Once more he would demand explicitly if my mother knew that I
was out. My confusion, he said, betrayed me, and he would be willing
to bet the Devil his head that she did not.
Mr. Dammit did not pause for my rejoinder. Turning upon his heel, he
left my presence with undignified precipitation. It was well for him
that he did so. My feelings had been wounded. Even my anger had been
aroused. For once I would have taken him up upon his insulting
wager. I would have won for the Arch-Enemy Mr. Dammit's little head-
for the fact is, my mamma was very well aware of my merely temporary
absence from home.
But Khoda shefa midehed- Heaven gives relief- as the Mussulmans
say when you tread upon their toes. It was in pursuance of my duty
that I had been insulted, and I bore the insult like a man. It now
seemed to me, however, that I had done all that could be required of
me, in the case of this miserable individual, and I resolved to
trouble him no longer with my counsel, but to leave him to his
conscience and himself.
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