From a vender of pipe-sticks he becomes a rich Aga, but feels all the
inconvenience of supporting a false character.
I soon found that I had a very difficult part to perform. A Chinese
philosopher is said to have remarked, that if the operation of eating
was confined to what takes place between the mouth and the palate, then
nothing could be more pleasant, and one might eat for ever; but it is
the stomach, the digestive organs, and, in fact, the rest of the body,
which decide ultimately whether the said operation has been prejudicial
or healthful. So it is in marriage. If it were confined to what takes
place between man and wife, nothing more simple; but then come the ties
of relationship and the interests of families, and they decide much upon
its happiness or misery.
My fair spouse entertained me for several successive days after our
marriage with such manifold and intricate stories of her family, of
their quarrels and their makings-up, of their jealousies and their
hatreds, and particularly of their interested motives in their conduct
towards her, that she made me feel as if I might have got into a nest
of scorpions. She recommended that we should use the greatest
circumspection in the manner of informing her brothers of our marriage;
and remarked that although we were so far secure in being lawful man and
wife, still as much of our future happiness depended upon their goodwill
towards us (they being men of wealth, and consequently of influence in
the city), we ought to do everything in our power to conciliate them.
As a precautionary measure, she had spread a report that she was on the
point of being married to one of the richest and most respectable of the
Bagdad merchants, and in a conversation with one of her brothers, had
not denied, although she had abstained from confessing it to be the
case. She now requested that our marriage might be proclaimed, and to
that effect recommended that we should give an entertainment to all
her relations, and that no expense should be spared in making it as
magnificent as possible, in order that they might be convinced she had
not thrown herself away upon an adventurer, but, in fact, had made an
alliance worthy of them and of herself.
She found me ready in seconding her wishes, and I was delighted to have
so early an opportunity to make a display of our wealth. I began by
hiring a suite of servants, each of whom had their appropriate situation
and title. I exchanged the deceased emirs family of pipes for others of
greater value, and of the newest fashion. In the same manner I provided
myself with a new set of coffee-cups, the saucers of which were
fashioned in the most expensive manner; some of filigreed gold, others
of enamel, and one or two, for my own particular use, inlaid with
precious stones. Then, as I had stepped into the emirs shoes, I
determined to slip on his pelisses also. He was curious in the luxuries
of dress, for his wardrobe consisted of robes and furs of great value,
which his widow informed me had existed in his family for many years,
and which I did not now blush to adjust to my own shoulders. In short,
before the day of the entertainment came, I had time to set up an
establishment worthy of a great aga; and I do believe, although born a
barber, yet in look, manner, and deportment, no one could have acted a
part truer to my new character than I did.
But I must not omit to mention, that previously to the feast, I had not
failed to visit my new relations in all due form; and although I was
greatly anxious respecting the result of our meeting, yet when I rode
through the streets mounted on one of the emirs fat horses, caparisoned
in velvet housings that swept the ground, and surrounded by a crowd of
well-dressed servants, my delight and exultation exceeded any feeling
that I had ever before experienced. To see the crowd make way, look up,
and lay their hands on their breast as I passed,--to feel and hear the
fretting and champing of my horses bit as he moved under me, apparently
proud of the burden he bore,--to enjoy the luxury of a soft and easy
seat, whilst others were on foot; in fine, to revel in those feelings of
consequence and consideration which my appearance procured, and not to
have been intoxicated, was more than mere humanity could withstand, and
accordingly I was completely beside myself. But what added most to
the zest of this my first exhibition, was meeting some of my own needy
countrymen in the streets, who had been my companions in the caravan
from Bagdad, and who, in their sheepskin caps and thin scanty cotton
garments, made but a sorry figure among the gaily dressed Osmanlies, and
seemed to stand forth expressly to make me relish in the highest degree
the good fortune with which I had been visited. Whether or no they
recognized me, I know not; but this I recollect, that I turned my head
on one side as I passed, and buried my face as well as I could in the
combined shade of my beard, great turban, and furred pelisse.
My visits succeeded better than I could have expected. Whatever might
have been the motives of my wifes brothers, they behaved to me with
marked civility, and indeed flattered me into the belief that I had
conferred an honour on their family in taking their sister off their
hands. Merchants as they were, their conversation turned principally
upon trade, and I made my best endeavours to talk up to the character
I had assumed, and convinced them of the extent of my undertakings in
commerce. But, at the same time, great was my circumspection not to
commit myself; for when they began to question and cross-examine me upon
the trade of Bagdad and Bassorah, the relations of those cities and of
Arabia in general with India and China, and to propose joint concerns in
their various articles and produce, I immediately reduced my speech
to monosyllables, entrenched myself in general terms, and assented to
proposals which led to nothing.
Having completed my visits, I felt that one duty was still left, which
was, to make the good old Osman a partaker of my happiness, to inform
him of my marriage, and to invite him to our ensuing entertainment. But,
shall I own it? so much did I feel that I was acting a false part, and
so fearful was I of being detected, that I dared not trust even him,
taciturn as he naturally was, with my secret, and therefore determined
for the present to have no communication with him, or, in fact, with any
of my countrymen, until I could feel myself so securely fixed in my new
situation as to be fearless of being displaced.
[Illustration: Hajji curses Shekerleb and her relations. 37.jpg]