The Sultan and his sons listened sympathetically to my story, and the Grand Vizier said thoughtfully, “Feel no concern about the dog’s pedigree, Prince Mustafa. He will begin one for himself. Perhaps there is greater honor in founding a noble line than in basing one’s position on old and tainted blood.”
At the time I paid no heed to Ibrahim’s words, but later I had reason to remember them, for they had acquired a terrible significance. And indeed no sooner were they spoken than he started, and passing his hand over his brow he smiled and said hastily, “Ah, Prince Jehangir, the audience is not ended. Remember that the son of the Sultan has the privilege of requiting gifts with even richer rewards.”
Prince Jehangir clapped his hands and a red-clad eunuch entered the room bearing a sealed leather purse which he handed to me, and which I judged to contain at least a hundred ducats. I offered Prince Jehangir my best thanks and we returned to the playroom. But my good fortune was not yet complete, for there the Sultan said to me, “My friend the Grand Vizier has spoken of you and I know you have exposed yourself to great danger in my service. For that very reason you were absent when I was dispensing rewards to my warriors outside Vienna, and so you missed your share. I must not insult my son Jehangir by giving you more than he did, so you shall claim an equal sum from the Defterdar. But with the Grand Vizier I can and should compete in generosity; tell me therefore what he has promised you!”
The day was indeed ruled by my lucky star. I glanced at the Grand Vizier and at his encouraging wink I prostrated myself and babbled eagerly some quite incomprehensible words. My behavior must have been most ridiculous, for the Sultan laughed till he cried. The Princes laughed too, and tried to mimic my stammering. Then Suleiman said, “I gather that the Grand Vizier has promised you many remarkable things, but try to speak a little more coherently.”
“A plot of land!” I gasped at length. “The Grand Vizier has promised me a little plot of land from his gardens on the Bosphorus, and a small house, for my dearest wish has ever been to serve you, O Commander of the Faithful, and after all my checkered years of wandering I long to find a home. The Grand Vizier has even promised to pay the costs of this from his own coffers.”
The Sultan laughed again and said, “And to vie with him I authorize you to take from the Seraglio storehouses such carpets, cushions, mattresses, cooking pots, dishes, and other furniture as you may need to put your house in a habitable condition. From the arsenal you may take a light rowing boat roofed at the stern, that you may be sheltered from sun and rain on your journeys to and from the Seraglio.”
But this day of marvels was not even yet at an end, for when I visited Defterdar Iskender to claim the extra purse, this noble gray- bearded tseleb bent a hostile look upon me and said sternly, “For some reason that passes my understanding you are climbing into high favor, Michael el-Hakim, and I feel it my duty to remind you of your position. As Defterdar I cannot permit any slave of the Sultan to get into debt, far less seek the aid of Greek and Jewish usurers. Why should I waste money thus, instead of allowing it to circulate freely within the Seraglio and at length return to the treasury? You should pay for your building works through me, Michael el-Hakim, for I would give you good terms. You treat me most unfairly by employing idolatrous riffraff for work which might otherwise bring into the treasury a portion at least of all that has been lavished upon you in gifts.”
Much disturbed, I stammered, “Noble Defterdar-tseleb, you are quite mistaken, for the work is to be carried out by Sinan the Builder and I have no intention of depriving the treasury of its dues. But my wife I regret to say is a Christian, and in my absence she was so foolish as to incur debts in my name. I fear she has fallen into the hands of rascally Greeks. To behead these men at once would be the simplest way of releasing me from the burden of debts, whose total I have not dared to ascertain.”
The Defterdar glanced at the roll in his hand, gritted his teeth, and hissed, “Your debts have reached the dizzy figure of eight hundred and fifty-three ducats, thirty aspers, and I cannot think how those shrewd Greeks dared give 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.”