Zohrah. A story of the Sahara and other tales

Front matter

ZOHRAH AND OTHER STORIES SOME PRESS OPINIONS ONLY CLARCHEN By ISABEL DON 2 Vols., Crown 8vo, 21s At all Libraries and Booksellers The Scotsman says — ' The various persons are well drawn in good contrast to one another. . . . The setting of the story is very effective, and good use has been made of every opportunity that it gives.' The People says — ' Novel readers get a work which will certainly satisfy the requirements of a large majority. It is interesting, written with much care, presents several highly dramatic scenes, and does not fail in characterisation.' The Graphic says — ' Miss Isabel Don has gracefully told a quiet little story. . . , It is pleasant both in plot and style, and more than fulfils its own modest ambition.1 The Spectator says — ' This is a fairly good love story. .

It is perfectly wholesome, and not without interest.' The Saturday Review says — ' Miss Isabel Don tells her story in fairly interesting style.' The Lady's Pictorial says — ' Is above rather than below the average. If this is Isabel Don's first attempt it shows promise in the future.' Vanity Fair says— 'The style in which the book is written is unusually good, and there are in it some pretty descriptions of Hungarian scenery.' The Liverpool Courier says — ' The novel is very interesting, and the strongly defined characteristics of the three principal personages — the simple, honest Clarclien, her English cousin Augusta, and the Anglo-Hungarian-Russian Countess — are vigorously depicted.' Eden, Remington & Co., London and Sydney. ZOHRAH _S §targ of ifc* Sahara AND OTHER TALES BY ISABEL DON AUTHOR OF ' ONLY CLARCHEN EDEN, REMINGTON & CO., PUBLISHERS LONDON AND SYDNEY 1892 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZOHRAH ••-»$g-*-53e...

Chapter I

The day was drawing to a close, the long monotonous day with no event to mark its tedious hours ; a day in all respects like those which had preceded it ; with nothing in its course, so far as Zohrah could foresee, to distinguish it from those that were to follow, yet it ever stood out in ber memory with painful vividness, for on this day the apprehensions that had haunted her for months first assumed the definite form of a bitter sorrow. Zohrah had been the wife of the chief A ZOHRAH 2 Belcassen for nearly three years. She was not nineteen, but as she stood on the roof of her house with her eyes fixed dreamily on the palms which surrounded the mud-built village, she felt very old and sad. Old, though her rounded form, her sparkling eyes, her red lips and rich colouring spoke only of youth and health ; but what could life offer to the Arab woman who had been a wife for three years, and a wife without a child ?

Zohrah could anticipate no change that would bring brightness to her future. She could only look forward to the dreary years of middle life and to a lonely old age. She had no child whom she could love as she had never dared to love her husband, and for whose sake she would have welcomed that future which now seemed blank or full of vague terrors. ZOHRAH 3 Youth and hope are inseparable com panions. But Zohrah had youth without hope. No wonder that she felt old. But it was not of her childlessness that she was thinking. It was an ever-present disappointment, but one which she had learned to bear with dull submission to ber fate. It was decreed. To rebel was useless. But ber husband's growing alien ation was not a sorrow to which she could quietly resign herself. ' No, she must win his affection, she must, she would,' she murmured fiercely ; but as she spoke a chill fell on her which calmed her passion.

Had she not said it before ? had she not striven to please him ? and yet she had failed miserably. Her love, her submission, ber absolute devotion bad been wasted. Belcassen had once seemed merely indifferent, now he turned from ZOHRAH 4 her almost with aversion. Why should so cruel a fate be hers ? Why could he not love her, as he had loved the old woman who was dead? Zohrah asked in her misery. She had never before acknowledged that her husband looked on her as an interloper, that her presence in his bouse was unwelcome. She had tried to blind herself, but at last she was forced to con fess that she had spent her strength in a fruitless struggle with her destiny. The truth had forced itself upon her suddenly, but now that her pride was humbled, she felt that she bad known it all along, Only by a supreme effort of will had she been able to delude herself, but the effort to maintain the struo-gle had become too great, even for her re solution, and in tearless misery Zohrah confessed that her life was a failure !

ZOHRAH 5 Then her mind reverted to her old grief. If she had only had a child! If she could go to Belcassen with his son in her arms, he would have no excuse to — But there was one word which, even now, Zohrah would not utter, one degra dation to which she would never submit She would rather die than be separated from her husband. He should never divorce her, never expose her to scorn- She was depressed and tired, but not quite worn out. She would rally her ex hausted energies, and begin the weary strug-ode once more. Then she pulled a small round mirror from the folds of her garment, and lifted tbe embroidered piece of leather that protected the glass. Zohrah did not need her mirror to tell her she was beautiful, but to see that her eyes were as ZOHRAH 6 brio-ht as ever, that her colour had not faded, that sorrow had not robbed her of her loveliness gave her fresh courage.

She liked to feel that Belcassen had no right to despise her, and that only wilful blindness made him indifferent to her charms. A step was heard on the stair. Zohrah hastily thrust the mirror into her bosom, while a blush dyed her cheek, but the rosy colour faded quickly, for the head, which appeared above the opening on the roof, was not that of her liusband but of an aged woman. Fatma was a widow, who lived with a grandson, the orphan child of her only daughter. She was old and very poor, maintaining herself by the sale of the bernouses which she wove in the simple loom that has been used in the desert ZOHRAH 7 from remote antiquity. But though she worked hard, she found only a small market for her goods. In the oasis of Chetma men are poor and a new bernouse can be seldom purchased, and the old woman would often have starved but for the charity of those who were richer than their neighbours.

Yet though she was poor and despised, Fatma was a person of influence in the village. Protected by her age, her loneliness, and her want of personal charm, she could go about with a freedom denied to women more blessed by fortune ; and Fatma used her liberty as a means of gaining power. She knew the secrets of every household, and made use of her knowledge to farther her own ends. When a marriage was arranged, it was she who acted as am bassador between the high contracting ZOHRAH 8 parties, and whether the marriage proved happy or miserable, the old scandal-monger knew how to turn it to her own advantage. She had praised Zohrah's beauty to Belcassen, and had been liberally rewarded for her services on the occasion of the marriage. But the chiefs young wife did not trust her, and it was with visible reluctance that she greeted her guest. ' Well, how goes it this afternoon ? ' said Fatma, looking at her hostess with the dull, lack-lustre eyes of old age, which yet made the younger woman draw back annoyed, for she felt that these eyes were reading her through and through.

No thing escaped the old woman's furtive glances, and Zohrah, quick though she had been, had not been able to conceal the mirror rapidly enough to elude Fatma's vigilance. ZOHRAH 9 ' You are as fair as ever, ' the old woman continued : ' but I do not require to tell you that, for your mirror has already spoken more plainly than I can.' Zohrah coloured angrily. She knew that Fatma loved to exercise her power, and she guessed that her concealment of the mirror would prove a convenient weapon for her tormentor. 'Perhaps the mirror can also lie,' she said, drawing it again from the folds of her dress with an air of defiance. ' It were a pity if it did,' retorted Fatma, ' for it is not easy to keep the heart of a husband when beauty is faded. A fair face is a woman's best weapon, when she knows how to use it.' Zohrah sat silent.

She was not quick enough to wage a battle of words with Fatma. ZOHRAH 10 'But you need not be afraid,' her ad versary went on ; ' I have testimony that will please you better than mine, and wdiich you will think more trustworthy than that of your mirror. The French chief said, only this afternoon, that you were the fairest woman he had seen, since he came to the desert.' Zohrah laughed. ' Nay, mother, teb me a more likely tale. ' Who can have seen me, a woman who never leavesher husband'sroof ? ' ' You say truly ; but it was there that you were seen. I took the Christian to the roof of my house, for he wished to see our village and the palms. They are so ignorant these Christians. And there he saw you, standing in full view, as if to in vite him to confess that an Arab woman can be as beautiful as the pale-faced daughters of his race.' ZOHRAH 11 'Woman,' cried Zohrah, springing to her feet ; ' do you come here to insult me, to tell me that a stranger has dared to praise my beauty ?

Do you think that I would have stood there had I known that his unholy eyes were fixed on me ? ' ' 'Tis strange that you did not,' said Fatma, ' for you stood looking towards us as if turned to stone. I thought a modest woman would have hidden her face and gone away. ' But I did not see him, I did not see him,' wailed Zohrah. ' Good mother, I would not have stood there if I had. Why should I think I was watched? Where can a woman be safe if not on the roof of her husband's house? What brought the Christian here ? ' ' I know not. Who can understand the follies of these cursed infidels? They ZOHRAH 12 come here to torment the true children of the Prophet, to remind us that they rule in our midst. The will of Allah is dark and strange ! But they have gold, and with gold all things can be done.

It makes them welcome even here.' ' Aye ! to those who care for gold,' said Zohrah. ' He paid you then to take him to the roof of your house.' ' Yes, and he should have given me more if I had known he would have seen you,' said the old woman with a wicked smile : ' He said he wished to see my loom and a true Arab house, and as I am old and ugly I thought it no shame to take him where he would. His guide told me that he spoke much of the beauty of our palms, when I first led him to the roof, but he forgot to praise the waving palms wdien I pointed out something fairer.' ZOHRAH 13 ' You pointed me out,' said Zohrah, fiercely. ' Why should I not ? I know what pleases a man whether he be true believer or Christian. Is not a fair woman more welcome to their sight than springing water, more beautiful even than a noble steed ?

And I thought to please you too when I hastened hither to repeat his 7 praises. ' You did wrong then to measure me by yourself. I only value my husband's I praise. ' Like a true woman, because his praise is hard to win ! ' sneered Fatma. ' If he wearied you with love and flattery, you would be glad to hear of tbe admiration of the Christian.' The shaft struck home, as Fatma had intended. Zohrah sat trembling and silent. If the old woman ZOHRAH 14 knew her misery, the unhappiness which she had hidden even from herself, she was wretched indeed. ' Perhaps if I told him the burning words of the Christian,' Fatma went on maliciously after a short silence, ' it might kindle the flame of his passion. There is no fire so fierce as that of jealousy.' ' But it burns up all it touches,' said Zohrah. ' No, good mother, I pray you hold your peace.' Then, as if the full meaning of Fatma's words had suddenly dawned on her, she cried : ' Did he hear of such a thing I were undone !

You would not ruin me, kind Fatma, dear Fatma." ' Ah ! I am kind and dear ! ' said the old woman ; ' when she knows she is in my power. Yes, I could ruin you if I please. Belcassen ben Omar is a jealous man, but ZOHRAH 15 if you will trust me no harm shall happen to you. Fatma is ever true to her friends, but those who doubt her are seldom safe.' ' But when have I doubted you ? ' asked Zohrah, trembling. ' When you wished me to believe that you were happy in your husband's love. Did you not think Fatma saw farther than that ? But for me you had never been in this house, and if I chose another could soon be found to take your place. But you need not be afraid, I am ready to protect you.' Zohrah made no answer. If such protection were necessary, her cup of humiliation was full to the brim. Fatma gazed at the girl in triumph : ' You do not seem grateful,' she said at last. ' Indeed, I am. good Fatma, and you wdll say nothing of the Christian.

In ZOHRAH truth I did not see him. You know I would not have stayed here if I had.' ' Oh I know that,' said Fatma carelessly : ' But where is that bracelet you wore the other day ? ' ' Here it is ; ' said Zohrah, lifting her arm, ' I would gladly give it you, did I not fear my husband's anger.' ' Tell him you have lost it,' said Fatma promptly. ' Come, come, I cannot promise everything and you give nothing.' Still Zohrah hesitated. Then Fatma turned away with a mocking laugh : ' I knew she did not trust me,' she said to herself, ' she may have cause to repent some day.' ' Take it then, take it ; ' and Zohrah drew the coveted ornament off in feverish haste, ' if Belcassen is angry, I must not mind.' ZOHRAH 17 ' Of course not, timid fool, if you were less afraid you would manage him better,' said Fatma, snatching tbe bracelet from her victim's hand. ' Good-bye, it is time that I went home to prepare the boy's supper, and if Belcassen's food is not ready when he returns, he will have just cause for anger to-night.' And with that Parthian shaft Fatma, gathering her garment more closely round her, began to descend the staircase, followed slowly by Zohrah.

At the foot the old woman turned, waved her hand in farewell, and with the slow steps of old age groped her way to the outer door. Once in the street she stood still, balanced the bracelet in her hand roughly to esti mate its weight and value, then with an air of satisfaction bid it in the folds of her dress. She bad done a good day's work. B ZOHRAH Concealed on her person were the Christian's money and Zohrah's bracelet, both tangible proofs of success. She had enough now to feed the boy and herself for days, and she would not be tortured as she had been the night before by the child's prayers for bread when she had none to give. But to feel that an accident had put Zohrah in her power gave Fatma even more intense satisfaction. The young woman's haughty reserve had irritated her. Now she could rule her as she ruled many another woman in the village.

Full of the unholy joy of a successful schemer Fatma glided down the deserted street. Meanwhile Zohrah was occupied with her ordinary household tasks. The hour was late, but the goats had not been milked, the fire was almost out and the ZOHRAH 19 dreary room was more cheerless than usual. Zohrah bad some primitive, half-deve loped notions of order, and generally spent much time in household work. But that afternoon everything bad been neglected. Tbe mid-day meal had not been cleared away, Belcassen's mat was crumpled as if be had just risen, and it seemed to the overwrought nerves of the young woman that her home had never been so gloomy and comfortless. Though Belcassen was chief of the village, bis house was neither larger nor more luxurious than those of his neighbours. The unpainted outer door creaked noisily on its worn-out hinges, and opened into a small square room with a mud floor, furnished by the mats on which Bel cassen and his friends sat cross-legged and ZOHRAH 20 solemnly smoked their pipes.

Only a favoured male guest was admitted to the living-room, a larger apartment with an uneven mud floor, lighted by the opening in the roof above the staircase. One half of the room served as a stable for the goats ; in one corner was the fire ; the furniture consisted of mats, a bench or two, and some earthenware vessels. The flat roof was the real centre of family bfe; and in a small room, built on the roof and entered by a wooden ladder, were the more-valued possessions of the chief, a much-prized bedstead, native carpets of brilliant colours, and the gaudy cups of European manufacture which Belcassen had brought from Biskra. One of these cups was lying on the floor and was the first object noticed by Zohrah when Fatma left her. She lifted it with the ZOHRAH 21 habitual care due to its value, then tossed it away impatiently.

Was it possible that so worthless a thing had once given her pleasure ? How could it make her happy if Belcassen did not love her and while she was in Fatma's power ? The last thought brought a deeper shadow to her brow. She set her teeth hard and stood with clenched hands, uncertain what to do. She felt impelled to follow Fatma, to set convention and prudence at defiance, and careless of her own danger, to relieve her over-oharged breast by telling her enemy how intense was her hatred, how great her desire for revenge. But she heard the goats bleat, and the familiar sound recalled her to herself. Belcassen would soon return, and she must be ready to receive him though her heart was break ing, her pride was humbled to the dust. ZOHRAH 22 With unwonted energy she moved about, milked the goats, arranged the mats, and made all preparations for supper.

Then wdth her palm-leaf fan in her hand she sat down by the fire, and while she fanned the half-extinguished embers into a flame, she had leisure to brood over her misery. Zohrah was absolutely ignorant. She was a woman and had not therefore re ceived the religious instruction given to men of her race. Her notions of religion were exceedingly vague. She knew that Allah is great and that Mahomet is his prophet, but she did not suppose that a woman could be of any value either in the eyes of God or of the Prophet. The most definite articles of her creed were her conviction that she belonged to tbe race of the only true believers, and her ZOHRAH 23 contempt for infidels. That very contempt gave her a sense of dignity. But elemen tary as were her religious notions, they were as wdsdom itself compared with her knowledge of anything outside the walls of ber village.

For her the outer world had no existence. Even the great desert itself was little more than a name. Her mental horizon was bounded by the palms of the oasis, her whole life was concen trated within the four walls of her house. She could make couscous and coffee, could keep the house in such order as was thought necessary in the village, and when her work was done she would sit idle on the roof or gossip with a neighbour, wdth no desire for more interest or variety than was afforded by the monotonous round of ber daily tasks. Yet Zohrah had a vivid imagination, great strength of ZOHRAH 24 will, and natural talents of a high order, but all her faculties lay dormant, and with the form and passions of a woman she had in many respects the mind of a child. It was her vivid imagination that made the idea of divorce so repugnant.

She would picture her return to her father's house, a rejected disgraced woman, until her cheeks burned with shame. She could recollect the position of other divorced women and her own contemptu ous pity for them, and felt that she would rather die than submit to such humiliation. But the prospect of humiliation w'as not the heaviest part of Zohrah's sorrow. The sense of failure was a greater grief. When she married Belcassen she bad resolved to be the light of his home, the ZOHRAH 25 joy of his old age. From a child she had heard of bis affection for his first wife, and she knew that only tbe discomfort of a house without a woman's care had induced him to marry again. She never doubted that she would win his love. Was she not young and beautiful, while his dead wife had been old and ugly ?

He could not fail to love her. But from the first Belcassen had been indifferent to his young wife, and soon indifference became a stronger feeling. Her beauty made him suspicious, her eagerness irritated him, her youth made him realise his own age. A girl of fifteen could be no companion to a man of seventy, and her presence in the house renewed his sorrow for the faithful wife who had been the bride of his youth. But he hated her chiefly because she demanded love ZOHRAH and he could give her none. He was not blind to her devotion, but her dutiful obedience made him conscious that he owed her an affection which he could not give. To rid himself of her had become his chief desire, but Belcassen was too just a man to avail himself of the facility of divorce which Mahommedan custom affords a husband.

He felt that it would be unworthy of himself to divorce his wife because she was overanxious to please him and to win his love. But Zohrah did not realise bow pre carious was her position, did not know that Fatma had whispered that only Belcassen would have had so much patience with a childless wife, and that her words haunted the old man. She had given him the pretext for which he had been seeking, but he still hesi- ZOHRAH 27 tated, moved by compassion for Zohrah and by a dread of change natural at his age. With unusual weakness be resolved to wait for the guidance of circumstances, but as his mind was bent on a particular course of action it was inevitable that circumstances should shape themselves in accordance wdth his desires. The creaking of the outer door told Zohrah that her husband had returned.

With a great effort she roused herself from her reverie and tried to appear calm and cheerful. Belcassen did not address her, and in dutiful silence she brought him his couscous in an earthenware dish, and stood beside him till he was ready to take it out of her hand. Then she began to prepare bis coffee, while Belcassen ate mechanically in gloomy abstraction with his eyes fixed on the ground. ZOHRAH But when Zohrah brought the coffee he looked up. 'What is the matter?' he said, abruptly. ' Nothing,' she answered, with an un easy consciousness that her sadness had been observed. ' Why should there be ? ' ' Yes, why should there ? You have everything a woman wTants, but, perhaps, that is not enough. You women are never satisfied and no man can understand i your caprices. Tears came to Zohrah's eyes but she would not let them fall. ' If I have cap rices,' she said at last, ' I have tried not to trouble you with them.' ' Yes, you are a model of perfection,' he said testily. ' Perhaps had you been more like other women, it would have been better.' ' And wherein do I differ ? ' she asked, ZOHRAH 29 driven by some new impulse to speak, when formerly she would have been silent. ' Nay, do not ask me.

I do not wish to reckon up your virtues.' Then after a pause, he said, ' Omar ben Mohammed's wife has borne him a son.' ' And you would have me like other women in that,' she said clasping her hands. ' Would that I were.' ' But what is the loss to you compared with mine,' Belcassen said angrily. ' I have only daughters, my son died un married, and now I am an old man, with no one to lay my head in the grave and to pay the fitting honours at my tomb. I shall die unmourned and forgotten.' And he rose and paced up and down the room in unwonted agitation. Zohrah could not answer for her tears fell fast. Her husband had never before ZOHRAH 30 shown his feelings so clearly, and she could to some extent measure the great ness of his disappointment. ' Then why not take another wife,' she stammered at last.

Only a few months before such an idea would have been in tolerable. She could not have endured the thought that another woman should know she was unloved, and should win her husband's affection. But at that moment she dreaded a rival less than to be sent away, and fancied that any com panion would be better than her own gloomy thoughts. Belcassen stood still astonished and looked at his weeping wdfe. He despised women in the abstract and had never studied Zohrah, but he knew her well enough to be aware that despair alone could have forced such words from her ZOHRAH 31 lips. An unwonted feeling of compassion moved him. He remembered her long dutifulness, her fidelity, and her evident suffering grieved him. With a gentleness which he did not often show, he crossed the room and laid his hand on her shoulder. ' There, do not weep,' he said, ' it will be time enough to talk of that when I can suffer two women in the house.

Per chance it is my fate to have no son, and in that case I must submit to what is decreed.' Zohrah raised her eyes gratefully. He had not spoken so kindly for months, and hope once more revived in her breast. Stooping down she took his hand and raised it to her lips, her dark blue robe fell back, showing her arm bare to the shoulder, and Belcassen noticed with ZOHRAH 32 pride how rounded and well-shaped was her arm, how dainty her band. He allowed one hand to rest in hers while with the other he tenderly played with her wrist. And as he did so, he observed that she no longer wore the heavy silver bracelet which had been his most valuable gift when they married. Glad to make a remark and to break a silence which would soon become awkward, he said, carelessly : ' And where is your bracelet ? ' Zohrah blushed and trembled.

If she told him she had given it to Fatma he would be angry, and the hope of a better understanding would be destroyed. Moved by the desire to save herself, she said with assumed indifference, ' I have taken it off.' Belcassen looked searchingly in her face. The reply was ZOHRAH 33 reasonable but her manner aroused his suspicion. He said nothing, but his lip curled in scorn as he reflected on the weakness and duplicity of women. He dropped her hand at once, and sitting down on the mat rolled up a cigarette and lighted it. As he watched the smoke curling in tiny wreaths he thought of Omar ben Mohammed's happiness and of his own disappoint ment, and marvelled that even for a moment be had yielded to the charm of Zohrah's beauty. Zohrah who had seen his scorn and felt it the more bitter that just before he bad seemed tender, almost loving, moved about her work more quietly and sadly than was her habit.

When her tasks were finished she crept upstairs to bed and throwing herself on the couch burst into tears. c ZOHRAH 34 She wept until she fell asleep exhausted, but all that night she sobbed in her sleep like a child. Belcassen heard her weep and hardened his heart more sternly than before. With the natural unreasonable ness of humanity he blamed Zohrah for an unhappiness of which he was the cause, and argued that if she were un happy as his wife she would be happier in her father's house. He knew that the argument was specious but it pleased him, and before he fell asleep he had almost resolved to divorce the woman who had wasted her youth for his sake and to seek for another wife.