When her mother went out from her, Mariyeh fell to chiding the damsel for that which she had done and said to her, “Verily, death were leifer to me than this; so look thou discover not my affair to any and I charge thee return not to the like of this fashion.”  Then she swooned away and lay awhile without life, and when she came to herself, she saw Shefikeh weeping over her; whereupon she took the necklace from her neck and the mantle from her body and said to the damsel, “Lay them in a napkin of damask and carry them to El Abbas and acquaint him with that wherein I am for the persistence of estrangement and the effects of forbiddance.”  So Shefikeh took them and carried them to El Abbas, whom she found in act to depart, for that he was about to take horse for Yemen.  She went in to him and gave him the napkin and that which was therein, and when he opened it and saw what it contained, to wit, the mantle and the necklace, his vexation was excessive and his eyes were distorted, [so that the whites thereof appeared] and his rage was manifest in them.

When Shefikeh saw that which betided him, she came forward and said to him, “O bountiful lord, indeed my mistress returneth not the mantle and the necklace despitefully; but she is about to depart the world and thou hast the best right to them.”  “And what is the cause of this?” asked he.  Quoth Shefikeh, “Thou knowest.  By Allah, never among the Arabs nor the barbarians nor among the sons of the kings saw I a harder of heart than thou!  Is it a light matter to thee that thou troublest Mariyeh’s life and causest her mourn for herself and depart the world on account of[FN#110] thy youth?  Indeed, thou wast the cause of her acquaintance with thee and now she departeth the world on thine account, she whose like God the Most High hath not created among the daughters of the kings.”

When El Abbas heard these words from the damsel, his heart irked him for Mariyeh and her case was grievous to him; so he said to Shefikeh, “Canst thou avail to bring me in company with her, so haply I may discover her affair and allay that which aileth her?” “Yes,” answered the damsel, “I can do that, and thine will be the bounty and the favour.”  So he arose and followed her, and she forewent him, till they came to the palace.  Then she [opened and] locked behind them four-and-twenty doors and made them fast with bolts; and when he came to Mariyeh, he found her as she were the setting sun, cast down upon a rug of Taifi leather,[FN#111] among cushions stuffed with ostrich down, and not a limb of her quivered.  When her maid saw her in this plight, she offered to cry out; but El Abbas said to her, “Do it not, but have patience till we discover her affair; and if God the Most High have decreed the ending of her days, wait till thou have opened the doors to me and I have gone forth.  Then do what seemeth good to thee.”