Chapter 8 Chapter 7 The Man by the Window

I guess I have to state right away that there is no local color in this story.I don't know anything about archeology, and I don't know if I'd really want to.I thought it was pointless to be involved with buried, dead people and places.Mr. Garrett was right, no doubt, when he said that I had no archaeological temperament. On the very first day I arrived, Mr Jaley asked me if I wanted to see the palace he was - I think he called "Design". But how to design something that was there a long time ago , I really don't understand. So I said I really want to see it. To be honest, I am very excited about this matter. The palace seems to be almost three thousand years old. I don't know at that time they had What kind of palace, is it like the furniture in the tomb I've seen. But, would you believe it? There's not much to see outside of the mud. Dirty dirt sidewalk, about two feet high - that's it Mr. Garrett took me about, and told me something--this is the great court; here are the chambers, and a storey, and various other rooms, leading to the central court All I could think of was: How would he know? But, of course, I'm too polite to say that. I can tell you that this is a real disappointment! In my opinion, the whole excavation looks Looks like nothing but clay--no marble, or gold, or anything to look at--my aunt's house in Crecowood would have been a much more splendid ruin! And those ancient Assyrians, Or whatever they call themselves, probably the "King". When Mr. Garret showed me his ancient "Palace", he handed me over to Father Lavigne. He took me to see the rest of the ancient hill. Here and there, I'm a little afraid of Father Lavigne. Because he's a monk, and he's a foreigner, and he has a deep voice, etc. But he's very kind—but a little vague. Sometimes I feel like that ancient hill It seemed more real to me than it seemed to him.

Mrs. Leidner later explained that Father Lavigne was only interested in "written documents"--as she called them--they wrote everything on clay tablets.These people, with strange pagan marks, were intelligent.There are even some clay tablets used in schools—the homework assigned by the teacher is engraved on one side, and the answers made by the students are engraved on the back.I admit I'm interested in this--it seems very human, don't know if you know what I mean. Father Lavigne walked with me around the site, showing me what temples or palaces were, what private houses were, and what he said was an early Arcadian tomb.The way he talks is very interesting, talking about things on a whim, talking about things now, just inserting a bit of information, and then changing to other topics.

"You're coming here; it's strange. Is Mrs. Leidner really ill, then?" "It's not exactly sick," I said cautiously. "She's a very strange person, a dangerous person I think," he said. "What do you mean by that?" I said, "Dangerous? How dangerous?" He shook his head thoughtfully. "I think she's ruthless," he said. "Yes, I think she can be very ruthless." "Forgive me," I said, "I think you're talking nonsense." He shook his head. "You don't know women as well as I do," he said.

I think that a monk can say such ridiculous things, perhaps because he heard a lot about women during the "admonition", but I also feel a little puzzled, because I am not sure if it is a monk who listens. What about "admonishment", or only priests listen to "admonishment".I think he's wearing such a long robe--it's so long, and rosary beads and all--that he must be a monk! "Yes, she may be ruthless," he said thoughtfully, "I am sure of that, but—hard as she is—as a stone, as hard as marble—yet she is afraid. What is she afraid of!"

I think that's what we all want to know. At least, it's likely that her husband already knew, but I thought no one else would. Suddenly his bright brown eyes stared at me. "It's strange here, isn't it? Do you find it strange? Or do you think it's natural?" "Not very natural," I said after a moment's consideration. "As far as everything is set up here. Comfortable enough, but one doesn't feel very comfortable." "The situation here makes me uneasy, and I have a feeling"—he's suddenly becoming a little more foreign—"I feel like something's slowly brewing. Dr. Leidner, he's not quite at ease either. , he is also worried about one thing."

"Concerned about his wife's health?" "Maybe. But, more than that, he had a—how should I put it?—a sense of uneasiness." Just so, there is a sense of unease. We didn't say anything more, because that's when Dr. Leidner walked towards us.He took me to see a child's grave that had just been dug up, and it was quite miserable - little bits of bone - and a jar or two, and some small particles, which Dr. Leidner told me was a bead necklace. What made me laugh was the workers, you never see so many ragged people - all in long skirts and rags.Their heads were all bound with cloth, as if suffering from toothaches.As they carried the baskets of dirt back and forth, they began to sing—at least I thought it was singing—a strange, monotonous, repetitive song.I noticed most of their eyes were horrible--full of shit, and one or two were nearly blind.I was thinking how poor those people were when Dr. Leidner said, "Some pretty good-looking people, aren't they?" So I thought, what a strange world it is.How can two different people have opposite views on the same thing.I don't quite understand what I mean, but you can guess what I mean.

After a while, Dr. Leidner said that he was going back, because he usually had some tea around ten o'clock in the morning, so I walked back with him, and he talked to me about archaeology along the way.I sort of understand what it was like here in the past—what those streets and houses used to be like.He also showed me the old bread-baking ovens they had unearthed, and said that the Arabs are using the same ovens now as they were then. Mrs Leidner was up when we got home.She looked better today, less thin and tired.Tea was served almost immediately.So Dr. Leidner told her what he had found at the dig site that morning, and he went back to work.Mrs. Leidner asked me if I wanted to see their latest discovery.Of course I said yes, so she took me to the antiquities room.There was a lot of stuff in there - mostly pieces of broken jars, or fully restored jars glued together, in my opinion.I think it's all very likely to be thrown away if not careful.

"Ouch! Oops!" I said, "what a pity it's all so broken, isn't it, are these things really worth saving?" Leidner laughed too much and said, "You don't want Erik to hear you saying that, jars interest him more than anything else. Some of these are the oldest things we have--maybe It's seven thousand years old." So she explained to me that some of them were excavated near the bottom of the excavation.Thousands of years ago, these things were once broken and patched with asphalt.This shows that people at that time cherished the things they used as much as they do now.

"Now," she said, "I'll show you something more exciting." She took a box from the rack, and showed me a beautiful dagger of gold, set with dark blue gems in the hilt. I cried out with joy. Mrs. Leidner laughed. "Yes, everyone likes gold! Except my husband." "Why doesn't Dr. Leidner like it?" "Ah, first of all, it's expensive. The workman who finds a gold vessel, you'll have to pay him as much gold as that thing weighs in,'" "Ouch!" I exclaimed, "but why?" "Oh, that's the custom here, and one of the reasons is that it keeps them from stealing. You see, if they do steal it, it's not because of the archaeological value of the thing, but because of the gold itself, They'll melt it down. A pay like this keeps them honest."

She took down another plate and showed me a really beautiful gold goblet with a ram's head on it. I cried out with joy again. "Yes, it's a beautiful thing, isn't it? These relics were recovered from a prince's tomb. We've found other royal tombs, but nine out of ten have been stolen. This cup is our last Good excavation, this is Arcadian's early supplies, it is a unique boutique!" Mrs. Leidner frowned suddenly, held the glass closer to her eyes, and scratched it lightly with her fingernails. "How special! There really was candle oil on it, and someone must have been here with a candle holder."

She brushed off the wax and put the cup back in its place. Then she showed me some very strange terracotta figures--but most of them were vulgar.Oh, how could the minds of the ancients be so vulgar. When we got back on the porch, Mrs. McGado was sitting there wiping her fingernails.She raised her hand in front of her face, and was complimenting herself on how well she wiped.I thought to myself, what could be a more disgusting color than that orange-red color, it is hard to imagine. Mrs. Leidner had brought from the antiquities room a very delicate teacup and saucer in several fragments.Now, she sets about gluing the pieces together.I watched it for a minute or two, then asked if I could help. "Ah, yes, there's a lot more." She went to get a lot of broken pottery, so we got to work.I soon mastered it, and she praised my ability.I think nurses, nine out of ten, have dexterous hands. , "How busy everyone is," said Mrs. McGado, "it makes me feel too idle, which of course I am." "Why not if you like to be idle?" said Mrs. Leidner. Her voice sounded very bored. At twelve o'clock we have lunch.After lunch, Dr. Leidner and Mr. McGado cleaned some crockery and poured some hydrochloric acid solution on it.There is a jar that turns a lovely green plum color.On the other one appeared the image of a bull's horn.That was really incredible. After pouring hydrochloric acid on the dry mud that could not be washed away with water, it formed a layer of foam and burned it all. Mr. Jaley and Mr. Coleman went out to the digging site.Mr. Rhett went to the studio. "What are you going to do, Louise?" Dr. Leidner asked his wife. "I suppose you need a break?" I figured Mrs. Leidner usually lay down every afternoon. "I'm going to rest for about an hour; then maybe go for a walk." "Okay. The nurse will accompany you, okay?" "Of course." I said. "No, no," said Mrs. Leidner, "I'm going for a walk alone. Don't let the nurse feel that she has so much to do that she can't see me for a moment." "Ah, but, I like to go." I said. "Not really, I think you'd better not go." She was firm--almost decisive. "I'm going to do some private exercise now and then. It's necessary for me." Of course, I don't insist anymore.But when I went to rest a little myself, I found it strange that Mrs. Leidner, in all her nervous terrors, should go for a walk alone and without protection! When I came out of my room at half past three, the courtyard was deserted except for a little boy washing pottery in a large bathtub.And Mr. Emmott was sorting, and as I was going up to them Mrs. Leidner came in through the archway.She appeared more alive than I had seen before.Her eyes were bright, she was full of energy, and she seemed very happy. Dr. Leidner came out of the laboratory to meet her.He showed her a large plate with a picture of a bull's horn on it. "The prehistoric layers have been particularly prolific," he said. "It's been a pretty good excavation period so far. It was a stroke of luck to find that tomb in the first place. The only possible complaint It was Father Lavigne. So far we have found very few steles." "The little inscriptions we already have, he doesn't seem to have researched much," Mrs. Leidner said coldly. "He may be an expert on inscriptions, but he is a very lazy person. The whole afternoon He fell asleep." "We miss Beard," said Dr. Leidner, "and I have the feeling that the man behaved a little unorthodoxly—though, of course, I am not in a position to judge him. But one or two inscriptions he translated, At least it is astonishing, for example, I hardly believe that the inscription on the brick he translated was correct. But he must have known he was right." After tea, Mrs. Leidner asked me if I would like to accompany her for a walk by the river.I thought maybe she was afraid that the refusal to accompany her just now would upset me. I wanted her to know that I wasn't the type to get upset over big things, so I said yes. It was a lovely evening, a path through fields of barley, and then through some flowering villages; at last we came to the banks of the Tigris.The antiquities excavation site is on our left.The workmen were singing that tedious tune.Not far to our right a large water wheel made a strange moaning sound.At first that sound made me very disturbed.But when it came to Feng, I grew to like listening to it, for the sound had a strange, calming effect on me.On the other side of the water wheel is the village where the workers live. "It's pretty pretty here, isn't it?" said Mrs. Leidner. "It's very quiet," I said, "and it seems amusing to me to be so far away from everything." "It's a long way from anywhere," repeated Mrs. Leidner, as I said,--yes, at least it's safe here. " I glanced at her suddenly, but, I thought, she was talking to herself rather than to me.I thought she didn't realize that something was already in her words. We started walking home. Mrs. Leidner grabbed my arm so suddenly that I almost cried out. "Miss Nurse, what is that and what is he doing?" A little way ahead of us, where the trail was approaching the mission house, a man was standing.He was dressed in European clothes and seemed to be on tiptoe, trying to look in a window. As we looked over, he saw us, and immediately continued walking down the path toward us.I felt Mrs. Leidner's grip tighten. "Miss Nurse," she whispered, "Miss Nurse!" "It's all right, my dear, it's all right!" I reassured her. The man came and walked past us.He is an Iraqi.As soon as she saw him come closer, she sighed in relief. "It turned out that it was just an Iraqi," she said. Let's move on.I looked up at the windows as we went by.The windows were not only barred, but were set high above the ground, so that no one could see in, for the ground here was lower than in the courtyard. "Maybe it's just curiosity," I said. Mrs Leidner nodded. "That's it. But, just for a moment, I thought—" Her words broke off suddenly. I thought to myself, "What do you think? That's what I need to know. What do you think?" But one thing I know now—Mrs. Leidner is afraid of a man of flesh and blood.

---

Notes: