The Captain of the Janizaries
Page 43
CHAPTER XLIII.
Morsinia's fears, and her horror at the anticipated life in the harem,were not confirmed by its actual scenes. Except for the constantsurveillance of the Nubian eunuchs and female attendants, there was norestriction upon her liberty. She passed through the familiarcorridors, and rested upon the divan in what had been her own chamberin better days. Other female captives became her companions; but amongthem were none of those belonging to Constantinople. Suburbanvillages were represented; but most of the odalisks[84] wereCircassian beauties, whose conduct did not indicate that they felt anyshame in their condition. They indulged in jealous rivalry, estimatingtheir own worth by the sums which the agents of the Sultan had paidtheir parents for their possession; or bantering one another as to whoof their number would first meet the fancy of their royal master.There were several Greeks, who, with more modesty of speech, sparednone of the arts of the toilet to prepare themselves to better theircondition in the only way that was now open to them. A Coptic girl hadbeen sent by Eenal, the Borghite Khalif of Egypt, as a present to theSultan. Her form was slight, and without the fullness of developmentwhich other races associate with female beauty, but of wonderful graceof pose and motion; her face was broad; eyes wide and expressionless;mouth straight. Yet her features had that symmetry and balance whichgave to them a strange fascination. The Turcoman Emir who had alreadygiven his daughter to Mahomet--the nuptials with whom he wascelebrating when called to the throne--exercised still further hisfatherly office in presenting to his son-in-law as fine a pair ofblack eyes as ever flashed their cruel commands to an amative heart.To study this physiognomical museum afforded Morsinia an entertainingrelief from the otherwise constant torture of her thoughts.
To her further diversion one was introduced into the harem who spokeher own Albanian tongue. This new comer was of undoubted beauty, sofar as that quality could be the product of merely physical elements.It was of the kind that might bind a god on earth, but could neverhelp a soul to heaven. Her lower face, with full red lips arching thepearliest teeth, and complexion ruddy with the glow of health, shadinginto the snowy bosom, might perhaps serve to make a Venus; but herupper features, the low forehead and dilated nostrils, could neverhave been made to bespeak the thoughtful Minerva in this retreat ofthose, who, to the Moslem imagination, are the types of heavenlyperfection. Her eyes were bright, but only with surface lustre. Hernature evidently contained no depths which could hold either nobleresentment or self sacrificing love; either grand earthly passion orheavenly faith.
This woman's vanity did not long keep back the story of her life. Shetold of her conquest of the village swains who fought for thepossession of her charms; of the devotion of an Albanian prince whotook her dowerless in preference to the ladies of great family andfortune, and would have bestowed upon her the heirship to his estates:of how she was stolen away from the great castle by a company ofTurkish officers, who afterward fought among themselves for theprivilege of presenting her to the Valide Sultana;[85] for it wasabout the time of the Ramedan feast when the Sultan's mother made anannual gift to her son of the most beautiful woman she could secure.The vain captive declared that the jealousy of the odalisks atAdrianople had led the Kislar Aga to send her here to Constantinople.
"And who was the Albanian nobleman whose bride you had become?" askedMorsinia.
"Oh, one who is to be king of Albania one day, the Voivode Amesa."
"Ah!" said Morsinia, "this is news from my country. When was itdetermined that Amesa should be king?"
"Oh! every one speaks of it at the castle as if it were wellunderstood. And when he becomes king then he will claim me again fromMahomet, though he must ransom me with half his kingdom. Yes, I am tobe a queen; and indeed I may be one already, for perhaps Lord Amesa isnow on the throne. And that is the reason I wear the cord of gold inmy hair; for one day my royal lover will put the crown here."
The bedizened beauty rose and paced to and fro through the greatsalon. The pride which gave the majestic toss to her head, however itwould have marred that ethereal form which the inner eye of themoralist or the Christian always sees, and which is called character,only gave an additional charm to her;--as the delicate yet statelycomb of the peacock adds to the fascination of that bird. Her carriagecombined the gracefulness of perfect anatomy and health with thedignity which conceit, thoroughly diffused in muscle and nerve, lentto all her movements. With that step upon it no carpet beneath athrone would have been dishonored. Her dress was in exquisite keepingwith her person. The close fitting zone or girdle about her waist leftthe bust uncontorted; a model which needed no device to supplementthe perfection of nature. A robe of purple velvet trailed luxuriantlybehind; but in front was looped so as to display the loose trousers ofwhite silk which were gathered below the knee and fell in full rufflesabout the unstockinged ankles, but not so low as to conceal the ringsof silver which clasped them, and the slippers of yellow satin, endingin long and curved points, which protruded from beneath.
As the other women gazed at this self-assumed queen of the harem thegreen fire of jealousy flashed alike from black eyes and blue. Thestraight thin noses of the Greeks for the moment forgot their classicmodels, and dilated as if in rivalry of that flattened feature of theEgyptian; while the straight mouth of the daughter of the Nile writhedin indescribable curves, indicative of commingled wrath, hatred, piqueand scorn.
This parade would have produced in Morsinia the feeling of contempt,were it not for that sisterly interest which was awakened by the factthat she was her own country-woman. Morsinia's face, usually calm inits great dignity and reserve, now flushed with the struggle betweenindignation and pity for the girl.
At this moment the purple hangings which separated the salon from theopen court were held aside by the silver staff of the eunuch incharge; and the young Padishah stood as a spectator of the scene.
"Ah! Tamlich," cried he, addressing the black eunuch, "you were rightin saying that the great haremlik at Adrianople, with its thousandgoddesses, could not rival this temporary one for the fairness of thebirds you have caged in it."
The women made the temineh--a salutation with the right hand justsweeping the floor, and then pressed consecutively to the heart, thelips and the forehead; a movement denoting reverence, and, at the sametime, giving field for the display of the utmost grace of motion.
The Padishah passed among these his slaves with the license whichbetokened his absolute ownership; stroking their hair and toying withtheir persons according to his amiable or insolent caprice. Morsinia,however, was spared this familiarity. The Sultan himself coloredslightly as he addressed her a few words in Greek, of which language,in common with several others, he knew enough to act as his owninterpreter. His questions were respectful, all limited to her comfortin her new home. With Elissa, the queenly Albanian, he was at once onterms of intimacy. Her manner betokened that she gave to him only toowillingly whatever he might be disposed to take.
As the Sultan withdrew, the eunuch Tamlich remarked to him:
"My surmise of your Excellency's judgment was verified. Said I notthat the two Arnaouts were the fairest? And did I not behold yourMajesty gaze longest upon them?"
"I commend your taste, Tamlich," replied Mahomet. "But those two areas unlike as a ruby and a pearl."
"But as fair as either, are they not? The chief hamamjina[86] declaresthat the blue-eyed one has the most perfect form she ever saw; andthat it is a form which will improve with years. Morsinia Hanoum[87]will be more fit for Paradise, while Elissa Hanoum may lose the graceof the maiden as a matron. But the cherry is ripe for the pluckingnow."
"I like the ruby better than the pearl," said the Sultan. "I cannotquite fathom the deep eye of the latter. She thinks too much. I wouldnot have women think. They are to make us stop thinking. The problemsof state are sufficiently perplexing: I want no human problem in myarms."
"But one who thinks may have some skill in affording amusement. Have Inot heard thee say, Sire, 'Blessed is the one who can invent a newrecr
eation?' That requires thinking."
"Right, Tamlich! can she sing?"
"Ay! your Majesty, to the Greek cythera; and such songs that, thoughthey know not a word of them--for the songs are in her own Arnaouttongue--the odalisks all fall to weeping."
"I like not such singing," said Mahomet. "To make people think withher thoughtful eyes is bad enough in a woman. To make them weep withher voice is wicked, is Christian. I will give her away to some onewho wants a wife that thinks. There is Hamed Bey, one of themuderris[88] who is to be put at the head of my new chain ofUlemas.[89] He will want a wife who thinks; and his eyes are thatblind with dry study that it will do him good to weep. But who is thewoman? I think I saw her face in St. Sophia the day of our entry."
"She belonged to the house-hold of Phranza, the Chamberlain, whopossessed this very house," replied the eunuch. "And I think, from itsgoodly size and decoration, he must have used the treasury of theempire freely."
"To Phranza! Why, I have a daughter of his in the nursery atAdrianople. His wife I have given to the Master of the Horse.[90] Hisson I have this day sent to hell for his insolence. But she is anArnaout; therefore not of kin to Phranza. Search out her story,Tamlich! For a member of the family of Phranza, and not of his blood,may be of some political consequence. I will keep her. But get herstory, Tamlich, get her story!"
"I have it already, Sire," replied the eunuch.
"Ah!"
"She is a ward of Scanderbeg, the Arnaout traitor, sent toConstantinople to escape the danger of capture by thine all-conqueringarms. But the bird fled from the fowler into the snare."
"Perhaps a child of Scanderbeg! Eh, Tamlich? One at least whose lifeis of great value to him, and was to the Greek empire. I will informScanderbeg that she is in my possession. By the dread of what mayhappen to her I shall the easier force that ravening brute to maketerms; for I am tired of battering my sword against his rocks, tryingto prick his skin. Keep her close, Tamlich, keep her close!"
FOOTNOTES:
[84] Odalisk; the title of a childless inmate of the harem.
[85] Mother of the Sultan.
[86] Hamamjina; bath attendant.
[87] Hanoum; a title given to matrons.
[88] Muderris; professors in the high schools.
[89] Chain of Ulemas; a renowned system of colleges.
[90] Gibbon; Chapter LXVIII.