EUROPEAN AGAIN
I slipped into the quffa, my fez still upon my head, still “effendi,” and sat quiet, waiting till we should arrive at the back-stairs of Bagdad’s only hotel, a humble house kept by a Christian. When we arrived I hurried to the door, and standing in the shade of the portal, bade the men of the quffa wait beside my luggage. In the dark and shadow I slipped the European hat upon my head, threw the dressing-gown over my arm like an overcoat, and stood, a European in appearance, if somewhat shabby.
The door opened, I entered, and pleading fatigue sat in a dark corner while the baggage was brought in and the boatman paid. I was shown to a room, and slept for an hour, and woke in the morning to a hot bath and a meal of European bread, milky tea, and boiled eggs, the sight of which discomfited me, so that I passed them away and called for tea from a tea-shop—milkless, and in a small glass—not a footbath of a cup.
I spent most of the day trying to get used to sitting upon a chair, but it was horribly uncomfortable, and my legs would gather under me in spite of myself.
I felt stranger and more lonely than I had done ever before. Gone was the coffee-house and the bazaar, of the multitudes of which I was one, and equal, with whom I spoke and laughed, and fought and wrangled. They were far away, and I must learn to look upon them as upon strange and inferior beings, if such were now possible, and taking place again on the platform of Western birth, once more go on my way affecting to ignore their joys and sorrows—which had so lately been my own.
FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER XII:
[70] It is noticeable that the mother and wife of Ma’mun were both Persian, and during the period of the khalifas of Abbasid extraction—the most brilliant—it was the Persian influence which contributed a great deal towards its liberality and high literary standards.
[71] Bustan us Siaha.
[72] A Literary History of Persia, vol. i., pp. 323–328.
[73] Persons claiming direct descent from the prophet.