my feet shall drag one after the other,
without the smallest indication of a strut. Looking one's character is
all in all; for if, perchance, I happen to say a foolish thing, it will
be counted as wisdom, when it comes from a mortified looking face, and
a head bound round with a mollah's shawl, particularly when it is
accompanied with a deep sigh, and an exclamation of _Allah ho Akbar!_
or _Allah, Allah il Allah!_ and if, perchance, I am brought face to face
with a man of real learning, and am called upon to sustain my character,
I have only to look wise, shut my lips, and strictly keep my own
counsel. Besides, I can read; and, with the practice that I intend
to adopt, it will not be long before I shall be able to write a good
hand;--that alone, by enabling me to make a copy of the Koran, will
entitle me to the respect of the world.'

With reflections such as these I passed my time until it was necessary
to decide whither I should bend my steps. Everything told me that I
ought to make the most of the good impression which I had left behind
me, on the minds of the mushtehed of Kom and his disciples, for he was
the most likely person to help me in my new career: he might recommend
me to some mollah of his acquaintance, who would take me as his scribe
or his attendant, and teach me the way that I should go. Besides, I
left him so abruptly when through his means I had been released from
my confinement in the sanctuary, that I felt I had a debt of gratitude
still to pay. 'I will take him a present,' said I; 'he shall not say
that I am unmindful of his goodness.' Accordingly I turned over in
my thoughts what I ought to present, when I again determined upon a
praying-carpet, which I forthwith purchased; reflecting, at the same
time, that it would make a comfortable seat, when duly folded, on the
top of my mule's pad.

I had now nearly finished all that I had to do, previous to my
departure. I was equipped ready for my journey, and I flattered myself
that my outward appearance was that of a rigid mollah. I did not take
upon myself the title of one, but rather left that to circumstances;
but, in the meanwhile, the epithet of Hajji, which had been given to
me as a pet name when I was a child, now came very opportunely to my
assistance, to aid me to sustain my new character.

One duty I still had to accomplish, and that was to pay the expenses of
my father's funeral. I do own that, cheated as I had been of my lawful
patrimony,