And Behind Us
Followed The Boy Mohammed, Looking More Downcast And Ashamed Of Himself
Than I Can Possibly Describe; He Was Still In His Rags, And He Felt
Keenly That Every Visitor Staring At Him Would Mentally Inquire,-
"Who may that snob be?"
With the deepest dejectedness he squeezed himself into a corner, and
Shaykh Nur, who was foully dirty, as an Indian en voyage always is,
would have joined him in his shame, had I not ordered the "slave" to
make himself generally useful.
It is customary for all relations and friends to call upon the
traveller the very day he returns, that is to say, if amity is to
endure. The pipes therefore stood ready filled, the Diwans were duly
spread, and the coffee[FN#10] was being boiled upon a brazier in the
passage.
[p.291] Scarcely had I taken my place at the cool windowsill,-it was
the best in the room,-when the visitors began to pour in, and the
Shaykh rose to welcome and embrace them. They sat down, smoked, chatted
politics, asked all manner of questions about the other wayfarers and
absent friends; drank coffee; and, after half an hour's visit, rose
abruptly, and, exchanging embraces, took leave. The little men entered
the assembly, after an accolade at the door, noiselessly, squatted upon
the worst seats with polite conges to the rest of the assembly; smoked,
took their coffee, as it were, under protest, and glided out of the
room as quietly as they crept in.
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