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voice had when he expected his orders to be obeyed without question.
    He looked at her through narrowed eyes, letting the silence hover in the air, as he did when he wished to impress his subordinates. Outside, in the courtyard, there were voices, shouts of greeting. The guests were starting to arrive. Sarai put her small hand on her father’s broad wrist. He rose to his full height, with all the solemnity he could muster.
    â€œA father chooses the man who will take his daughter for a wife for reasons that suit him. The man I have chosen for you suits me. If he suits me, he will suit you.”
    â€œI only want to see his face.”
    â€œYou’ll have all your married life to see it.”
    â€œWhat if I don’t like it?”
    â€œA marriage is not a whim. A husband isn’t chosen because he has a nice nose.”
    â€œI’m not talking about his nose. Wasn’t it you who taught me to recognize a man’s destiny by observing his face and his walk?”
    â€œIn that case, trust me. I’ve made the right choice.”
    â€œFather, please!”
    â€œThat’s enough!” Ichbi Sum-Usur said, finally losing patience. “What do you think? That I’ll go with you to his house so that you can size him up? Almighty Ea, protect me! Perhaps I should also send messengers all over the city to announce that Ichbi Sum-Usur has changed his mind about the marriage of his daughter the goddess because the husband he chose isn’t to her taste! Sarai, Sarai! Please don’t offend the gods with any more of this nonsense.”
    He turned, angrily seized the tablet of fresh clay on which the scribe had been writing earlier, and brandished it in front of Sarai’s face.
    â€œThis tablet is your contract as a wife. There are still seven days, seven days before another one exactly the same comes back to me, carrying the imprint of your bridegroom and his father. Seven days of banquets, chanting, and prayers that are going to cost me two thousand minas of barley! Seven days during which my favorite daughter has but one right and one duty: to be beautiful and to smile.”
    His voice had risen, the last words spoken with such anger that they must have been heard from the courtyard. He threw the tablet on the table and carefully readjusted his tunic, which had slipped from his shoulder.
    â€œThe soothsayer is waiting for us. Let’s hope he doesn’t discover some disaster in the entrails.”

    THE soothsayer was an old man, so thin that there seemed to be almost nothing of his body beneath his toga. His hair and beard, perfectly combed and oiled, covered his shoulders and chest. All that could be seen of his face was his black pupils, as luminous as polished stones.
    Sarai was standing between her father and Kiddin. She could feel their warmth against her shoulders and hear their breathing. From time to time, Kiddin glanced at her, but she averted her eyes. He made no secret of the fact that he had heard their father’s outburst. When he had joined them on their way to the temple, his smile had spoken volumes. In any case, there was no need for him to speak his thoughts out loud. Sarai could guess them as well as if he had whispered them in her ear: “This time, sister, our father has held out. He isn’t giving in to your whims! It was about time! Do you still think you’re his favorite?”
    All that remained was to hope that the gods would be good to her, and that her father hadn’t chosen for her a husband as arrogant and boastful as Kiddin! She wouldn’t be able to stand someone like that for a single day!
    Sarai banished these thoughts. She mustn’t think bad things while the
barù
was beginning the ceremony. On the contrary, she must open her heart to the soothsayer and the Lords of Heaven. Let them see how much good she had inside her. Let them make sure that her husband was a man capable of cultivating all that was best in her.
    She