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.