"What does Your Highness think of doing with his conquest from the bitter waves?" asked an old French gentleman, with the manners and appearance of a grand seigneur.
"You know what are my plans," answered the Prince. "The Armenians who found the child believe her to be English, and I shall leave her absolutely free till she is twenty-one. At that time, she shall choose for herself her manner of life and religion. Till then she will be in the harem, whence she can go out at her pleasure. I wish her to be free, strong, vigorous and independent."
"It is exile that gives you such republican ideas, Monseigneur," said the old Frenchman, smiling.
The Prince looked towards the Bosphorus, and shaking the ashes of his cigar into a silver cup placed by him on the sofa, said simply, "I hope to survive the pain of leaving Egypt and Choubra."
His cruel exile had already lasted six months, and suddenly losing all hope of its ceasing, the Prince was trying to create for himself a new existence. When he received at Cairo the imperative order or obey. He was the youngest son of Méhémet Ali, and the better part of Egypt belonged to him. His name was synonymous for power and grandeur; the charm of his conversation, his loved sciences, of art and letters, which he protected as a generous Prince, had made him celebrated.
All illustrious men passing through Egypt begged the honour of being received at Choubra, and left enthusiastic with his reception of them. Prince Halim was the type of the purest Bedouin race, with the perfect distinction of the oriental grand seigneur. His splendid eyes of striking beauty, his finely-cut nose with slender nostrils, his white teeth and brown moustache, his small arched foot, always booted by the best of London makers, made him a type of rare grace and elegance.
He spent royally his immense income, and Choubra being in the very heart of Egypt, the Viceroy Ismaël soon became uneasy of his being so near. Matters between the Prince and the Viceroy quickly became more than strained. Up till now Halim had always miraculously escaped the famous attempts against princely heirs.
From a bridge broken in advance by the orders of the Khedive, the train which was bringing all the princes invited to a Khedivial fête was hurled into the Nile. Not only did Halim save himself, but also seized from the jaws of death his favourite mameluke.
The Viceroy oppressed with taxes the people of the Prince, and he, wishing to make one last conciliatory effort towards his nephew Ismaël, offered him a fête at Choubra. It must be explained that the throne returning to the eldest of the princes of the Royal Family, Halim Pasha could only reign after the death of his nephew Ismaël and of Prince Mustapha Fazil. This latter did not survive his exile.
At this fête at Choubra all the princes were invited with their harems. The most beautiful women of the kingdom found themselves together that evening.
The harem of Prince Halim was composed of five hundred women, all living in the palace.
There was the division of the Queen Dowager, the wife of the founder of the dynasty of Méhémet Ali, the division of the princesses, and that of each child of sufficient age to have a household.
These immense apartments were entirely distinct, each having their own slaves, eunuchs, baths, and carriages, making several houses in the same palace. The sitting-rooms were so vast that sometimes newly bought little slaves lost their way and fell asleep in tears at the feet of immense silver candelabra, shaped like palms and arranged in avenues.
The princesses called on each other ceremoniously once or twice a month, being formally announced with rigid etiquette. The ladies of the palace had very formal ideas and magnificent manners, and rarely any close intimacy was known to exist between the various divisions.
The following will give some idea of how the Prince lived at Choubra in the midst of his feminine world.
As to the princesses, the Prince visited them in their own apartments - and the women who have attained the rank of odalisques are on duty about his person in turn. Twelve of them do day duty for a week at a time, and these are then replaced by twelve more. Night duty is performed in the same way, but by one only for a week, who sleeps each night on a satin mattress across the doorway giving on the room of the Prince. What is peculiar is, that sometimes this guard is kept by some slave who is not popular with the Prince, but each one who has been bought for this service has the right of eight days' guard, and the master submits to this order of things. The week of duty of each of these ladies is arranged with regard to their state of health. They take their baths regularly, and four or five hours is not considered too long for beautifying purposes.
When one of them becomes a mother, she does not appear for a whole year before the Prince after the birth of the child. If she gives birth to a boy, she takes the title of Oumil Bey, or should it be a daughter, she is called ever afterwards Ouma Hariem. And the new state in the household arouses no hated or jealousy, all the children being legitimate. The same customs are observed in the palaces of the Sultan and Imperial Princes.
