This was the condition upon which I took my place at his right hand.”
Resting his great brilliant eyes upon me he smiled and continued, “Perhaps I have neglected my friend the Sultan of late. I must procure him some fresh diversion and prevent that witch from vexing him every night with her mischievous whisperings. Master Gritti is in Buda, as you know, but you have a beautiful house, Michael el-Hakim, at a suitable distance and surrounded by a wall, so don’t be surprised if you should be visited one evening by a pair of wandering brothers. You’d do well to take a few poor poets under your patronage and treat them to a cup of wine and a kaftan. Beautiful poems, good wine, and ravishing stringed instruments can count for much in the destiny of nations. Your position will be much strengthened if you’re known to entertain eminent guests in secret. But for safety’s sake send away your wife and let her spend the night soothsaying in the harem.”
He broke off.and smiled, and for the first time I saw a cruel line about his mouth as he added, “Suppose I were to make Sultana Khurrem the present of a prediction! Your wife sees in the sand what best suits her. Persuade her if you can to foretell the succession of one of Sultana Khurrem’s sons to the throne. Every prophecy if it is to carry conviction must contain something of the quaint and unexpected. Let her say that Selim the epileptic will succeed, and we shall see what follows!”
He smiled broadly, but I could not share his amusement.
“Why the sickly Selim?” I asked. “My wife’s predictions have a disconcerting way of coming true, and I dislike trifling with these matters.”
Ibrahim bent forward and his eyes burned with anger as he said, “The Sultana is as blind as any other mother. She would see nothing strange in such a prophecy. But let her once hint a word of it to the Sultan and the scales would fall from his eyes. He has that fine boy Mustafa. How could he contemplate for a moment the accession of a feeble-minded epileptic to the throne of the Osmanlis?”
He added after a pause, “I can no longer rely on Master Gritti, who thinks only of his own advantage. I need a new meeting place where I can converse privately with foreign agents. Why shouldn’t you profit by this as Master Gritti did, since I have invested such vast sums in your house? Spread the rumor that in return for substantial gifts you can arrange secret interviews with me, and I will undertake to prove the rumor well founded, provided you don’t call upon me needlessly or for trifling matters. But that I may trust you absolutely you must keep careful account of all the presents you receive, and draw equivalent sums from my treasury. Only thus can I be sure that you won’t betray me out of sheer avarice.”
Thunderstruck at his munificence I stammered blessings, but with a laugh he bade me be silent, picked up his violin, and began to play a merry air that Venetian vessels had brought to Istanbul. Now it was that I glimpsed the full import of his proposal, for if the mightiest man in the Ottoman Empire made me his confidant I need set no bounds to my ambitious dreams. Bowing to kiss the ground before him I murmured, “Why, my lord Ibrahim? Why choose me?”
He touched my head carelessly with his henna-dyed fingers.
“Perhaps life is no more than a feverish dream. Then why not take a sleepwalker for guide? I may be fond of you, Michael el-Hakim, weak and pliable though you are. If I were a little fonder of you than I am I would strip you of wealth and send you out as a mendicant brother to seek Allah in the desert and among the mountaintops. Don’t expect too much of my confidence, for even if you knew my deepest secrets, me you would never know. But you once said something that went straight to my heart-that a man must be true to at least one human being.- Perhaps that is the task confronting me, for in fact a man can never be true to anyone but himself. My star, my destiny, a curse, or perhaps some inner power has raised me up above all other men. The essential condition for my existence is therefore unflinching loyalty to my lord the Sultan. His welfare is my welfare, his defeat my defeat, and his victory is for me too a victory.”
I returned through the darkness to my lamplit house whose every stair was fragrant with rose water. Giulia was still awake and came to meet me with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes. But a strange sense of unreality held me in its grip and I stared at Giulia as at a wraith-a wraith I did not know.
“Who are you, Giulia, and what do you want of me?”
Startled she drew back, saying, “What ails you, Michael? You’re quite pale. Your turban’s on one side and you’re staring like a madman. If you’ve heard some foolish tale about me, don’t believe it. I would rather you came straight to me than lent your ear to unfounded slander.”
“No, no, Giulia. What could anyone say against you? It’s just that I cannot understand myself or discover what it is I want. Who am I, Giulia, and who are you?”
She wrung her hands and burst into tears.
“Ah, Michael! Have I not warned you a thousand times not to drink so much? Your head won’t stand it. How can you have the heart to frighten me so! Tell me at once what has happened and what the Grand Vizier had to say.”
At her urgent whisper I awoke from the strange trance. The walls of the room returned, the table was solid beneath my hand; Giulia too was a creature of flesh and blood and I could see that she was very angry. But I looked upon her as upon a stranger and in a clearer light than formerly. I saw deep lines about her eyes and a look of malign cunning hardening at her mouth. Heavy ornaments clinked at her wrist and throat and the necklaces had made red marks on the lifeless white of her bosom. I felt no longing to gaze into her eyes and there seek peace and oblivion, as I had been wont to do.
With a sensation of pain I looked away and said, “Nothing ails me, Giulia. I’m only tired after a somewhat exacting conversation with the Grand Vizier. But he trusts me and I think will give me much of Master Gritti’s former work. He expressed no opinion about the war, but he has not forbidden me to counsel peace. The cup of success is full to the brim, but why-ah, why is it so bitter?”
Hardly had I said this than I began shivering in every limb and realized that I was gravely ill. Giulia at first fancied that I had been poisoned in the Grand Vizier’s palace, but having recovered from the first shock she put me to bed and administered sudorifics. I had succumbed to the fever so prevalent in Istanbul; indeed it was a wonder I had escaped it so long. It was not dangerous, but was characterized by a very severe headache.
When Grand Vizier Ibrahim learned of my disorder he showed me the greatest kindness, sending me his own physician and causing an astrological table of diet and medicines to be drawn up for my use. He also visited me in person, thereby giving rise to much whispering in the palace. The result was that during the course of my sickness I received a number of presents of the kind that pass constantly from hand co hand in the Seraglio.
Giulia was overjoyed and talked unceasingly of these gifts and their givers, and of the presents that it was my duty to offer in return. The most sensible plan would have been to pass the same things on, since this was in no way contrary to accepted custom. But Giulia was incapable of letting anything out of her hands once she had firm hold of it, however ugly or useless it might be. Thus my illness proved very costly because of all the presents I must buy, while in the Seraglio speculation grew as to what could have become of all the great bronze urns, Nubians in armor, and other strange objects that had drifted about the Seraglio for years.
When at last I began to recover, Giulia showed herself kinder and more considerate than she had been for a long time, and taking my hand one day she said, “Michael, how is it that you talk to me less openly than you used top Has your heart been turned against me by some malicious rumor? You know what a nest of gossip the Seraglio is, and my close friendship with Sultana Khurrem has aroused such jealousy that it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the most terrible things were told of me. Believe none of it, my dear Michael. You know me better than anyone- you know how openhearted I am.”
Her needless suspicions saddened me and I answered kindly, “There’s no reason for my gloomy mood. It’s all part of my sickness and will soon pass. Forgive me, and try to be patient with me as always.”
In this I was not quite frank, having seen that to be loyal to Ibrahim I must behave with reserve toward Giulia. I was sure that she would pass on to Sultana Khurrem all that I told her, and thenceforth I was very circumspect. Hitherto my candor had been excessive, a fact that was to be of great advantage now, since Giulia had come to believe me incapable of concealment.
Mindful of the Grand Vizier’s advice I now began inviting poets and eloquent dervishes to my house-ragged fellows who cared little how they earned their bread so long as they might live untrammeled among like-minded companions. Though Mussulmans, they were much addicted to wine drinking, and were glad enough to accept my invitation. I fancy they even conceived a certain liking for me, for I was content as a rule to listen silently to their talk and their poems.
As I came to know them better I was astonished at their daring, for they did not hesitate to compose biting epigrams on the Grand Vizier’s vanity, the haughty silence of the Sultan, and the various errors of which other noted
