• 5 • The departure of Ambhika Bisswass (Khansaa) in such an innovatively cunning way was a great inspiration to Merikar and me, and we did not want anyone else in the house to know what had happened. Merikar had of course identified lover-boy, because she had once upon a time been mistress of his passions, and certainly recognized him as soon as she saw him reclining in that lazy way I disliked. He too would certainly have recognized her in spite of her thick niqab, but did not expect that she would recognize him, or maybe, who knows, expected it but trusted her discretion. In my opinion, when a woman was deeply in love, she would love even her beloved’s cough, his way of standing, sitting, reclining, walking, and talking. She would probably love his voice when it upbraided her as much

