CHAPTER XXTHE DARK MAIDEN LAYELAH
Layelah at length began to make pointed remarks about Almah.
“She loves you,” said she, “and you love her. How is it that you do not give each other up?”
“I would die rather than give up Almah,” said I.
Layelah smiled. “That sounds strange to the Kosekin,” said she, “for here to give up your love and to die are both esteemed the greatest possible blessings. But Almah should give you up. It is the women with us who make the beginning. Women generally fall in love first, and it is expected that they will tell their love first. The delicacy of a woman’s feelings makes this natural, for if a man tells his love to a woman who does not love him, it shocks her modesty; while if a woman tells a man, he has no modesty to shock.”
“That is strange,” said I; “but
