Chapter 17 Summary

Amal contemplates the advantage of history over real life: One can re-read the record, research contexts, and jump forward to learn the ending in ways the original participants were unable. Anna, writing on April 3, 1901, is concerned three days have passed since they returned to the Baroudi house and Layla greeted her as a sister, but she has heard nothing from Sharif. For her western friends, Anna has invented a story that omits the kidnapping. She feels funny once again, dressing as a Western woman.

Back at her hotel, Anna writes Sir Charles, appreciating modern conveniences but missing the simplicity of the desert. The Agency's uncaring pronouncements now annoy her. She reports meeting through Layla serious, well-educated young Nur al-Huda; her companion-tutor, the widowed Madame Richard; and Eugynie le Brun, wife of an Egyptian pasha and a recent convert to Islam. The guest of...