One of the doctors had been in Albania, on an inoculating expedition. At
Durazzo he had been received by Essad Pacha, who was delighted to have
his piano played, and to watch the hammers working inside. Like Helen's
babies, "he wanted to see the wheels go wound." The piano and piles of
music must have been a memento of the Prince and Princess of Wied and of
their unhappy attempts at being Mpret and Mpretess--or is it Mpretitza,
or Mpretina? The music was still marked with her name, and was certainly
not a present to Essad.
The stamp of the English was on Uskub. Prices were high. One Turk
offered us a rubbishy silver thing for fifteen dinars; and Jan laughed,
saying that one could see the English had been there. Without blushing
the man pointed to a twin article, saying he would let that go for five
dinars.
What caused us to feel that we had wandered enough? Was it the awful
cinematograph show which led us through an hour and a half of melodrama
without our grasping the plot, or was it that the large copper tray we
bought filled us with a sense of responsibility?
At this wavering moment Lady Paget held a meeting of her staff.
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