DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0126
PREPARATIONS FOR DINNER. 117
to make my toilet for dinner. As there was a
lady in the case, I had some doubt whether I ought
not to shave, not having performed that operation
since I left Cairo; but as I had already seen the
gentlemen of the party, and had fallen, moreover,
into the fashion of the country, of shaving the head
and wearing the turban (one of the greatest lux-
uries in Egypt, by-the-way), and could not in any
event sit with my head uncovered, I determined to
stick to the beard ; and disguising myself in a
clean shirt, and giving directions to my boatmen
to be ready to start at ten o'clock, I walked along
the bank to the tent of my new friends. I do not
know whether my notion in the morning was right,
or whether I had misapprehended things, but at
any rate I had no reason to complain of my recep-
tion now ; I think, myself, that there was a differ-
ence, which I accounted for in my own way, by
ascribing to their discovery that I was an Ameri-
can. I have observed that English meeting abroad,
though they would probably stand by each other
to the death in a quarrel, are ridiculously shy of
each other as acquaintances, on account of the
great difference of caste at home. As regards
Americans, the case is different, and to them the
English display none of that feeling. After I had
started on my ramble, Paul had planted my flag
at the door of the tent, and among the other ad-
vantages which that flag brought me, I included
my invitation to dinner, agreeable acquaintances,
and one of the most pleasant evenings I spent on
to make my toilet for dinner. As there was a
lady in the case, I had some doubt whether I ought
not to shave, not having performed that operation
since I left Cairo; but as I had already seen the
gentlemen of the party, and had fallen, moreover,
into the fashion of the country, of shaving the head
and wearing the turban (one of the greatest lux-
uries in Egypt, by-the-way), and could not in any
event sit with my head uncovered, I determined to
stick to the beard ; and disguising myself in a
clean shirt, and giving directions to my boatmen
to be ready to start at ten o'clock, I walked along
the bank to the tent of my new friends. I do not
know whether my notion in the morning was right,
or whether I had misapprehended things, but at
any rate I had no reason to complain of my recep-
tion now ; I think, myself, that there was a differ-
ence, which I accounted for in my own way, by
ascribing to their discovery that I was an Ameri-
can. I have observed that English meeting abroad,
though they would probably stand by each other
to the death in a quarrel, are ridiculously shy of
each other as acquaintances, on account of the
great difference of caste at home. As regards
Americans, the case is different, and to them the
English display none of that feeling. After I had
started on my ramble, Paul had planted my flag
at the door of the tent, and among the other ad-
vantages which that flag brought me, I included
my invitation to dinner, agreeable acquaintances,
and one of the most pleasant evenings I spent on