CHAPTER XXXIII

THE PASHA’S PROPOSAL

Five years have passed away,--for Takvor five years of hard, serious work, yet successful, happy years, every week of which was shortened by a letter from Armenouhi, the strongest tie that bound him to his native land. Armenouhi had been favored too. She was taller now than when he left her, taller than most Armenian women. Her face, if not so round as in her childhood days, bore that tender, sympathetic expression which has often been described as the type of most perfect beauty. She had the same great innocent eyes, yet deeper and bluer. Her voice was low and gentle, and when she spoke English, though with grammatical correctness, it was with a slight Oriental accent, which, especially when accompanied with smiling dimples and beautiful teeth, added an irresistible charm to her conversation. Five years of study had developed her gifted mind. She was the favorite of the school. The students from the college on the opposite side of the Bosphorus agreed in designating her as “the angel,” and religiously attended every concert and reception at the girls’ school. They had sighed, and pleaded, and hoped, but the weekly letter went regularly to Takvor.

Armenouhi had spent the greater part of her vacations at Kum Kapu, with her aunt Vartouhi, who was still hopefully awaiting her husband’s return. The houses in the neighborhood, once owned by Armenians, were gradually being occupied by Turkish families. A great rambling mansion on the opposite side of the street was at last being thoroughly overhauled. The new lattices of the windows indicated that its future occupant possessed an extensive harem, and a large Arabic motto from the Koran, framed in conspicuous gilt and suspended beneath the eaves, gave evidence of the owner’s piety.

It was in the early spring of Armenouhi’s last year at Scutari that the family, consisting of a corpulent, thrifty young pasha, his two wives, two children, two gorgeously dressed eunuchs, and a small retinue of servants, took possession of the great structure. Aunt Vartouhi, whose idle hours were occupied chiefly with watching her neighbors, found a new pastime in studying the young pasha, and she seldom failed to see him when he drove to his business in the morning and returned in the early afternoon. She was lonely during Armenouhi’s absence, and the Turkish wives across the street, like most Turkish wives, were also lonely. Smiles were exchanged. The smiles gave way to salutations, the salutations to conversation; and hardly a week passed that Vartouhi was not a visitor at the young pasha’s. The whispered reports of his wealth and piety seemed true, for numerous costly rugs and hangings decorated the harem, brilliant jewelry adorned its fair occupants, and picturesque scrolls containing extracts from the Koran covered the walls. Vartouhi was so pleased with her new acquaintances that when Armenouhi came for the Easter vacation she at once introduced her to them.

It was rather late in the afternoon of Armenouhi’s first visit to the harem, that the pasha returned from town in his carriage. He kicked off his outer shoes in the hallway, threw his coat to a servant, and at once entered by the door which a eunuch held open for him. The ladies arose to show proper respect to their husband and master, and to present the visitors. When he approached Armenouhi, an expression of recognition appeared in his eyes, and she in turn searched his face, for it recalled the days of her childhood. He directed his entire attention to her. While seeming to listen, she was trying to recall where she had seen him. The face lacked the refinement which was to be expected in a person of his rank, and his pronunciation of Turkish resembled that of an Armenian. She repeated his name, recalling all the Hassans she had ever known, the most prominent in her memory being the converted Armenian, the former money changer and tax collector of Ak Hissar. It was indeed he, and she wondered she had not recognized him before, although he was so changed that he was little like his former self. His once smooth, thin face, now full and round, was half concealed beneath a thick well-kept beard; his long, crooked nose had increased in width; his eyes bulged still farther from their flabby sockets; and the lean body of earlier years had assumed large proportions. Now that Hassan had become a man of wealth and position, the master of wives and children with whom he appeared to be contented, it seemed to Armenouhi that she no longer had cause to fear him, yet she betrayed no sign of recognition.

The sudden rise of Hassan Pasha resembled that of many another Turkish official. As tax collector, he had been unusually successful. But when he had drained the district to which he had been assigned, and found it impossible to draw milk from a stone, he sought a more lucrative field of labor. Constantinople alone offered an opening of sufficient promise, and thither he went. With the five thousand liras which he had wrung from the people in taxes, he bought the office of building commissioner. To this office was attached a monthly salary of four liras, which was never paid, a matter of little importance to the farseeing Hassan. He was no architect; but it was his duty to examine the plans of all buildings to be erected in the great city of Constantinople, or of repairs to be made; he should decide whether the buildings or the repairs would increase the general welfare of the public, or be a menace to the government, and his decision was final. If the builder’s application was accompanied with a satisfactory fee, Hassan’s approval was obtained; if the fee was lacking, the application was rejected. The amount of the fee depended on various conditions,--the size and location of the building, the nationality and wealth of the builder, and other considerations, which only Hassan himself was able to comprehend. Permission to replace the tiles on a roof perhaps cost a lira. To cut a door or a window through a wall might be worth several liras. His approval of the plans of a new house could be purchased at a cost of hundreds of liras, or by a mortgage of half its value. There was no fixed law. Hassan himself was the law. The five thousand liras which he had paid for his office quickly returned, and with them came interest at a hundred per cent, compounded in a manner defying computation. The jealousy of his subordinates and fellow officials was easily quieted, and the favor of the Sultan was purchased with a substantial check to the secretaries of the palace. Badiark, who had been successively known as Hassan, Hassan Effendi, and Hassan Bey, finally became Hassan Pasha, a trusted official of His Imperial Majesty. With his rapid rise to fortune and royal favor, he appropriated the large house at Kum Kapu, adorned his harem with a second wife, and added to his dignity by the purchase of eunuchs and of all other things necessary to a well-appointed household. The few years of prosperity and the lack of physical exercise had imparted gigantic proportions to his overfed body, while his conscience, also for want of exercise, had grown insignificantly small; but through his associations at the Porte and the palace he had acquired a veneer of culture that concealed the iniquity within.

Armenouhi and her aunt were again at the pasha’s house on the following afternoon. Hassan, assuming all the suavity of manner he possessed, entertained them with his wit. When they were leaving, he suggested that on the next Friday, they should drive with him to the Sweet Waters of Europe. For every afternoon of the first week of Armenouhi’s vacation he arranged some entertainment to bring her into his presence, that the time might pass more pleasantly for his dear wives, as he expressed it. His kindness was such that she began to believe prosperity had softened the hard traits of his character.

One day he entered the harem with two gold brooches, one for his youngest wife, and the other for her, because they were such good friends. Unwilling to displease her aunt, Armenouhi accepted the gift. On another occasion, while she was passing through the hall to the harem, the pasha asked her to be seated a moment, and then taking from his pocket a small plush case, opened it and placed in her hand a necklace of magnificent pearls. She examined it, remarked its unusual beauty, and returned it to him.

“It is yours. Keep it.”

“It is too valuable; I cannot accept it;” and she laid it on the divan at his side.

For just an instant the pasha lost control of his assumed mildness. His jaws set, and upon his face appeared the hard, determined expression that vividly recalled the Badiark she once knew. Alarmed by the sudden change in his manner, she arose to leave him. His smile immediately returned, and again motioning her to a seat, he beamed upon her.

“Armenouhi,” he said abruptly, “you shall marry me.”

“Marry you?” she laughed. “You already have two wives; what could you do with a third?”

“Yes, Armenouhi, you shall marry me,” he continued, irritated that his proposal had been received so lightly.

With the same suavity with which he obtained large fees from prospective builders, he pleaded that after seeing her he could no longer love another; and had not the Prophet declared that every good Moslem might have four wives? As he spoke, he reached to take her hand. She withdrew it with disgust. Again his mild expression turned to extreme hardness. Rising from his seat while still pleading, he moved slowly backward toward the door.

Suspecting his intention, Armenouhi sprang past him, and trembling with excitement, hurried from the house, and across the street to her aunt’s.