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The Princess And The Jewel Doctor 1905 By: Robert Smythe Hichens (1864-1950) |
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By Robert Hichens Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers Copyright, 1905
In St. Petersburg society there may be met at the present time a certain
Russian Princess, who is noted for her beauty, for an ugly defect she
has lost the forefinger of her left hand and for her extraordinary
attachment to the city of Tunis, where she has spent at least three
months of each year since 1890 the year in which she suffered the
accident that deprived her of a finger. What that accident was, and
why she is so passionately attached to Tunis, nobody in Russia seems to
know, not even her doting husband, who bows to all her caprices. But two
persons could explain the matter a Tunisian guide named Abdul, and a
rather mysterious individual who follows a humble calling in the Rue
Ben Ziad, close to the Tunis bazaars. This latter is the Princess's
personal attendant during her yearly visit to Tunis. He accompanies her
everywhere, may be seen in the hall of her hotel when she is at home, on
the box of her carriage when she drives out, close behind her when
she is walking. He is her shadow in Africa. Only when she goes back to
Russia does he return to his profession in the Rue Ben Ziad. This is the exact history of the accident which befell the Princess in
1890. In the spring of that year she arrived one night at Tunis. She
had not long been married to an honourable man whom she adored. She was
rich, pretty, and popular. Yet her life was clouded by a great fear
that sometimes made the darkness of night almost intolerable to her. She
dreaded lest the darkness of blindness should come upon her. Both her
mother, now dead, and her grandfather had laboured under this defect.
They had been born with sight, and had become totally blind ere they
reached the age of forty. Princess Danischeff as we may call her for
the purpose of this story trembled when she thought of their fate,
and that it might be hers. Certain books that she read, certain
conversations on the subject of heredity that she heard in Petersburg
society fed her terror. Occasionally, too, when she stood under a strong
light she felt a slight pain in her eyes. She never spoke of her fear,
but she fell into a condition of nervous exhaustion that alarmed her
husband and her physician. The latter recommended foreign travel as a
tonic. The former, who was detained in the capital by political affairs,
reluctantly agreed to a separation from his wife. And thus it came
about, that, late one night of spring, the Princess and her companion,
the elderly Countess de Rosnikoff, arrived in Tunis at the close of a
tour in Algeria, and put up at the Hotel Royal. The bazaars of Tunis are among the best that exist in the world of
bazaars, and, on the morning after her arrival, the Princess was anxious
to explore them with her companion. But Madame de Rosnikoff was fatigued
by her journey from Constantine. She begged the Princess to go without
her, desiring earnestly to be left in her bedroom with a cup of weak
tea and a French novel. The Princess, therefore, ordered a guide and set
forth to the bazaars. The guide's name was Abdul. He was a talkative young Eastern, and as he
turned with the Princess into the network of tiny alleys that spreads
from the Bab el bahar to the bazaars, he poured forth a flood of
information about the marvels of his native city. The Princess listened
idly. That morning she was cruelly pre occupied. As she stepped out
of the hotel into the bright sunshine she had felt a sharp pain in her
eyes, and now, though she held over her head a large green parasol, the
pain continued. She looked at the light and thought of the darkness that
might be coming upon her, and the chatter of Abdul sounded vague in her
ears. Presently, however, she was forced to attend to him, for he asked
her a direct question. "To day they sell jewels by auction near the Mosquée Djama ez Zitouna,"
he said. "Would the gracious Princess like to see the market of the
jewels?" The Princess put her hand to her eyes and assented in a low voice... Continue reading book >>
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Literature |
Short stories |
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