'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎27] (56/360)

TEHRAN
27
assured me that a head-waiter, whom she had dismissed,
had tried his hardest to injure her ever since. Articles
of clothing sent home from the wash were torn in an
unaccountable way, and inquiry elicited that Mirza Akbar
had been seen in close conversation with the washerman.
Far worse than that, one of my friend's carriage horses
was killed by means of a nail driven into its foot, and,
strange to say, Akbar had been at the forge that day
during the operation of shoeing the poor animal. All
sorts of movable property began to disappear from the
house, until it was discovered that the dismissed servant
was in collusion with the lady's ' bajil or maid, therefore
he had to turn his talents in another direction. His great
ingenuity prevented any of these misdeeds being brought
home to him, and he tried yet another malicious trick,
when waiting at table at a house where my friend was
dining. Ice pudding was handed round by Mirza Akbar,
and, as is customary in Persia, the waiter puts the cream
ready into the serving spoon, so as to save the guests the
bother of cutting it for themselves. At the first mouthful
my friend found she had all but swallowed a pin that
lay concealed in her portion of the pudding. She felt
Akbar's intense gaze of expectation, and was convinced
that he alone was the culprit; but it was useless to make
a fuss about the matter, as the whole blame would inevitably
have been thrown upon the cook.
Another lady gave me an account of what happened to
her when her husband left her at their house in the country
and took a short tour round Demavend. After a couple
of days the entire body of servants deserted her and spent
their time in the bazaars at Tehran, leaving her and the
children without any food in the house.