Of the preparations made by the chief physician to receive the Shah as
his guest, and of the great expense which threatened him.
In my walk I had almost determined to quit the doctors house
immediately, and abandon Tehran, such was the desperate view I took of
my situation; but my love for Zeenab overcame this resolution; and
in the hope of seeing her again, I continued to drag on a miserable
existence as a dependent on Mirza Ahmak. He had no suspicion that I was
his rival, and that I had been the cause of the late confusion in his
harem; but he was aware that some one must have had access to it, and
therefore took such precautions for the future, that I found great
difficulty in discovering how it fared with my love, or what had been
the consequences of the anger of the khanum. I daily watched the door of
the anderûn, in the hope of seeing Zeenab in the suite of her mistress
when she went out, but in vain: there was no indication of her, and
my imagination made me apprehend either that she was kept in close
confinement, or that she had fallen a victim of the violence of her
enemies in the harem. My impatience had risen to the utmost, when I, one
day, perceived that Nûr Jehan,[47] the black slave, had issued from the
house by herself, and was making her way to the bazaar. I followed her,
and trusting to the friendship that she formerly entertained for the
mistress of my heart, I ventured to accost her.
Peace be with you, Nûr Jehan! said I; where are you going in such
haste by yourself?
May your kindness never be less, Aga Hajji[48], answered she; I am
bound to the druggists for our Cûrdish slave.
What! Zeenab? exclaimed I, in great agitation. What has befallen her?
Is she sick?
Ah, poor thing, replied the good negro girl, she has been sick and
sorry too. You Persians are a wicked nation. We who are black, and
slaves, have twice the heart that you have. You may talk of your
hospitality, and of your kindness to strangers; but was there ever an
animal, not to say a human creature, treated in the way that this poor
stranger has been?
What have they done to her? For Gods sake tell me, Nûr Jehan! said I;
by my soul, tell me!
Softened by my manner, and by the interest which I took in what she
said, she informed me, that in consequence of the jealousy of her
mistress, Zeenab had been confined to a small back room, whence she
was prohibited stirring; that the treatment which she had received had
occasioned a violent fever, which had brought her to the brink of the
grave, but that her youth and strength had enabled her to overcome it:
and now that she was quite recovered, her mistress began to relent, and
had permitted her to use the _khena_ and the _surmeh_,[49] which she
was about to procure from the druggist. But she was sure that this
indulgence would never have been granted, if the report had not been
spread, that it was the Shahs intention to pay Mirza Ahmak a visit; and
as it is his privilege to enter every mans harem at pleasure, and to
inspect his women unveiled; her mistress, who wanted to make as great a
display of slaves and attendants as possible, had released Zeenab from
the confinement of her room, in order that she should wait upon her: but
she was still restricted to the walls of the secret chamber.
I was relieved by this intelligence, and began to turn in my mind how I
could manage to obtain an interview; but such insurmountable obstacles
did I foresee, that, fearful of entailing fresh miseries upon her, I
determined to remain quiet for the present, and to follow the poets
advice--to fold up the carpet of my desires, and not to prowl round
and round my inclination.
In the meanwhile, the day of the Shahs departure for his usual
summer campaign approached; and, according to custom, he passed the
intermediate time in visiting the noblemen of his court, and thereby
reaping for himself and his suite a harvest of presents, which every one
who is distinguished by so great an honour is obliged to make.
Nûr Jehans intelligence to me was true: the king had selected Mirza
Ahmak as one of those to whom he intended the honour of a visit; for the
doctor had the reputation of being rich, and he had long been marked as
prey fit for the royal grasp. Accordingly, he was informed of the day
when this new and special proof of favour would be conferred upon him;
and as a most distinguishing mark of it, he was told, that it should not
be an ordinary visit, but that the doctor should enjoy the satisfaction
of entertaining his majesty: in short, the king would take his
_shâm_,[50] or dinner, at his house.
The doctor, half elated with the greatness of the distinction, half
trembling at the ruin that awaited his finances, set to work to make all
the necessary preparations. The first thing to be settled was the value
and nature of the _pah-endaz_.[51] This he knew would be talked of
throughout the country; and this was to be the standard of the favour
in which he stood with his sovereign. His vanity was roused on the one
hand, and his avarice alarmed on the other. If he exhibited too much
wealth, he would remain a mark for future exactions; and if he made no
display, his rivals in consequence would treat him with contempt. He had
not deigned to consult me for along time, and I had dwindled into a
mere hanger-on; but recollecting the success which had attended my
negotiation with the European doctor, he called me again into his
councils.
Hajji, said he, what is to be done in this difficult case? I have
received a hint, that the king expects from me a considerable pah-endaz,
and this from the lord high treasurer himself, whose magnificence on
such occasions is the theme of wonder throughout the whole of Persia.
Now, it is impossible that I can rival him. He insisted, that I ought
to spread broad cloth from the entrance of the street to where the king
alights from his horse; that there he should tread upon cloth of gold,
until he reached the entrance of the garden; and from thence, the whole
length of the court to his seat, a carpet of Cashmerian shawls was to
be extended, each shawl increasing in value, until the one upon the
_musnud_, or carpet of state, which should be of an extraordinary price.
Now, you know I am not the man to make such display: I am a _hakîm_, one
of the learned: I make no profession of riches. Besides, tis plain that
the lord high treasurer only says this, because he has cloth, brocades,
and shawls to dispose of, which he wishes me to take off his hands. No,
it is impossible that I can listen to his extravagant proposals. What
then is to be done?
I answered, Tis true that you are a hakîm; but then you are the royal
physician; you hold a situation of great consequence: besides, for the
sake of the lady, your wife, you are bound to do something worthy of
such an alliance. The king will be displeased if you do not receive him
in a manner that will show your sense of the confidence he reposes in
you.
Yes, said the Mirza, and that may all be very true, friend Hajji;
still I am but a doctor, and cannot be supposed to have all these
shawls, brocades, and stuffs by me whenever I want them.
But what can you do otherwise? replied I; you would not strew the
road with jalap, and spread his majestys seat with a blister plaster?
No, said he; but we might strew flowers, which, you know, are cheap;
and perhaps we might sacrifice an ox, and break plenty of bottles full
of sweetmeats under his horses feet.[52]--Would not that answer?
It is impossible, exclaimed I; if you act thus, the Shah, and your
enemies, will devise means to strip you as naked as my hand. Perhaps
there is no necessity to do all the lord high treasurer advises; but you
might spread chintz in the street, velvet at the alighting spot,
brocade in the court yard, and shawls in the room; that will not be very
expensive.
You do not say ill, said the doctor: I might perhaps manage that. We
have chintz in the house, which was intended for the womens trowsers;
that will probably do. A patient gave me a piece of Ispahan velvet the
other day; I can sell my last dress of honour for some brocade; and two
or three of my wifes shawls will suffice for the room. By the blessing
of Ali, that is settled.
Ah, but the harem, exclaimed I; the Shah must go there. You know it
brings good luck to be looked at by the king, and your women must appear
well-dressed on the occasion.
Oh, as for that, said the doctor, they can borrow; they can borrow
anything they like from their friends--jewels, trowsers, jackets,
shawls--they can get whatever they want.
Not so, said my lady the khanum. As soon as this arrangement was
mentioned to her, she protested against it; she called her husband a low
born, niggardly carle; one unfit for the honour of possessing her for
a wife; and insisted upon his conducting himself on this occasion in
a manner worthy of the high distinction that was about to be conferred
upon him. It was in vain to contend against her; and therefore the
preparations were made upon a scale far exceeding what the doctor had
intended; and every individual of his house appeared to be actuated by
only one feeling, that of making him refund all that money which he so
long and so unpitifully had extorted from others.