Whichever way you analyze it in the light of subsequent events, the only possible conclusion is that it was my turn to be lucky and Abdul Ali's to make a fool of himself.
Nobody could have made a fool of him better than he did.
"I must dissuade you," he said, trying to hide wilfulness under an unpleasant smile.

"I will offer inducements." "They'll have to be heavy," I said, "to weigh against what I have in mind." He had kept ben Nazir and me standing all this time.

Now he offered me one of the chairs, took the other himself, and motioned ben Nazir to a cushion near the window.

A servant brought in the inevitable coffee and cigarettes.

Then he laid a hand on my knee for special emphasis--a fat, pale, unprincipled hand, with that great sapphire gleaming on the middle finger.
"It happens that this idea of a school comes just at the right moment.