In a large room of many mirrors with frescoed ceilings of bright colors,
the floors covered with Turkish rugs, and the place lavishly furnished
in Oriental style, were gathered seventeen girls of various races and
still more varying beauty. The cheeks of some were dusky, while others
were wonderfully fair. All were attired in such fine clothes as seemed
best to enhance their good looks. They were taking their ease on divans
and couches, some of them smoking cigarettes, some conversing, some
remaining proudly apart from the others.
These were the girls brought to Damascus by the trader, and all were for
sale, like so many cattle.
To this house came various wealthy men, who inspected the girls
critically, surveying them and taking note of their charms, much after
the manner of men who purchase horses in open market. The old trader was
on hand to dilate on the attractions of each girl and to listen to such
offers as the gentlemen chose to make.
In Damascus, as in many other parts of the Orient, this was regarded as
a legitimate business. To the would-be purchasers and the old trader
there was nothing of a shameful nature in connection with it. The girls
thus sold would be taken to the various homes of their purchasers, there
to become legitimate wives, after the custom of the country.
One girl, dressed in unusual taste, sat apart from the others, seeming
too proud to attempt to enter into conversation with them. She was very
pretty, and many were the envious glances cast toward her by the others.
She had lately been added to their number, and already they were
gossiping that she was an English girl who found herself penniless in
the country, and was willing to become the wife of some rich man.
The old trader seemed to know he had secured a prize in this girl, for
the price he demanded for her was so high that several visitors who had
been attracted by her and were willing to pay unusually well to secure
her, were compelled to content themselves with others, although they all
relinquished the hope of purchasing her with expressions of regret.
Finally a man of dignified bearing and polished appearance came
sauntering into the room and paused, glancing around in a careless
manner.
The moment the old trader saw this man he hastened to him, rubbing his
hands and bowing very low.
"Welcome, most noble Pasha!" he exclaimed. "I am sure I shall this night
have the pleasure of beholding thy pleasure. Never before has any man
brought to Damascus such a collection of feminine loveliness. Verily
they are pearls beyond price."
"So I have heard, Bilmah," was the answer. "Already I have met two who
have looked on your pearls, and they informed me that you had here one
that was almost priceless in your estimation. My curiosity has been
greatly aroused. I would look on this English maiden."
"Oh, there are others equally beautiful," the trader hastened to
declare--"many others. Look, yonder is a fair Circassian. I bought her
from her father, and paid him----"
"Never mind her. I am not looking for a Circassian. They weary me. I
have traveled in the West, and the women of those lands interest me. I
would see the English maiden."
"But first thou shouldst see----"
"Not another one, old man! Show me the one I wish to see."
"But, great Pasha, it was understood between us that I should bring
thither for thee the fairest Circassian I could discover----"
The visitor cut the old man short.
"You are wasting my time, old man. Unless you show me at once the
English maiden I will depart."
The trader made a gesture of resignation.
"Come!" he said.
The visitor followed him until they paused before the divan on which sat
the girl who had attracted so much attention and admiration.
"Behold her!" said Bilmah.
The girl glanced up shyly over her outspread fan, giving the Turk a
sidelong glance from her fine, black eyes, in the depths of which there
was a strange light that fascinated him.
Hafsa Pasha bowed very low, his hand on his heart.
"So this is the one whose charms I heard extolled ere I crossed the
threshold of this house?" he said. "You are English, they tell me. It is
most astonishing to find an English girl here."
"I suppose it is," she answered, in a very low voice that was full of
strange music and gave him a decided thrill.
He sat on the floor at her feet, rolling a cigarette.
"Tell me how it happens that you are here," he urged.
"I cannot," she answered, in apparent great confusion. "It is a tale of
misfortune. Speak of something else."
"Are you aware what you are doing?"
"Fully."
"Do you know that once you have entered the harem of any man who may
purchase you there can be no backing out--no escape?"
"I have thought of it all."
"And you will not be the only wife of the husband who secures you."
"I know."
"Still, I cannot understand you. It is utterly unlike one of your blood
to do such a thing. There must be a reason for it."
"Of course there is. Perhaps I have a brother or a friend who is in deep
distress and needs money at once. Perhaps I have arranged with the
trader that a certain portion of the price paid for me shall be sent at
once to this person. Does that not offer an explanation?"
Hafsa Pasha lighted his cigarette and eyed her attentively.
"I have been told that the price Bilmah demands is exorbitant. Still,
under certain circumstances you might be worth it to me."
"What are the circumstances?"
He shrugged his shoulders.
"If I purchase you you will be mine to do as I command."
"Of course."
"Possibly I have somewhere another English-speaking maiden who rebels
against my authority and refuses to bow unto me."
"Another?" laughed the girl behind her fan. "You must be fond of the
English."
"Were I to purchase you, I should expect you to become without delay the
companion of this other girl. I should expect you to exert your
influence upon her to lead her to submit to her lot."
"I see nothing very hard in that."
"But she might tell you a woeful tale of an imaginary wrong. She might
seek to arouse your sympathy. She might claim that she had been captured
and imprisoned against her will."
"I am growing interested. If you can afford to pay the price demanded
for me, you must be a very rich man."
"I am far from poor."
"You are kind to your wives?"
"I am gentleness itself."
"They have every comfort and luxury in the home you provide for them?"
"No woman can ask for more."
"Then this girl should soon learn to be contented and happy. She has
some peculiar ideas in her head just now, but she will get over them. If
you purchase me, I shall do everything in my power for her."
"You Western women are remarkable. No woman of the East would talk to me
like this. I almost fear you. I seem to feel that you possess a strange
power that our women know nothing of."
Again she laughed.
"You'll get used to me in time," she said. "That is, you will if you are
not bluffing."
"Bluffing? Perhaps I know what you mean, and still----"
"I mean about paying the price Bilmah demands. I have seen men who
pretended they were ready and willing to spend money when they had no
thought of doing so."
"You shall see what I mean to do. Of course I have a right to make the
best bargain possible with old Bilmah."
"No; you must pay the price he demands. Whatever you induce him to take
off you keep from the one to whom he is to send the money."
"Do you trust him to forward it?"
"That is fixed. The one who got me in here will see that Bilmah does not
cheat."
"Very well. Although as yet I have seen scarcely more of your face than
your eyes and forehead, yet I am going to pay the price. Be ready to
leave this place directly. I shall have a carriage at the door in less
than ten minutes."
Then Hafsa Pasha arose and sought the old trader.