The Gabriel Hounds by Mary Stewart

right?’
    ‘All right.’
    ‘That’s fine, then. I’ll let you know the worst.’
    He smiled perfunctorily and left us.
    I went over to the pool and sat down on the coping beside Hamid.
    ‘Did you hear all that?’
    ‘Most of it,’ said Hamid. ‘What you might call a funny setup, eh? Smoke?’
    ‘Not just now, thanks. I don’t very often, actually.’
    ‘He does.’
    ‘How d’you mean?’
    ‘Hashish.’
    I stared. ‘No? Does he? How do you know?’
    He lifted his shoulders. ‘His eyes, didn’t you notice? And other signs – one gets to know them. He’d been smoking when we came.’
    ‘Then that’s why he was so sleepy and otherworldly! He said he’d been asleep, and let me think it was just a siesta. I thought he’d probably been up part of the night with my great-aunt. Smoking! No wonder he resented being interrupted!’
    ‘I don’t suppose he was resenting you. The smoke can make you relaxed and easy-going, and not know what you’re doing. He was finding it hard to think. I smoke it myself sometimes; everybody does in the Lebanon.’
    ‘
Do
you?’
    He smiled. ‘Not when I’m driving, don’t worry. And not much, me; I’ve too much sense, and it’s dangerous. It affects different people different ways, and by the time you’ve found what it does to you, sometimes it is too late. Did you hear him say he was writing a book? If he stays here and smokes
marjoun
, he will never write it. He will think for years that he has only to start tomorrow, and it will be the best book ever written … but he will never start. This is what the
marjoun
does; it gives you visions and takes away the will to translate them. He will end up like that old man, coughing in the sun and dreaming dreams … What will you do if he comes back to say the old lady won’t see you at all?’
    ‘I don’t quite know.’
    ‘I’ll tell you what I should do. If he says she will not see you, tell him that you wish to hear this from the old lady herself. If he will not allow this, then tell him thatyou can only accept such an order from a real doctor, and that you wish a doctor from Beirut to see her straight away. Oh, you can do this very pleasantly. Ask him which doctor he recommends, and what time tomorrow will be convenient. Then you tell me, and I bring you.’
    There wasn’t much expression in his voice, but I stared at him. ‘What are you suggesting?’
    ‘Nothing.’ He shrugged again. ‘Seems to me that things must go very much as he orders them here, and we only have his word for it that there is no money left. She was – I repeat was – a very rich old lady.’
    ‘But the family don’t care about—’ I stopped. It was patently no use explaining to Hamid that nobody wanted Great-Aunt Harriet to do anything with her own money except have a good time on her own terms. Anyway, there were other considerations here than money. I said, slowly: ‘If it’s true that she’s perfectly fit, I’d say she can probably take care of herself, and I’m also pretty sure she wouldn’t thank me for interfering. All I want is to know that she is still “hale and hearty”, and that being so she can dispose of her filthy old diamonds any way she pleases. He’s probably right that she’s done it already.’
    ‘Very likely.’ I didn’t know whether Hamid’s dry tone meant that he was thinking of the economies obviously practised in the palace, or of John Lethman’s gold wristwatch. He added: ‘I do not suggest anything, me, but I have a very unpleasant nature.’
    ‘So have I. And if he really is smoking marihuana – hashish, that is—’ I took a breath. ‘That settles it. I shallinsist, whatever he says. I’m terribly sorry to have kept you hanging about like this, you’ve been very patient.’
    ‘You are paying for my car for the day, and for my time. How I spend the time is no matter, and it saves petrol to sit in the sun and smoke.’
    I laughed. ‘You got something there. And you’re right, I must see