Romance of a Harem

Chapter X

One Friday I was told to accompany the great Princess Zeinep, the eldest sister of the Prince, to the palace of the Sultana Fatma.

The Princess Zeinep had kept her immense fortune; she observed with great strictness the Mussulman traditions. Intelligent, proud, and very pious, she rarely even received ambassadresses. Nevertheless, Madame de Gasparin was received by her, and kept always a delightful memory of that interview. The Princess was devoted to her brother Halim, which she proved by leaving him all her fortune. She lived in the greatest magnificence in the palace of Bebek, and rarely visited the Sultanas. These visits were a great expense on account of the money and jewels which was the custom to distribute amongst the wives of the Sultan.

Notwithstanding that she never allowed a French dress in her harem, she sent an order that I was to be dressed in the latest Parisian fashion. She thought that thus I should be more easily noticed by the Sultana, to whom she wished to present me. The Prince was interested in this, and sent me from his treasury a pair of earrings which were said to have belonged to Marie Antoinette. They were single diamonds cut in the shape of almonds, and he begged that I would wear no other jewels.

The Sultana Fatma lived like an idol in the depths of her palace. Daughter of Abdul Medjed, it was she who, after the Crimean War, used to drive about in a carriage with massive silver wheels, shaded by a large umbrella with a diamond fringe, the handle of which was ornamented with an enormous ruby the size of a pigeon's egg, which gave the French ambassador, Monsieur Thouvenel, many sad reflections. Up to the death of her father, she lived as a celebrity in all Oriental annals; and the people listened with open ears and eyes to the marvellous descriptions of her luxury and magnificence.

For many long years the Sultana Fatma had lived a retired life in the palace of Balta Liman, where I entered behind the Princess Zeinep. On going in we heard first of all in the distance the professional laughers, and nothing was more peculiar than the sound of that unreal mirth, which echoed in the silence like a pebble dropped in a well.

Laid out in those vast and deserted rooms were the presents made to Abdul Medjed by foreign sovereigns, Louis XVI, candelabras, gilt furniture, stately old Sevres china, great vases from Japan and China unknown in any trade. On cabinets, in every style, were antique clocks ranged symmetrically, and in place of honour you saw stuffed birds on musical boxes encrusted with stones, stuffs embroidered with pearls, a thousand precious things which remained there till the Sultana, pressed for money, allowed some Jew dealer to carry off a load of them.

After a wait of an hour, the Princess and I were admitted into the presence of the Sultana Fatma. She was very particular that all the ceremonial of genuflexion should be rigorously carried out; and it was only after all the customary salutations were made that I dared lift my eyes to her, when for the first time I saw a Sultana.

She was a woman with a face as absolutely immovable and expressionless as that of a goddess. Her eyes which nothing could astonish or interest, gazed into vacancy with a look of complete authority, so absolute that they made one uncomfortable.

Clothed in a dress of a strange green colour, with not even a jewel to break the uniformity, she preserved a silence that was only broken by the professional laughers. Slowly she asked after the health of the Princess, who answered her without omitting a single word of the compliments and formulas that were necessary. She wished to see me clearly, and made me go close to her, examining me curiously, like a bit of carved ivory is inspected by connoisseurs. At a sign, a lady of the palace appeared dressed in white satin, with golden dyed hair, in which were birds of paradise made of large pearls.

"Ela Hanem will dine with us," said the Sultana in an expressionless voice - such a voice as the dead Caliphs must use when they talk together in their vast burial place.

The dinner was remarkable; the slaves in low cut ball-dresses carried the immense dishes, which were of rare china, gold or silver; the table sparkled with a fairylike brilliancy. The attendants walked slowly, or held themselves immovable with their arms crossed and the head thrown a little backwards, and their white throats thrust out. The Sultana could keep a sort of illusion to herself of great wealth when she saw all this luxury about her; but away from there, in the depths of the palace, the slaves of the fourth rank were most uncomfortable, and complained bitterly of their distress.

On leaving the palace, the lady in waiting of the Princess distributed the customary presents amongst the immediate entourage of the Sultana, and that simple visit cost the Princess four hundred pounds. And it struck me that it would be pleasanter to watch the waters of the Bosphorus than to go often and kiss the stuff on the divan of a Sultana - a praiseworthy sentiment of independence, doubtless instilled into me by the European reviews which the Prince had lent me to read. That evening on goin going in I watched for some time the sunset with its blaze of gold and rose-coloured clouds, and I listened to the Muezzin who chanted his prayer to Allah. It was a hymn of infinite sadness which left one's heart bruised with a mysterious pain. I hid my face in my hands, moved with a great pity for all sufferings of which I knew nothing, and the voice of that man made me guess at.

Romance of a Harem

Chapter IX

On the first Friday of every month I paid a visit to the ladies of the household of the Prince; for though one lived in the same palace they were vert ceremonious about certain customs. I began the day with the chief lady, whose position is one of considerable importance. I found her sitting on the highest of her divans with a beautiful cashmere wound round her waist, and on her head was white muslin, exquisitely painted with flowers and wreathed with other artificial flowers. This manner of doing the hair is a very pretty one, and is always called hotoz, the muslin and flowers being fastened with great jewelled pins, and is only worn by ladies of a certain age. From each ear hung a large pear-shaped emerald, joined by a silken thread which hung loosely on the neck.

The room with its fine gilt matting had as furniture three little divans, and at one end, in the full daylight an Egyptian bed, a perfect blaze of colour and embroidered cushions draped in mosquito curtains of pale blue Brussels net with silver woven through it.

After the usual exchange of compliments, there was silence for some time - the silence which always exists between ladies of high rank who are in no hurry to talk, but who find considerable pleasure in each other's company. As I was leaving, three ladies entered dressed in the French manner, but bowing in the graceful Turkish way. It seemed that that was the only national thing they were allowed to keep in their lives that were sacrificed to the wish to appear "a la Franka."

Yellow dyed hair, tight stays, Louis XV. heels, reddened lips, frizzed hair on their foreheads - all details which they took so much trouble about, and transformed these women into merely ridiculous dolls.

If only each country could keep its national costumes, instead of copying those of their neighbours!

All the visits I paid were alike - everywhere I was welcomed with the same gentle amiability and dignity which is invariable amongst Turkish women. No unpleasant allusion was ever made to my rather peculiar position, and discretion is rigidly observed by the ladies of a harem, who carefully conceal, as if it were a dishonour, any slight disagreeable thing that might by chance spring up amongst them.

Everywhere the same simplicity, the divans of a dazzling whiteness, and all colour and air of luxury concentrated solely on the bed, with its mattresses of white watered silk, its damask coverings embroidered with golden flowers, little cushions worked in delicate designs in seed-pearls, and mosquito curtains of golden or coloured net.

I found the room of Kuchuk Oumil Bey ( the prettiest and most charming of the young mothers) empty. I often went to see this attractive young woman, and greatly admired the elegance of her apartments - always fragrant with freshly-cut flowers and a soft warm air which gave the place a certain feeling of comfort and well-being. Thinking perhaps that Oumil Bey was taking her bath, I opened the door if the hammam where I heard the running water. On one of the divans all the young woman's garments were spread out, sparkling with gold embroideries; two hand-glasses, powder-boxes, large flacons of toilet waters; and on the ground, laid out on a large square of mauve silk, was a dressing-gown of pale soft silk, trimmed with a mass of Valenciennes lace. There was a little chatter of heels on the pavement, and Oumil Bey came in, enveloped in towels, and a white turban round her head.

After a few compliments and civilities had been exchanged, she gave herself up to her toilet, and wrapped chastely in her towels stretched out her limbs which were carefully rubbed with some sweet, milky lotion. That finished, she disappeared for a moment and returned enveloped in a cloud of soft muslin - giving one the idea of a young plant, supple and strong, that had lately been watered, and was spreading its leaves and flowers to the warm summer's sun.
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I continued my round of visits, and lifting a portiere I entered the apartment of Beuyuk Ouma Hanem, who was one of the favourites, for she already had two children.

She was a woman with a passionate nature, fanatical and almost violent in her desires. Her beauty, though of rather a hard type, was still remarkable, and she was possessed of masses of copper-coloured hair, with marvellously long and thickly painted eyelashes and a colourless creamy complexion. She put down her cigarette for a moment to welcome me, and then let her eyes wander vaguely and dreamily on the Bosphorus that lay stretched out at our feet.

"My spirit is slowly dying," she said softly; "nothing will ever kindle in it again the real feeling of happiness."
"But our exile will cease soon," I said gently. "
"Soon- soon," she replied, lifting herself languidly on her cushions. "It is with that word that we send children to sleep - and you know well our Prince is not of the race of Christian Princes to turn towards Paris like the sunflowers do to the sun; and Paris - the famous Paris- why do they think so much of it? I remember some years ago a son of the king, called Plonplon, came to see us at Choubra. He treated his wife as we treat our negresses; and then another came - by name Chambord. He ought to have been of the Islamite race, he was so grave. Then the beautiful Empress Eugenie, who, to recompense the officers attached to her person, gave them her photograph only, with her signature on it. Not a single diamond - nothing! Aman, it was pitiable. When sovereigns travel," continued Ouma Hanem with warmth, "they ought to leave the people overcome with admiration for their generosity, and not only photographs behind them like celebrated wrestlers. First of all, European sovereigns never take themselves seriously, and then they are astonished that their people do not respect them."

She grew animated and happy to find a listener attentive and serious. "Here even," she continued, " in this palace where we are settled, and which the Khedive offered to our Prince, we can remember one fine example - that of the Princess Nazley. She at least was magnificent in her generosity, and terrible with her anger. Whoever was wanting in respect to her paid for it with his life. She, as you know, once inhabited this palace, and was accustomed to sleep on a mattress over which slaves held up mosquito curtains. One day one of them let fall the corner that she held up on the foot of the Princess. Immediately she caused the clumsy one to be laid on the floor, and on her bare stomach burning charcoal was put, and the Princess tranquilly drank coffee that had been heated on this strange grate. One day the husband of the Princess admired the beautiful hair of a slave who held the basin in which he washed his hands. The next morning he saw the freshly-severed head hung up by its hair to the cornice of his bed when he awoke."

After a silence, with frowning eyebrows she continued.

"Don't you see, the only powerful sovereign is the one who makes himself feared. The royal family of Egypt has known how to be cruel, like all dynasties at the beginning of their power; but it has lost its instinct of authority, and the populace has no longer any belief in the power of kings. Look at our Prince - look at the Sultan - they are mere lambs.

Our conversation ended there, and I said farewell to the favourite Ouma Hanem.

That evening, for the first time, I was on duty near the Prince; and the prospect of watching over the heir to the throne, lying on a mattress across his doorway, with the watchword that was to prevent any one whoever it might be from entering, filled me with a sort of pride. The highest personages are always guarded thus by a woman, whilst soldiers and other guardians watch by the door of the harem.

In the interior of a harem the master enjoys absolute power. The police can never enter, and the most terrible dramas might be acted there, and no one would have the right to interfere. Now, I believe life passes in them quite tranquilly, and apart from the death of Abdul Aziz I have heard of no tragedies.

Wrapped in my long night-clothes I was stretched  out on my bed across the door. About eleven o'clock, after the two dressers had gone out, I heard the Prince clap his hands. I jumped up and went in. Halim, dressed in correct English indoors suit with is fez pushed back, was reading some European review. On recognizing me, he gave a gesture of astonishment, and getting up pushed me gently towards the door saying,"How is it that you are here so late?"

"It is my right," I answered. "I am on duty for the night, and I begin my first evening of guard."

"No, no, my child," he said, "you are not of our religion, and I should do wrong to let you be treated as if you were so."

A quick feeling of anger seized me, and I answered sharply, with rather a broken voice. " I will stay, I will stay; it would be a disgrace for me to be sent back. What reputation should I have if you should send me away from you this evening? Every one would be against me, and my life would be intolerable. I should not have the courage to live."

The Prince lit a cigar without answering me; then he opened widely the window, standing up with his back to me, and looked out on the Bosphorus which lay like a vast sheet of satin under the silver rays of the moon. The silence which followed seemed full of a great sadness, and when the Prince spoke again, his voice made me tremble vaguely.

"When you are twenty-one you shall see and choose for yourself, my child; till that moment I do not wish you to adopt Islamite customs, and if you do not give me any grave reason for displeasure, you have my word that I shall marry you. But for the moment I wish you to be odalisque only in name; I wish you to be free to choose the sort of life which seems best to you, and, " he added with a smile, "perhaps you will marry a king and not a prince." Holding out his hand to me he said gently: "Stay and do your service, and keep our secret with the fidelity with which you brought the letters from the Minister of War."

"And I," I cried passionately - " I have loved you from the day I threw myself into the water to join you; when I suddenly hear your voice my heart swells as if it would choke me; if your hand touches me, it makes my blood rush through my veins, and seems to burn my skin. Your eldest daughter, who guessed my secret, when she heard you coming, used to cover my eyes with her hand, to calm the suffering in my child'd heart; but I never was a child; I was tortured with jealousy; you knew it then - you know it now. I used to put my face near yours only that I might breathe your breath, and I felt my pupils dilate when I looked into your eyes; my very flesh throbbed with love if you touched my lips with yours."

My breath came in short gasps, and I could not help closing my eyes, seized as I was with a fierce longing to cry. But I had learnt to restrain all tears, so as not to displease him, though I felt that inside my heart was crying passionately, sadly.

He could no longer resist the wish to have me near him, and with a look of deepest affection he drew me to him almost roughly and kissed me on the lips.

"I love you, Ela," he said, "I love you better than desire itself, and in a way I have never yet been capable of loving. I have always lived the life of a positivist, but holding you in my arms I have discovered that I have a spirit of sentiment. I believe in a better instinct which tells me not to take advantage of your inexperience. You will go to the European life for a time,if it seems good to you, and you shall make your choice when you are of age. I have never believed in an ideal love, but in this furtive moment I believe, and I thank you for having given me belief."

Then I put my arms close round his neck, and swore that nothing should make me renounce his religion, and said: "You know I do not like European life. I have seen, thanks to you, the luxurious and comfortable life in great French families. Never could I accustom myself to that life of excitement without end. Nothing, my Prince, can take the place of the happy harem life."

After my eight hours of guard, I went back to my ordinary mode of life.