your wife so extensive a credit.”
I snatched the turban from my head and wept, saying, “Noble Defterdar, forgive me, and take these two purses in part payment. Be assured that I will live on bread and water and wear garments of sackcloth until I have discharged this terrible debt. You have my salary as guarantee.”
My sincere consternation moved the hardhearted Defterdar, and he said, “Let this be a warning to you. A slave cannot contract debts, for in the last resort the treasury must pay them and may have no other way of reimbursing itself than by making use of the silken noose. Nevertheless your lucky star has prevailed, for by order of Sultana Khurrem I have already discharged to the last asper the debts your wife so frivolously contracted. Be thankful, therefore, for your unmerited good fortune and in future keep your wife under better control.”
He gave me a list of the receipts, and as he did so he looked at me searchingly as if pondering what manner of man I was. He knew that thanks to the Grand Vizier my salary had been increased, and he must have wondered how at the same time my wife could be in favor with Ibrahim’s rival, the Sultana. It was evident that he himself belonged to the Sultana’s adherents, and of course I had every reason to be grateful for her generosity to my deluded wife. Yet I would not be so foolish as to modify my loyalty to the Grand Vizier on that account.
Hardly had I come home and begun to tell Giulia of these events than her face darkened and she asked sharply what I had to complain of, since the Sultana had been so bountiful as to discharge our debts. Any other man, she said, would have thanked and praised his wife for such skillful management, but from now on I might handle my own affairs and she would not lift a finger to help me. I said, “I ask no better. But now let us inspect your plot of land and consider the best way of getting rid of it.”
We hired a boat and glided first along the shore of the Bosphorus, past Galata and the dervish monastery. When we had gazed for some time at Grand Vizier Ibrahim’s beautiful gardens Giulia relapsed into a very thoughtful silence. We returned across the Golden Horn with its myriad shipping and on beyond the Seraglio until we could see the Palace of the Seven Towers before us. We went ashore below the ruins, and a steep goat track led us up through their desolation to a little herb garden and a quantity of water-logged timber. At the bottom of the hole that the workmen had dug for the foundations of Giulia’s house could be seen the broken arches of ancient brick vaults. The place was bleak, barren, and in every way uninviting for a human dwelling, though the view over the Marmara was very beautiful. As I stood silently pondering what was to be done, a most excellent idea came into my head and I said, “Now that Andy is married, Giulia, he is sure to need a house in Istanbul. Why should we not let him have this valuable land for a modest sum? He loves to work with stones and here he can do that to his heart’s content. I could make him comfortably drunk before I show him the property.”
For some reason I had not troubled to mention Andy’s wealth or to confess that it was to him I owed my well- filled purse and the presents
I had bought her; she therefore observed scornfully that he could never afford it. My brilliant idea so carried me away that I told her of his good fortune and of his wife’s estates. Giulia stiffened and an ugly expression came over her face as she exclaimed, “O Michael, you blockhead! Why in God’s name did you not marry the girl yourself? As a Moslem you’re allowed as many as four wives. But it was like you to let the chance of a lifetime slip through your fingers for the sake of that oaf of a foster brother.”
In her fury she turned pale again with another attack of nausea, but when she had recovered I said soothingly, “Giulia, my dear one, how can you suppose I should ever think of any other wife but you?”
Giulia answered with a sob, “I could have brought up a callow girl like that in the best possible manner and treated her like a sister. Later when she had borne you a child, who knows but what she might have swallowed some unwholesome mushroom sauce, or fallen sick of the fever that’s so common in Istanbul? Stranger things have happened. We could then have inherited her property. I think only of your welfare, Michael, and would never stand in the way of your good fortune.”
I repented now more than ever of having so imperfectly appreciated the merits of the young Hungarian girl, but consoled myself with the thought of selling that useless land to Andy. On our way home Giulia stared at me repeatedly and shook her head as if bafHed by my irrational behavior.
When we were at home again and seated at our meal, Alberto’s hovering presence irritated me so much that I said angrily, “Last time I was in the Seraglio I hit upon an excellent plan to dispel all suspicions about Alberto and safeguard your reputation, Giulia. Tomorrow I shall buy him a eunuch’s dress which in future he must always wear. No one will ask awkward questions so long as he acts the part on his walks abroad.”
My sensible proposal appealed to neither of them; they exchanged glances that revealed their loathsome complicity and Giulia so far forgot herself as to say, “Why, eunuchs are beardless! Alberto’s beautiful curly beard makes such a disguise impossible.”
She stretched forth her hand with the freedom of ownership to feel his short beard, but I snatched back her hand and said, “He must shave it off-he must shave twice a day if need be-and he must eat rich food until his cheeks are plump and oily. Things cannot go on as they are.”
Despite vehement opposition I had my way in this matter and the weeping Alberto was compelled to shave off his beard and array himself in the yellow garments of a eunuch. For Giulia soon perceived the advantage of this arrangement-eunuchs fetched a far higher price than ordinary slaves, and she felt both wealthy and distinguished when she walked about the city with the seeming eunuch in attendance. I now did all I could to fatten him and at times made him eat a whole dish of greasy food, regardless of his cries for mercy. Soon I had the satisfaction of seeing his cheeks grow round and glossy and his empty Italian beauty fade into plumpness. The fatter he grew the better I liked him.
So our life came gradually to run in more peaceful channels, and not many weeks had passed before Giulia came to me, pressed her cheek to mine and murmured that I was soon to be a father. I marveled that she should have discovered this so soon, but she declared she was experienced in these matters; also she had had a dream in which she held my child in her arms. I both doubted and hoped, but soon my physician’s eye detected the outward signs of her condition.
Ineffable joy filled my heart; I no longer thought only of myself, for the expected increase in my family laid new responsibilities upon me and I dreamed ambitious dreams for my unborn son. Giulia showed me great fondness and I did all I could to avoid distressing her. So throughout that lovely spring we lived like a pair of turtle doves, building our nest.
I shall begin a new book to tell of my house and of my advancement in the Seraglio, of Grand Vizier Ibrahim’s statesmanship, and of Abu el-Kasim and Mustafa ben-Nakir, who had been so long absent from my sight.
BOOK 7.
THAT spring, radiant with fair hopes, did not pass in idleness; my new duties in the Grand Vizier’s service kept me fully occupied. The times seemed not to favor the Ottoman Empire, for the Emperor Charles, having succeeded in making peace with the King of France and the Pope, now strove to consolidate his power in the European countries and to unite them for a decisive assault on Islam. After the successful defense of Vienna he induced the Pope to crown him emperor in Bologna, and in the course of the spring he called a German Diet in Augsburg to prepare a final attack on the Protestants.
Khaireddin alone, from his base in Algeria, waged war upon him and won a great victory over Admiral Portundo, who was convoying the coronation guests on their return from Italy to Spain. For these noblemen and courtiers alone, Khaireddin extorted ransoms amounting to tens of thousands of ducats, though for Admiral Portundo himself he demanded only Captain Torgut in exchange. This officer had been taken prisoner by Christians and chained to a rower’s bench, where he had time to meditate upon the melancholy consequences of rash and foolhardy behavior.
I had my own share in this naval triumph, which gave striking proof of how formidable an opponent Khaireddin had become even for the united navies of the Emperor. Having carefully studied the situation and observed the scornful resentment felt by the sea pashas for this hero, whom they continued to regard as a barbarous and untrustworthy pirate, I sent word to Khaireddin in Algeria advising him to cease his futile raids on the coasts of Italy and Spain and instead attempt a real victory over the Emperor’s fleet. I also suggested that he should cease dyeing
