THE TURK.
"WHAT a beautiful long necklace, Mrs. Bunker! May I have it for
Lonicera?"
"You may play with it while you are here, Missie, if you'll take care
not to break the string, but it is too curious for you to take home and
lose. It is what they call a Turkish rosary; they say it is made of
rose-leaves reduced to a paste and squeezed ever so hard together, and
that the poor ladies that are shut up in the harems have little or
nothing to do but to run them through their fingers."
"It has a very nice smell," said Lucy, examining the dark brown beads,
which hung rather loosely on their string, and letting them fall one by
one through her hands, till of course that happened which she was hoping
for: she woke on a long low sofa, in the midst of a room all carpet and
cushions, in bright colours and gorgeous patterns, curling about with no
particular meaning; and with a window of rich brass lattice-work.
And by her side there was an odd bubbling, that put her in mind of
blowing the soap-suds into a honey-comb when preparing them for bubble
blowing; but when she looked round she saw something very unlike the
long pipes her brother called "churchwardens," or the basin of
soap-suds. There was a beautifully shaped glass bottle, and into it went
a long, long twisting tube, like a snake coiled on the floor, and the
other end of the serpent, instead of a head, had an amber mouth-piece
which went between a pair of lips. Lucy knew it for a hubble-bubble or
narghilhe, and saw that the lips were in a brown face, with big black
eyes, round which dark bluish circles were drawn. The jet-black hair was
carefully braided with jewels, and over it was thrown a great
rose-coloured gauze veil; there was a loose purple satin sort of pelisse
over a white silk embroidered vest, tied in with a sash, striped with
all manner of colours, also immense wide white muslin trousers, out of
which peeped a pair of brown bare feet, which, however, had a splendid
pair of slippers curled up at the toes.
The owner seemed to be very little older than Lucy, and sat gravely
looking at her for a little while, then clapped her hands. A black woman
came, and the young Turkish maiden said, "Bring coffee for the little
Frank lady."
So a tiny table of mother-of-pearl was brought, and on it some exquisite
little striped porcelain cups, standing not in saucers, but in silver
filigree cups into which they exactly fitted. Lucy remembered her
Chinese experience, and did not venture to ask for milk or sugar, but
she found that the real Turkish coffee was so pure and delicate that she
could bear to drink it without.
[Illustration: "Married! Oh, no, you are joking."
_Page 86._]
"Where are your jewels?" then asked the little hostess.
"I'm not old enough to have any?"
"How old are you?"
"Nine."
"Nine! I'm only ten, and I shall be married next week----"
"Married! Oh, no, you are joking."
"Yes, I shall. Selim Bey has paid my father the dowry for me, and I
shall be taken to his house next week."
"And I suppose you like him very much."
"He looks big and tall," said the child with exultation. "I saw him
riding when I went with my mother to the Sweet Waters. 'Amina,' she
said, 'there is your lord, in the Frankish coat--with the white horse.'"
"Have you not talked to him?"
"What should I do that for?"
"Aunt Bessie used to like to talk to nobody but Uncle Frank before they
were married."
"I shall talk enough when I am married. I shall make him give me plenty
of sweetmeats, and a carriage with two handsome bullocks, and the
biggest Nubian black slave in the market to drive me to Sweet Waters, in
a thin blue veil, with all my jewels on. Father says that Selim Bey will
give me everything, and a Frank governess. What is a governess? Is it
anything like the little gold case you have round your neck?"
"My locket with Mamma's hair? Oh, no, no," said Lucy, laughing; "a
governess is a lady to teach you."
"I don't want to learn any more," said Amina, much disgusted; "I shall
tell him I can make a pillau, and dry sweetmeats, and roll rose-leaves.
What should I learn for?"
"Should you not like to read and write?"
"Teaching is only meant for men. They have got to read the Koran, but it
is all ugly letters; I won't learn to read."
"You don't know how nice it is to read stories, and all about different
countries. Ah! I wish I was in the schoolroom, at home, and I would show
you how pleasant it is."
And Lucy seemed to have her wish all at once, for she and Amina stood in
her own schoolroom, but with no one else there. The first thing Amina
did was to scream, "Oh, what shocking windows! even men can see in; shut
them up." She rolled herself up in her veil, and Lucy could only satisfy
her by pulling down all the blinds, after which she ventured to look
about a little. "What have you to sit on?" she asked, with great
disgust.
"Chairs and stools," said Lucy, laughing and showing them.
"These little tables with four legs! How can you sit on them?"
Lucy sat down and showed her. "That is not sitting," she said, and tried
to curl herself up cross-legged; "I can't dangle down my legs."
"Our governess always makes us write out a tense of a French verb if
she sees us sitting with our legs crossed," said Lucy, laughing with
much amusement at Amina's attempts to wriggle herself up on the stool
whence she nearly fell.
"Ah, I will never have a governess!" cried Amina. "I will cry, and cry,
and give Selim Bey no rest till he promises to let me alone. What a
dreadful place this is! Where can you sleep?"
"In bed, to be sure" said Lucy.
"I see no cushions to lie on."
"No; we have bedrooms, and beds there. We should not think of taking off
our clothes here."
"What should you undress for?"
"To sleep, of course."
"How horrible! We sleep in all our clothes wherever we like to lie down.
We never undress but for the bath. Do you go to the bath?"
"I have a bath every morning, when I get up, in my own room."
[Illustration: "I will show you where you live. This is Constantinople."
_Page 92._]
"Bathe at home! Then you never see your friends? We meet at the bath,
and talk and play and laugh."
"Meet bathing! No, indeed! We meet at home, and out of doors," said
Lucy; "my friend Annie and I walk together."
"Walk together! what, in the street? Shocking! You cannot be a lady."
"Indeed I am," said Lucy, colouring up. "My Papa is a gentleman. And see
how many books we have, and how much we have to learn! French, and
music, and sums, and grammar, and history, and geography."
"I _will_ not be a Frank! No, no! I will not learn," said the alarmed
Amina on hearing this catalogue poured forth.
"Geography is very nice," said Lucy; "here are our maps. I will show you
where you live. This is Constantinople."
"I live at Stamboul," said Amina, scornfully.
"There is Stamboul in little letters below--look."
"That Stamboul! The Frank girl is false; Stamboul is a large, large,
beautiful place; not a little black speck. I can see it from my lattice.
White houses and mosques in the sun, and the blue Golden Horn, with the
little caiques gliding."
Before Lucy could explain, the door opened, and one of her brothers put
in his head. At once Amina began to scream and roll herself in the
window curtain. "A man in the harem! Oh! oh! oh! Were there no slippers
at the door?" And her screaming brought Lucy awake at Uncle Joe's
again.