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8 January 1912 — Cairo | |
Monday. 8th [January 1912]. Sat in the garden with Eda getting warmed in the sunshine—talking & working. The Butes had been sightseeing all the morning & we all lunched at one o’clock that they might leave by a special train for Alexandria at 2. At 3 Lord Kitchener came & offered to take us to the Bazaars for me to buy a piece of old stuff. Eda & Sir George came with us. He first took us to the shop of a certain Hassan where we turned over every sort of stuff & Lord K. finally decided on my buying a piece of cut Persian velvet for £10. Thence we went to the celebrated Jacob Cohen who at once recognised me as having been at his shop with Hugh Whitaker last year– His prices were so high that after looking at a great many carpets & pieces of stuff & partaking of some Persian tea we left without buying anything & returned to the Agency. Prince Aremberg came to tea with 2 officials of the Suez Canal– He is rather a feeble old gentleman & it was amusing to see him sitting by Lord K. on a settee the latter bored & both half asleep. I poured out the tea for them in the big drawing room. Prince & Princess Hatzfeldt came to dinner in the evening & a French gentleman whose name I did not catch except that it was like “Jamrack.” At 9 o’cl we all went on to a party given by the Egyptian Prime Minister in honor of the Khedive’s accession. Eda & I drove there in an open carriage with Lord Kitchener. The P.M.’s house being too small to hold all the guests invited & the little stage wh was erected, an enormous tent was erected in the garden wh gave a most picturesque effect– The Egyptian patchwork coloured tents are most effective. There were already a great many people assembled but the two rows in front were reserved & Lord K and his friends were shown into the front row. The Ministers & some of the Khedival family joined us. There was some delay in the starting of the performance wh began with a monologue by M. Matrat which was amusing. It was followed by a most painful performance—songs by a Mme Ranval of La Comedia Française. It must have been many years ago since she was there– She is now getting on in age & has lost her voice & had a cold. Poor lady one could not help being sorry for her—it was as painful a fiasco for her as for us all. We then had a little French operetta “La petit Duc” sung by women past their prime in costume & we rejoiced when that was over & Lord Kitchener gave the order to depart. The P. Minister led us to a part of the big tent wh was divided off for refreshments & there we took something & I spoke to those I knew & Lord Kitchener introduced others to me—but he was impatient to be off & the carriage was called & came up so quickly that Mr Storrs had not been able to get out cloaks before we got in. It was very cold and when we got them we were very glad—& so drove off—& after stopping a few minutes to talk over & abuse the party we went to our rooms. | |
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