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. The news is at once taken to the
servants of the women's apartments, where the name is given to a
eunuch, who bears it to his mistress.
In the meantime the party has arrived. The mule is unhitched,
cart drawn to the gate, screen spread, servant descends from
front, and the Princess with the help of a couple of eunuchs is
escorted through a long covered walk into the court, where the
ladies of the household are waiting on the veranda to receive
her. As she enters the gateway the hostess begins slowly to
descend the steps. The others follow, and they meet in the centre
of the court. Low courtesies are made by each and formal
inquiries as to each other's health. There is a short stop and
certain formalities before the guest will ascend the steps ahead
of the hostess. The same occurs again on entering the reception
hall, and taking the seat of honour. The luckless foreigner
sometimes makes the mistake of conceding to her guest's modesty
and allows her to take a lower seat, which is a grievous offense,
and she is only pardoned on the plea that she is an outside
barbarian, and does not understand the rules of polite society.
After she is seated tea is served, and servants bring in trays of
sweetmeats, fruit, nuts, dried melon seeds, candied fruits and
small cakes. One of these nuts is unique. It is an "English
walnut" in which, after the outer hull is removed, the shell is
self-cracked, and folds back in places so that the kernel
appears
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