow me into
the inner part. As soon as we were there I turned to the false Khadijah,
and almost choking with anger I asked her why she had brought this curse
upon my life.

"'What have I ever done to you that you should make such a day of pitch
for me?' I cried.

"She laughed heartily, and her old servant followed her example. I was
just about to burst forth into a torrent of invectives when she threw
off her veil and, laying her hand on my arm, said softly, 'I have done
this, O Halil, to show you that the motto over your shop is not true,
and that the understanding of woman is as long as her hair. I will show
you a way by which you can divorce your wife without offending her
father, but on one condition only.'

[Illustration: "CHANGE THE MOTTO OVER YOUR SHOP."]

"'It is granted,' I cried, 'if I come freely out of this.'

"'Change, then, the motto over your shop, and put instead,